Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Blueberry Pound Cake

Life on the farm is really busy. Even during what seems like a lull between planting and harvesting, there is always something that needs attention.  Last week, it was blueberries. Folks were coming over for dinner and I needed a dessert that I could put in the oven and ignore for an hour while I irrigated the greenhouses.

Blueberry Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups blueberries

Heat the oven to 325.

Generously butter a 10 cup bundt or tube pan, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar. Tilt the pan, tap, and shake until the sugar is evenly distributed. (Sounds like a dance, doesn't it?)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Mix in vanilla.

Toss the blueberries with 1/4 cup of flour and set aside.

Mix together the remaining 2 3/4 cups flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to the egg mixture, beating at low speed on the mixer.

Fold the blueberries into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake until tester comes out clean, 70-80 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes (but do not invert to cool as you might normally do for some cakes. I learned the hard way.  Blueberries affect the structural stability, and mine fell. That's why I added the glaze - to hide the evidence.)

When the cake is cool, mix 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and a pinch of salt with 2 Tbs lemon juice.  Stir until smooth. This should be pourable. Add more lemon juice if  it is too thick.

I decorated mine with calendula petals and borage flowers to make it pretty.