Blueberry Cake

I grew up, as I’m sure you did, in an era of supermarket cake mixes, to which you add a little oil, eggs and water, pour your batter into a cake pan and bake, and some time later you have cake. I may have grown up in that era but I never really subscribed to it, because I’ve honestly never thought that making a cake from scratch was really that hard.

Cake is, after all, just butter, flour, sugar, baking powder and eggs, right? Most of us probably have those things in our pantries anyway. Plus, by mixing them together yourself, you can use the type of ingredients you like best, such as a European butter (like Plugra) if you care to, or maybe organic flour instead of conventional, organic sugar and eggs. So there’s a lot more variability there that I like. It’s only a few more minutes of measuring, but I really think it’s worth it.

Allow me to introduce you to my Blueberry Cake!

This is a very simple cake with just a dusting of powdered sugar on top, but you can frost it if you want to. For additional nuances, you could flavor the batter with vanilla, a liqueur, orange or lemon peel, or a spice. What I love about this cake is that it’s tender and has just the right amount of sweetness (not too much). It makes for a delicious treat on a spring or summer afternoon when you’ve got company and you’re sitting outside on the patio, and it travels well so it’s nice to bring along to a potluck or picnic.

Here’s what you do. Get some blueberries.

Actually, any juicy berry will do…

…except strawberries.

Ingredients:

1/4 lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Directions:

Butter and dust with flour a 9-inch cake pan with a removable rim or bottom (any of these below will do. A springform pan, cheesecake pan or quiche pan).

In a bowl, combine 1 cup sugar and the butter. Beat slowly with a mixer to blend, then beat on high speed until the stiff batter is well blended, about 2 minutes.

Scrape batter into cake pan and spread smooth on top.

Scatter berries evenly over the batter. Sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon sugar.

Bake on the center rack of a 350 degree oven just until cake begins to pull from the pan rim, 55-60 minutes. Run a thin bladed knife between the cake and the pan rim. Let cool at least 10-15 minutes. Remove rim, dust cake with powdered sugar and cut into wedges.

You can wrap the cake airtight when cool and let stand at room temp 1 day.

Also nice served with a little freshly whipped cream on the side.

#blueberrycake #cakefromscratch #fromscratchisbetter