Blood Orange & Ricotta Pound Cake

All things are only transitory. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you think it’s been a long time since my last post, you’re right. Things are very interesting around here right now. It’s like the Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times.” I feel pulled in about 4 different directions at once. 

I know Goethe is right, it’s just being in the middle of it that sucks. I won’t bore you with the details. Instead I’ll bore you with a recipe...

Blood oranges, also called Moro oranges, are a type of orange that has tart, sweet flesh that is unexpectedly red – hence the name. Although grown commercially in California, many blood oranges come from Southern Italy, particularly Sicily. They are usually available from January through April. So you have to take advantage of them while they’re around.

This is what "creamed" butter and sugar
looks like. Light and fluffy.

You can tell a blood orange (besides the name on the bag or the sign above them...) by the reddish blush that appears on the skin when fully ripe. They can be smaller or larger than a regular Valencia (common) orange, and contain very few seeds.

I find that the flavour of a well-ripened blood orange is still tart, but almost raspberry-like. They are quite delicious.

Here’s some orange facts, thanks to the folks at Sunkist®:
All oranges contain carotene — that's what makes them orange. Moros get their red color from high concentrations of a pigment called anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant that neutralizes the effects of free radicals. Free radicals are the agents believed to be responsible for cancer, aging and other health ailments.

Since I’m on my third bag of blood oranges, I thought it might be okay to sacrifice one for a cake. Orange pound cake is always a favourite, especially for a dinner with one’s mother – which I had the evening I made this. She was pleasantly surprised. :-)

Abraham Lincoln said: “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Show yours some love. Do something nice for her today. Just like blood oranges, you are only blessed with her presence for far too short a time. 

Blood Orange & Ricotta Pound Cake
Prep 15 min  |  Bake 60 min  |  Yield 9” loaf

The dough is pretty stiff. Don't worry.

1-1/2 cups white flour + 1 tbsp
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup low-fat ricotta
juice and rind of 1 blood orange
1-1/2 cups white sugar
3 lg eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
icing sugar, for dusting after baking

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Wash, and then zest and juice the orange. Set aside.

Cream together the butter, ricotta, and sugar on medium speed until light, fluffy, smooth and no longer grainy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the eggs one at a time – beating just long enough that they are incorporated. Then beat in the rind, orange juice and vanilla.

Beat in the dry ingredients until mixed.

Scoop the batter out into the pan, taking care to not trap any air pockets in the corners and level the top with a spatula. 

Bake for about 50 minutes and then test the cake by inserting a toothpick in the centre. If the toothpick does not come out clean, put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes and test again. It may take longer than an hour to bake, depending on the amount of juice, moisture content of flour, wetness of the ricotta, etc. Toothpick testing is reliable. Mine took longer, by a fair bit.

Expect the top to mound up and crack open – it’s the sign of a classic pound cake.

The classi pound cake crack. 

Remove from the oven, let cool for 10-15 minutes; then remove from the pan to finish cooling on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar after it cools.

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Cinnamon Sugar Sponge Cake with Milk Sauce

Written by a sponge dipped in warm milk and sprinkled with sugar. – John Ciardi

John Chairdi was a professor, critic and poet known for his sharp wit as well as a internationally respected translation of Danté’s “Inferno.” He was extremely critical of much poetry aimed children, which he defined as ''written by a sponge dipped in warm milk and sprinkled with sugar.''

Those are interesting words, because this recipe is exactly that: a wonderful sponge cake, dusted with sugar and drizzled with milk sauce. So sometimes that’s a good thing. Perhaps not so much in literature, in Mr. Chairdi’s opinion.

I remember milk sauce on cake from when I was very young. Mom used to serve it with blueberry cake. It was a treat and delight.

The origin of this cake started, as most things do, in front of my computer because I didn’t have an ingredient. I had no butter, and was looking for a cake recipe that didn’t use it. You can substitute shortening, but when I searched I stumbled across the unexpected. 

A recipe I found contained no butter, or shortening and no milk in the batter. I did have milk. That wasn’t the issue. But I was intrigued. So intrigued I made it, or at least a version of it.

I won’t get into exactly what I changed It still bears a passing resemblance to the original, but that’s probably about it.

Left to right: the eggs and sugar; with the flour incorporated; ready for the oven.

I have made a fair number of cakes and have never made one that defined the word “sponge” so clearly. This was the lightest cake I had ever made. Think of angel food cake light. But the thing is there’s no separating and beating the eggs.

This came together, and went down, very quickly.

If you’re not that much into milk sauce try it with ice cream. Or anything else you may think will work!

Cinnamon Sugar Sponge Cake with Milk Sauce

Prep: 10 min  |  Bake 25 min  | Yield 8x8 square cake

4 eggs 

This is about 2 minutes after I removed the cake from the oven.
It had barely started to pull away from the sides in the oven.
I also used a toothpick to test. Better safe than sorry.

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking powder

pinch salt
8” square cake pan

Milk sauce:

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup whole milk, or better, coffee cream

2 tbsp white sugar
    

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease the pan with shortening (or butter) and dust liberally with white sugar. Set aside.

Place the eggs in a mixing bowl. Add 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla, salt and baking powder to the eggs and beat for 30 seconds. Then add the remaining sugar in two batches. Continue to beat until very light and foamy. 

This is the cake just sprinkled with icing sugar – no milk sauce.

When beaten enough, the beaters will leave slight trails behind in the batter (much like when halfway through whipping cream). They will disappear immediately.

Using a spatula, fold in 1/4 cup of the flour. Repeat with the remaining flour, in two equal batches. Deflate the batter as little as possible when adding the flour.

Pour into the prepared pan.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the sides start shrinking from the edge of the pan. You can also test the centre with a cake tester or toothpick. When it comes out clean the cake is done.

Let cool in the pan. Once cool you can turn out onto a plate and sprinkle the top with confectioners sugar (optional), or use the sauce for an amazing old-fashioned style dessert.

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You've got one week until Valentines' Day. How about chocolate?

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. – Oscar Wilde

This post is originally from two years ago, but since it's one week until Valentine's Day, I though you might like to have it for reference.

Next Friday will be a day full of celebrations as diverse as the couples celebrating it. Some will be going out to dinner (make reservations now!!!), or to a movie, or both. Some of you will also be pulling out all the stops in creating a magnificent feast for the one you love. Most likely some stage of the day will involve chocolate.

A Mayan clay figurine (unknown attribution)

Chocolate through history

Chocolate, from the cacao tree, was unknown in the Old World until Europeans "discovered" Central America in the 1400s.

The cacao tree was worshipped by the Mayan who believed it to be of divine origin. In their language, cacao meant "god food." 

This adoration of cacao continued through to the Aztecs as well. 

Our word "cocoa" is a corruption of the Mayan name.

Chocolate as an aphrodisiac

Chocolate has been used as an aphrodisiac since the time of the Mayans. Emperors would drink cacao mixed with chilli during religious rituals and to increase their fertility and sex drive. Chocolate and chilli is an amazing combination. French courtesans used to feed chocolate to their lovers hoping for the same effect. The ritual of giving chocolate to loved ones continues to this day, in hopes of the same result... sort of.

Chocolate is good for you

Pure dark chocolate is full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.  Antioxidant-rich food effects include increased blood circulation, reduced cholesterol levels, and lowered risks of stroke and heart attack. The magnesium, iron, and vitamin B found in chocolate can also help in preventing other illnesses. 

So maybe the Mayans were onto something. You do have to be healthy to "carouse" properly. At the same time, all things in moderation...

If you're looking for a good dose of chocolate for Valentine's Day, your search is over. How about a rich chocolate cake, complete with pink clove glaze? If it sounds decadent it's because it is.  Yes, I hear you saying "it's only a cake", but it has hints of coffee in the batter and the clove glaze really sends it over the top.

This cake is a snap to make. It is in the oven in 20 minutes – maximum. The glaze takes all of 5 minutes to mix together. If you have the time just before Valentine's Day give it a try. You'' fall in love" with the result.

The batter in the sugar/cocoa dusted pan.

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Pink Clove Drizzle

Prep: 15 min  |  Cook: 45 min to 1 hour

1 tbsp cocoa mixed with 1 tbsp white sugar

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cup white flour

3/4 cups cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

1 cup plain yogurt

1 tbsp instant coffee

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

This is what is meant by the cake pulling away from the
edge of the pan. It's a sign the cake is done, or nearly done.

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Grease a bundt or other tube pan with butter and dust the inside with the cocoa sugar mixture. Shake out any excess and set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

Combine the milk, yogurt, instant coffee, melted butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mix on low. Add the eggs one at a time and beat for 2 minutes. Then add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time and beat well after each addition.

Then slowly add in the remaining dry ingredients. Once combined, turn the mixer to medium and beat the batter for a further 5 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and a cake needle inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.

Depending on the pan you use, your time will vary. Start testing for doneness at 45 minutes just to be safe. If using layer pans, start testing at 30 minutes. (The pan I used took 1 hour 5 minutes.)

Allow the cake to partially cool on a wire rack before glazing. While cooling, make the icing and drizzle it on top of the cake. If you glaze it hot the drizzle will just run off.

Pink Clove Drizzle

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 tbsp white corn syrup

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

water and food colouring

Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl. Start with 1 tablespoon of water and continue adding a little at a time until you reach the consistency you want, then tint with red food colouring. Only add a drop or two of the food dye at a time and beat well to judge the final colour.

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Blackberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

Lower your expectations of earth. This isn't heaven, so don't expect it to be. – Max Lucado

Sometimes you just have to suck it up and make your own.

Cheesecake + Halifax = Disappointment. I’ve had a bit of a craving over the last 3-4 months – a good piece of cheesecake. I think it was triggered by the tiramisu cheesecake we had in Moncton. Delicious.

Sadly, at least in HRM, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of cheesecake unless you want to go to a restaurant. You CAN find it there. But It seems almost all of the “buy a piece and take home” places have evaporated from the face of our fair city. Where has all the heaven gone?

If anyone can let me know where I can buy – and take home – decent cheesecake in Halifax, please let me know. Please...

Don’t even think about buying cheesecake from a grocery store. I guess if I’m going to have a good piece of cheesecake I’ll have to make it myself. Luckily I do have a few good recipes just laying around. This is one from a couple years ago, when the black berries were ripe and juicy on the canes in our back yard.

I just hit the last flush from that year. The berries were not as plentiful as they would have been at their height, but the ones that were hanging were still excellent.

I wanted to do something a little different than I usually do (freeze and make trifle at Christmas) so I dreamed this up.

I don’t want to write a whole lot of intro, as the recipe is rather long and involved. So let’s just get down to it.

The day after I made this I took it to work with me to share with my coworkers. They had been putting up with a lot from me at the time because I had been having several difficult months. In a small way I hoped that it said “thank you.” The way to a coworker’s heart is through their stomach...

By the way, you can easily make your own Ricotta (search this blog). You can also make your own cream cheese. I’ve posted recipes for both. But I made neither. I was lazy. Making the cheesecake was enough for me for one day...

Blackberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake with Blackberry Glaze

This is both batters before swirling.

Prep: 20 min  |   Cook: 1 hr 20 min  |  Serves 12

Graham crust

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Cheesecake

300 g whole milk ricotta, drained 

2 8-oz packages cream cheese, room temperature 

1 cup sugar 

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon rind 

4 large eggs

1-1/2 cups blackberries

2 tsp cornstarch

Blackberry glaze

1-1/2 cups blackberries

1/2 c. sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp cornstarch

Making the blackberry purée.

Make the blackberry purée for both the cheesecake and glaze by boiling the berries and straining out the seeds. Don't do them at the same time, but separately for each step.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Wrap the outside of a 9-inch spring form cheesecake pan with a layer of heavy-duty foil. This will protect the cake from amy water seepage during the hot water bath when it bakes.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor and process until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan with a measuring cup. 

Bake until the crust is golden, about 15 minutes. Cool the crust completely on a cooling rack.

Tamping the crust down with a measuring
cup is a good way to do it.

Beat the ricotta in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add the cream cheese and sugar and blend well, stopping the machine occasionally and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add in the lemon juice and zest. 

With the beaters running, add the eggs one at a time and mix each just until blended. Remove and reserve 1/4 of the batter. Pour the rest into the graham crust.

In a small bowl, mash the blackberries, then strain through a sieve to remove the seeds. Add the cornstarch to the resulting juice and mix well. Combine the juice with the reserved cheesecake batter and mix well. The result will be thin.

Gently swirl the two batters together and bake. This after baking.

Pour the blackberry batter on top and swirl the two batters together with a knife without mixing too much.

Anyone remember this? (It's Darcie and Kelly.)

Place the cheesecake in a baking dish large enough to hold the spring form pan with some room on all sides. Pour hot water into the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the spring form pan.

Bake in the centre of the oven until the cheesecake is set and the centre still moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour and 5 minutes. The cake will set up firmer as it cools. Let cool for 1 hour on a wire rack.

Pour the glaze over the cooled cheesecake and tilt it to spread evenly. You may not need all the glaze.

After the cheesecake has cooled, make the blackberry glaze. Crush the blackberries and mix with the sugar in a saucepan. Mash and cook until the juice is extracted and the sugar is dissolved. Strain out the seeds and pulp.

Pour the strained liquid back into the (washed) saucepan. Add the lemon. In a little dish mix the 2 tsp of cornstarch with 2 tsp of the juice. Pour back into the liquid and mix well. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Cool slightly then pour over the cheesecake.

This cheesecake is not too sweet with hints of lemon and berry flavours.

Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, at least overnight. Cut the cake into wedges and serve.

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Old-fashioned Yellow Cake

I have very old-fashioned tastes. – Jerry Hall 

Me, too. It’s not that I don’t like “modern” versions of food. I guess it’s just that all the old country-style recipes really bring back memories to me. For the most part, very good ones.

This cake is one. It’s like what grandmothers (or in my case my Great Aunts) everywhere used to make – if your grandmother didn’t pull out a Betty Crocker box. It’s a classic, sturdy, delicious cake that takes to frosting like a duck to water.

It’s funny how what you appreciate changes as you age. It can be aspects of relationships, your work, your play or even your food. What was unimportant evolves to take on significant meaning in your life. You appreciate the small things. That’s what life is all about.

I grew up in the country. We weren’t poor, but we weren’t rich so as much food as we could was made at home – dinners, cookies, donuts, pies and cakes. It was the “store-bought” stuff that was the treat. It was “special.” Homemade was boring.

That’s done a complete 180° turn. Who in their right mind would pass up a homemade baked good? There’s no comparison.

Perhaps that is why I am the way I am today, making as much food as I possibly can. It goes a long way in explaining my (almost) obsession with making things myself. It also gives me a sense of accomplishment, and more money in my wallet. We would all like that.

There’s three aspects to food: the taste, nutrition and bonding. We should never underestimate the latter.

Convenience food has taken much of the taste (and nutrition) out of what “real” food used to be. It also has sucked part of the good feeling out of mealtime and its preparation. Tell me who who wistfully remembers the days when the family sat around the “science oven” waiting for dinner to come to the table.

I venture not too many. Who remembers pulling the plastic wrap off a TV dinner as a warm family memory? Making food together brings us closer, whatever form your family takes.

Of course cake is a big part of those memories. We not only use it as a dessert but also as a way to mark milestones in life like birthdays, weddings and anniversaries. So knowing a down-home classic for a cake is a really good thing. 

This is called “yellow cake” because, well, it’s yellow. That means the egg yolks are included. Another old standard is “white” cake, using no yolks and beaten whites which makes it very airy. Of course there are others including hybrids, but those are the two biggies.

Cakes also come in two basic preparations. One beats the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, which adds air to the cake. The other “creams” the butter and sugar together so is more dense. This is the latter.

Don’t be afraid of cake. If you follow the recipe you should have no problems. I know, sometimes cakes can be spectacular failures. I’ve had my share. But it’s usually when I start fiddling with a recipe. I’ve tested this one for you.

This cake would make a great celebration cake, or even cut up and used in a trifle. It can be made square, or in a tube pan, or sliced into layers and tarted up to your heart’s desire. It’s up to you.

I made mine in a rectangular bundt pan. Whatever pan or pans you use will affect baking time. But it’s easy to tell when a cake is done. 1. it pulls away slightly from the pan edges, and  2. a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

So begin to appreciate the small things in life. Go make a cake and bake some memories!

Old-fashioned Yellow Cake

Prep: 15 min  |  Bake: 30-60 min, depending on pans

3/4 cup butter, softened

1-3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1-1/2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour either two 9” layer cake pans, a 9x13 baking pan, a tube pan or a bundt pan and set aside. (see below for baking time)

Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until creamed. It will not get “fluffy.” Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.

Sift together the baking powder, salt and flour. (Personally, I hardly ever do this. If you’re lazy like me, add the baking powder and salt to the batter and beat in. Then proceed as follows.)

Add 1 cup of the flour to the batter and beat in. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula. Then add 1/2 cup of milk. repeat this procedure two more times until all the flour and milk are incorporated. Then beat in the vanilla.

Pour the batter into your chosen pan and bake for between 30-60 minutes, depending on the pan you are using. Layer pans will take less time, a tube or bundt pan much longer.

Start checking with a toothpick or cake tester needle when the centre looks set and doesn’t jiggle. When done, the tester will come out clean.

Test “dead centre,” as that is the last place the batter cooks.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out. Frost or not. It’s up to you!

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Coconut Milk Pound Cake

The two basic items necessary to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk. – Dustin Hoffman 

I’m not entirely sure about the second item, Mr. Hoffman, but it’s darned close...

I have been craving something coconut-y lately, which is a bit odd, because I’m not all that fond of it in some uses. My all-time most un-favourite cookie is coconut macaroon. It's a texture thing, I believe.

I do like pina coladas (who doesn’t?), and use a lot of coconut milk in curries,. But for some reason I recently have been craving a dessert. I found my muse in coconut milk pound cake. 

It is what it sounds like: the cow’s milk has entirely been replaced by coconut milk, with shredded coconut thrown in for good measure.

Many recipes for coconut pound cake – or coconut cake, for that matter – simply add coconut extract and shredded coconut to the batter and call it a day. That’s not coconut cake, at least not the way I envisioned it.

This recipe has probably been passed around like a doobie at a frat party. I found my start on food.com. The person who posted their recipe said they found it somewhere else, which was probably based on another’s recipe, ad infinitum. They said they “had perfected it.” I beg to differ.

Of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone either. My recipe is fairly close to what I found except for a few salient points. I used coconut extract (not vanilla), sweetened coconut and slightly more coconut milk. Can’t have enough of a good thing, can we? 

The cake is now cooling on the stove. It has domed and split like every good pound cake should, and the house smells like the inside of a coconut, if you can imagine that. I may very well have reached my goal.

When you buy coconut milk for this recipe don’t use the “lite” variety. I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine the amount of plant “fat” in regular coconut milk allows some sort of chemical reaction necessary to success.

One could go whole hog and use coconut cream. If you've never used it you should seek out a can. It is NOT the stuff you make mixed drinks from. That’s highly sweetened. Coconut cream is about four times as thick as coconut milk. It would be akin to cooking with partly whipped whipping cream. You can find it in most Asian groceries.

This is the classic "crack" in a pond cake. Note they're not
present in store made...

The cake has a wonderful crispy exterior. The flavour is quite coconut-y and the grain nice and tight like a pound cake should be.

The next person to perfect this recipe has their work cut out for them!

Coconut Milk Loaf Cake

Prep: 15 min  |  Bake: 1 hr 30 min

3/4 cup butter, softened

1-3/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 tsp coconut extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup coconut milk

Preheat over to 325°F. Butter and flour a 5x9 loaf pan. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together until well mixed, about 5-6 minutes – scraping the sides and bottom a couple times.

Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each well. Then add the coconut, baking powder and coconut extract. Add 1 cup of the flour and mix in. Then add 1/2 cup of coconut milk. Repeat with the remaining flour and coconut milk.

Pour the batter unto the prepared pan, making sure to get into the corners with the batter to avoid air pockets.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. If you have any doubt leave it in an extra 5 minutes. My cake took 1 hour 50 minutes.

This is the shape of a classic "pound cake". It humps up in the centre
and then cracks open. Test for "doneness" down through the crack.

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Feel free to comment. They’re always appreciated. I’ll answer quickly, and as best as I can. If you like this post, feel free to share it. All I ask is if you repost, please give me credit and a link back to this site.

Blueberry & Lemon Pound Cake

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill 

This does NOT look like failure.

I’ve been to my secret blueberry patch again. It seems that they’re just about peak right now, even though I first went up to pick some a month ago. That’s a long time for blueberries to hang around.

It took me no time at all to gather 4 cups of the wondrous dark blue darlings. But now I have a slight problem. What should I do with them? It’s easy enough to put them in a bowl with cream and sugar, but what’s interesting about that? Not much, I dare say – although delicious.

I have had occasion to doubt my abilities with the oven lately. I’ve made a couple cakes that were absolute flops. As you can imagine, they ended up in the compost as opposed to our stomach. I used to be able to bake...

Whatever the reason for failure—haste, inaccurate temperature, insanity—I felt the need to “prove” I could do it, at least to myself. Lack of confidence is a terrible thing. For me it’s deadly. I do the cooking.

So always one to get back onto the horse that threw me, I launched myself into a blueberry cake. To mitigate my chance of failure I pulled out an old friend: the Quatre quarts recipe from Larousse gastronomique, the bible of all things food.

Quatre quarts (pound cake) is an English invention of the 1700s. It consists of equal measures of flour, sugar, eggs and butter. In English recipes each weighed a pound. As you can imagine, this sort of recipe was a godsend to illiterate masses who couldn’t read a cookbook even if they had one. Easy to remember, easy to do.

The leavening in a classic pound cake is only air whipped
into the eggs and sugar.

The leavening was/is accomplished by beating the heck out of the sugar and eggs until you have a very creamy, very light coloured and fluffy mass. Not everyone had access to baking powder or soda in the 1700s, or their forerunner potash.

This really is “the” classic cake as far as I’m concerned. It has just a few, readily available ingredients and is easy to put together. You can easily tell when your sugar and eggs are ready for the flour and butter.

But I had to change the original recipe from a straight vanilla cake to blueberry and lemon. Somehow I succeeded without bollocks-ing it up. I did add some baking powder to help. Soda and powder act in acidic batters to help rising. Lemon juice = acidic, so it seemed right to do. 

The result? An ever-so-slightly lemony cake studded evenly with beautiful, sweet wild blueberries. The classic “crack” down the centre is just a aesthetic bonus.

I’m vindicated. I can bake (again)! But I still have well over 2 cups of blueberries...and will be going back for more.

Blueberry & Lemon Pound Cake

Prep: 15 min  |  Cook: 1.25 hr to 1.5 hr  |  Yield: 1 loaf

1-1/2 cups wild blueberries*

2 tbsp flour

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

2 cups flour

1 cup salted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp grated lemon rind

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Butter a 5x9 loaf pan and sprinkle with enough sugar to coat well. Toss the blueberries with the 2 tbsp of flour. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cream the sugar and eggs together in a mixer. After about 5 minutes the mixture will get very light and fluffy.

Turning the mixer to low, incorporate 1 cup of flour followed by 1/2 cup butter, alternating again to include all of both. Then add the vanilla, baking powder, juice, rind and nutmeg and beat for a further minute. Fold the berries and any flour left in the bottom of the berry bowl into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the hot oven.

Bake for 1 hour and then check for doneness. The cake is fully baked when it pulls away from the sides, has the characteristic bump down the centre with a crack in it and a cake tester (or toothpick) inserted in the centre of the crack comes out perfectly clean.

If in any doubt at all, bake the cake longer. (That was my downfall with my failures.)

Let cool slightly on the counter, then remove from the pan. Slice as you serve.

* Cook’s tip: chill the blueberries before tossing with the flour. Once you take them out of the refrigerator they will have a slight dampness that helps the flour stick.

Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

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Blueberry Cake with Nutmeg Cream

A life-long blessing for children is to fill them with warm memories of times together. Happy memories become treasures in the heart to pull out on the tough days of adulthood. – Charlotte Kasl 

Memories, like the corners of my mind... Misty, water-coloured memories...

This post is about memories as much as it is about a recipe. Old memories of mine, and hopefully some you can make for your family – all wrapped in a fluffy cake studded with blueberries.

The wild blueberries are in mid season here in Nova Scotia. That puts them about a week or  little more ahead of usual, if my calculations are correct. Prime foraging time.

I have found a “secret” spot, besides our backyard, where the picking is easy, if a little sun-drenched. They’re in a memory-charged spot (for me) in the village. So as I picked I did a little “reminiscing” of good times and bad that have passed, never to return. A melancholic picking, to say the least. But there’s not much more to do when you are picking them except think.

On Monday when I went a-harvestin’ the temperature had to be in the mid 30°C. Thinking of friends, school days and ball games kept me a little distracted from the heat. Luckily, the berries were plentiful so I was only there for about 1/2 hour. Any longer and my memories may have turned into delirium!

There’s nothing much more daunting than hearing those first few berries plop in the bottom of your container. It feels at the time like you’ll be there forever. If you’ve ever picked your own wild blueberries you probably will sympathize. 

But it’s like nearly every other task. Most jobs look far worse before you start than when you’re done. I have to remember that, too.

If you do have the chance to either pick, or purchase, wild blueberries, this recipe is one you really should make at least once this season. It only takes two cups of the delicious little darlings. A mere “drop in the bucket” – literally.

This blueberry cake – or very similar – is an old favourite around rural Nova Scotia. I can remember my mother making this as far back as when I was 4 or 5 years old. So I guess you could call it an old Maritime recipe.

Fluffy, fluffy batter. I DARE you to not lick the spatula.

Essentially it’s a white butter cake with a spiced sugar top that has the addition of blueberries. It’s very simple to put together.

But it’s an addition after it’s baked that makes this dessert so special. A nutmeg-spiced light cream (or milk) sauce is poured over the top. It sinks into the cake giving everything a moist richness and spicy taste that is amazing.

It’s not to say that this cake can’t stand on its own, sans sauce. It’s perfect that way as well. Or even serve it with vanilla or grapenut ice cream. For the short length of time it takes to throw it together, your time investment is returned ten-fold.

This cake, for the size of it (8” x 8” square pan), has a lot of berries, so don’t be fooled by a cake tester coming out nearly clean at around 45 minutes. If you go down through berries when you test for doneness you may get a false positive.

You will need the full time, or close to it depending on your particular oven, for the centre to be done. It will probably puff up, but will settle back down flat after it cools.

This cake always makes me have homey thoughts. I guess it’s because its so closely tied to mom, hearth and growing up in the country. Simpler times, or at least those water-coloured memories make it seem that way.

If you want to know what nostalgia tastes like try this cake. You may even cultivate some fond memories in your own family.

The cake will rise nicely above the pan.

Blueberry Cake with Nutmeg Cream

Prep: 10 min  |  Bake: 1 hr  |  Serves 9 or 16

2 cups wild blueberries

2 tbsp flour

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup light cream*

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups flour

2 tbsp white sugar, mixed with 1/2 tsp nutmeg

for the sauce

2 cups cereal cream*

2 tbsp sugar

1-1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350°F and butter an 8” x 8” baking dish. Wash the blueberries, shake dry and toss the berries with 2 tbsp of flour in a small bowl. Set both the baking dish and blueberries aside.

Beat the eggs and sugar until very light and fluffy. Add the milk, baking powder, vanilla and salt and beat well. Beat in the flour a little at a time until all is incorporated. then stir in the coated blueberries, with any additional flour that may not have stuck.

Pour into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the top with the sugar and nutmeg. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the centre.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan. While the cake is cooling, whisk together the cream, sugar and nutmeg. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Serve squares of the cake in small dishes with the nutmeg cream poured over the top.

* Mom always used to use whole milk, but I find the cream just adds a little more to it.

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You know, I really like comments... I really do.

Questions? Comments? Derogatory remarks? Just ask! I’ll answer quickly and as best as I can. If you like this post feel free to share it. If you repost, please give me credit and a link back to this site.