Steal This Blueberry Cake

This cake is worthy of a bit o'crime. And, you can easily find an excuse to indulge any time of day. At 7:30, breakfast begs for coffee cake. 3:00 in the afternoon - a snack. Dessert is served at 6:45. I can't remember where the recipe came from, but we embellished it (with lemon juice on the berries) and simplified it (frozen wild blueberries, smaller & perfect).

Set oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries
1/2 lemon
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
pinch salt
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 1/2 tablespoon butter, melted

Blueberries: Put frozen blueberries in small bowl and squeeze lemon juice over. Set aside while you prepare batter and topping.

Batter: In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt by tossing about with a fork. In another bowl, whisk together oil, milk, egg. Pour liquid into dry ingredients and stir together until just combined.

Topping: Place brown sugar, flour, oatmeal, and salt in small bowl and toss together. Pour melted butter over these ingredients and stir together until combined and crumbly. Spoon batter into PAM-ed 8" X 8" baking tin. Smooth out as it will be very thick. Place blueberries evenly on top of batter and then sprinkle topping evenly over blueberries.

 Place in oven and bake for 40- 45 minutes.

Lemon Pound Cake: A Tradition

In a world of uncertainty, you can be sure that there will be lemon pound cake waiting when you return to Michigan for a visit. This cake is a Mimi "welcome home" tradition and although Mimi is a bit scornful of cake mixes, she will be the first to tell you that this cake is decidedly from Duncan Hines. The cake itself is light and lemony. The glaze is so incredible that many people in my house eat the cake first and leave the glazed edges to devour last. This cake is simple, delicious, and lends itself to any occasion.

I won't repeat the entire recipe since it is on the box, but here are a few essential tips.

1. You will need Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix and Jello Lemon Instant Pudding. Follow recipe on side of the cake box. Take note: this recipe calls for 4 eggs.

2. You can use a bundt pan, but I prefer a tube pan. Grease the pan well before baking. After baking, cool for about 5 minutes and then run a knife around the edges to loosen but leave cake in the pan. Get ready to put glaze on the cake while it's still in the pan and warm from oven. This is key!

3. For glaze: in a small bowl, whisk about 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar with a pinch of salt. Then whisk in the juice of 1 or 2 lemon(s). You want the glaze to be free of lumps and to run slowly off the side of spoon. If it is too thin, just add more powdered sugar. If too thick, more lemon juice. Glaze is very forgiving.

4. Take a skewer or tooth pick and gently prick the the top of the cake all over. This lets some glaze find its way into the cake as well. Very subtle and very good.

5. Pour glaze over cake while it's in the pan, smoothing over the top and allowing it to run down inside and cover the cake's edges as well as the top. Glazing the cake while it's in the pan captures all the lovely glaze goodness for the cake.

6. After about 1 hour of cooling, once again gently run a knife around the edges of the pan and carefully remove the cake. Be sure to run your knife around cake pan every so often so your cake doesn't stick to the inside.

7. If you use a bundt pan, your cake will be upside down as the decorative, rounded side will be on the bottom. Though this may look a bit strange, the cake will be so delicious no one will notice. When removing the cake from the bundt pan, You will invert the cake on to a plate. Then place another plate on top and flip again so cake is glazed-side up.

Happiest Birthday Cake

Yesterday, Elisabeth turned eleven and once again our family-favorite cake played the starring role. All credit for this incredible devil's food cake goes to a childhood babysitter, Mrs. Dykstra. I don't remember too much about her, other than her cake becoming Mimi's go-to recipe. Now, it's mine. I've crowned this cake with all sorts of frostings: vanilla, chocolate, mocha, and even whipping cream. All were staggeringly good. The strange, but wonderful, mystery surrounding this cake is that it gets better with each day. Of course, Mrs. Dykstra's cake only last two, may be three days at most, but they are VERY good days.

Set oven to 350 degrees

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa - Hershey's works great
1/2 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons baking soda

Combine the cocoa & baking soda in a small bowl. Pour in boiling water, stir to combine fully, and set aside to cool.

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter at room temperature
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream

Place flour and salt in a bowl, stir to combine, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. By now, the hot cocoa mixture will be cool-ish, so add to the butter mixture and beat well. Then, add half the sour cream and mix. Add half the flour mixture and mix again. Repeat with remaining sour cream and flour mixture.

Pour and smooth your batter into a PAMed tube pan. Bake for about 50 - 55 minutes. Keep an eye on the cake once you hit 50 minutes since you don't want to over-cook it. Cake should bounce bake when you gentle press the top or use a skewer to test for "doneness".