Earlier this week I had open the Complete Cooking Light Cookbook and Simon said, “I wanna make that.” He was pointing to the blueberry pound cake on the cover.
“Sure!” I said. “We’ll make it on the weekend, for breakfast.”
This morning Sophia shook me awake and said, “It’s time to make the cake, Mom.” (I can see what the rest of my life is going to be like. Mistake #1: teaching her what “the weekend” is.)
So we mixed and shook and folded and baked, and after baking we had this:
My intrepid assistant attempts to steal the cake
The cake, unfrosted
The cake, frosted
The inside of said cake
This is, in fact, the first time I have ever made a cake from scratch. Darin made his own birthday cake from scratch, and my contribution to that effort was to clean up, both work area and plate. I have made cakes from boxes. I have never made a cake from scratch before. I didn’t even know you could while growing up.
Blueberry Pound Cake
From: The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
3 large eggs
1 large egg white
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 oz. lemon low-fat yogurt (1 carton)
Cooking spray
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat granulated sugar, butter, and cream cheese at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and egg white, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. Light spoon flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife. Combine 2 tablespoons flour and blueberries in a small bowl; toss to coat. Combine remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in blueberry mixture.
4. Pour batter into a 10-inch tube pan (angel food cake pan) coated with cooking spray. Sharply tap pan once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350F for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cook cake in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove cake from sides of pan. Cool 15 additional minutes on wire rack; remove cake from bottom of pan. Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl; drizzle over warm cake. Cut into slices using a serrated knife. Yield: 16 servings.
Calories 288 (22% from fat); Fat 6.9g (sat 3.9g, mono 2g, poly 0.4g); Protein 5 g; Carb 52.2g; Fiber 1 g; Chol 56mg; Iron 1.2mg; Sodium 212mg; Calc 45mg
Everyone pronounced themselves quite happy with the cake and all pieces were eaten. (Well, all the pieces that were served, of course. And 16 slices? Hahahahaha. I don’t think so.)
Problems I had with this cake: As you can tell, the crust of the cake is quite a bit darker and harder than the crust of the cake in the book. Overcooked? Too near the heating element? Bundt pan instead of angel food pan? It was still tasty. I just wanna know why mine wasn’t golden brown.
I also made a)too much icing with b)the wrong type of sugar. I used the extrafine granulated instead of powdered, which made the icing grainy instead of smooth.
The simplest explaination is that your oven is probably running hot. Get yourself an oven thermometer (even a cheap $3 one from the grocery store) and see how far off it is.
Adjust all settings from there on. Mine is low by about 25 degrees.
For important stuff like cakes, I usually use my oven thermometer, but otherwise remove it because I tend to knock it onto the floor of the oven with my pans.
I’ve made this cake several times and it is a favorite .. and much requested for pot lucks.
I don’t ice it as I find it too sweet. I just fluff powdered sugar over the top and put a fresh sprig of mint from the garden in the centre.
If I do ice, I make a cream cheese icing and do the whole cake with some shaved white chocolate as a garnish.
TIP if you are making this as a birthday cake for kids, use an icing of choice and add a teaspoon of Koolaid or Crystal Light for a real zingy flavour. You get some wild colours too that kids really go for. Add crystals a little at a time until you get taste and colour that you want.