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I’m not nearly the kind of cook who bakes another cake as soon as we’ve finished the first one. Well, I hope I’m not. But I’m married to a cookie monster with an inveterate sweet tooth who eats, on average, two or three servings of dessert a day. (Need I say he manages to stay on the thinner side, too?) That means there’s got to be something, actually more than one something confectionary available at all times. For breakfast, creature of habit that he is, he every day hits the homemade oatmeal cookie-ish granola topped with yogurt and fresh fruit but if there is, say, banana bread, then banana bread takes the place of the granola. And why not? As soon as the lunch plate is licked clean, he’s sussing out the cookie situation or slicing up a piece of cake or pie or tart or clafoutis–or whatever’s ready to eat. Ditto after dinner. And occasionally midafternoon.

Since I’m not a big dessert fiend, there’s more for him and he likes it that way. We’re good about freezing indie pieces of cake or pie layered in waxed paper and sealed up good and tight in Tupperware. (Tupperware, should you be able to find it or have a stash, is still incredible for the freezer.) Then there are always freezer bags of cookies–usually a couple of different kinds plus some sad holiday stragglers– for anytime the mood strikes day or night. If the freezer doesn’t boast a decent, visible, and disparate amount of treats, he begins to exhibit minor but noticeable eye twitching, wondering where his next cookie is coming from. That is then the point at which I know it’s time to bake. Something. Anything. Well, not just anything. I have standards. Yesterday was, for instance, that day. There was one small container of Apple-Walnut Coffeecake slices and a scant one-gallon bag of oatmeal cookies on the garage freezer door, his go-to for a goodie look-see. The last of the Christmas cookies had gotten ground into the crust for a cheesecake, so there was no longer even the hopeful last-ditch comfort of crumbly Thumbprints or Chocolate Crinkles that had lost most of their powdered sugar. It was time to get serious. I had a bag of seedless lemons and I thought first about my late, great friend Joyce Smith’s world famous Lemon Bars. Joyce, my across-the-street neighbor in Spokane, was a phenomenal cook and an even better baker whose food, quirky sense of humor, and sweet, generous friendship I still miss. But a package of blueberries caught my eye and my mind ran straight toward a Lemon Blueberry Poundcake. Now, I’d never made a Lemon Blueberry Poundcake, I didn’t think, but I had make Marion Cunningham’s Buttermilk Lemon Poundcake from the FANNY FARMER BAKING BOOK several times over the years. I thought I could highjack that recipe and take it for a blueberry ride in time for Dave to be marked safe from sugar withdrawal. But how to do it?

Looking over Marian’s recipe, which was for two loaf cakes, I quickly decided to go with making the two cakes because, duh, the freezer. Also, cutting baking recipes in half can be a sticky wicket. Looking over the ingredient deck (list of ingredients), I first crossed off the lemon extract as I like natural flavors better. I next nixed her buttermilk–too many people don’t keep it and my own store only sells it in quarts– and decided to use regular dairy milk with the lemon zest plus lemon juice included to create a buttermilk effect, as well as to encourage the lemony profile. For edge, and just because I love the flavor, I added a bitsy bit of almond extract. I wasn’t sure how many blueberries to add, so looked around the internet for ideas, coming up with a standard 1-cup measure for a 9″x5″ cake that I thought would work for two smaller cakes as I wanted a lighter blueberry presence. I’d mix the whole shebang and see how it looked before a final decision or I’d do another trial run. Any recipe of Marian Cunningham’s is worth trusting and I massaged this one as little as I could to get the desired effect.

SINK OR SWIM: How to Keep Berries from Sinking in Baked Goods/DELISH. I do this (add some flour to the berries) and they still are sinkers. Not sure I really mind. Another idea–this one from King Arthur Flour– one I haven’t tried, is to add the blueberries to the top of the batter in the pan. Might be promising. Hmmm. (UPDATE: I’ve just baked a trial run using this on top of the batter method. The cake hasn’t been cut yet but I’ll let you know.) Recently, I read an article about chopping your blueberries so they don’t sink. I’m not chopping blueberries as the fact they need no chopping is one of my favorite things about blueberries. And I’m not sure you wouldn’t just have a jammy cake like that anyway. Maybe I’ll try a couple of muffins that way just to see. King Arthur would should know, wouldn’t they? Maybe is a long road, though. And, like a mother’s “We’ll see,” it usually means, “no.”

Both best sous and cookie monster husband Dave and I really liked the final sunshine yellow product–tender, moist, and lemony with just the right blueberry bite. We tried it by itself, with coffee, with a Grand Marnier-laced whipped cream for Mother’s Day dinner dessert, and days’ old with vanilla ice cream. It will easily fit the bill for a Memorial Day, Father’s Day, or Fourth of July get together and you can make it ahead …storing it, naturally, in your freezer! (Do wrap it snug as a bug in a rug–double layers– for best outcome.) The biggest thing might be to avoid over baking this cake but that’s true for nearly all baked goods. You’ll find that out and more when you try this:

How to dust a cake with powdered sugar: You’ll need a small, fine sieve or sifter. Holding the sieve a few inches above the cake, spoon in a tablespoon or so of powdered sugar, gently shaking it or tapping it with your other hand as you move the sieve over the cake. If you add the sugar to the sieve beforehand, you’ll get a mess or too much powdered sugar flowing at once. (No sieve? Use a tea ball, tea strainer, or an empty, clean spice jar with holes.)

Like the idea of a sweet glaze on your cake? Try this idea from allrecipes.

CHANGE IT UP: Extra zing: Add the zest of another (3rd) lemon for a more pronounced lemon flavor. Berry up: Add 1/2 cup additional blueberries. To me, a first variation is to swap in orange zest and orange juice for the lemon. Blueberries and orange are smacking. Add in an herb? A teaspoon of minced basil, maybe. Or try thyme. A second idea from Captain Obvious is to use strawberries instead of blueberries and…you’ll have to decide on the citrus. Cranberry? Sure and go with orange, please. I’m wondering if I’d give chopped apple a whirl. Lemon OR orange there. No cinnamon, please. Could you add some sliced almonds to the top of the cake? You betcha. Want a texture switch? Try a little cornmeal-– say 1/2 cup– in place of part of the flour. Bundt? The original recipe indicates a choice of baking the two loaf cakes or one bundt. While I didn’t try it, you might. UPSCALE DINNER PARTY DESSERT? Offer a choice of lemon sorbet, orange sherbet, strawberry ice cream, in place of my main squeeze for cake, vanilla. Maybe a drizzle of strawberry or blueberry sauce, too, for gorgeous’ sake?

TIPS:

Need to make just a couple of cupcakes? You can grease ramekins and bake cupcakes (or muffins) in them. Other options are to purchase REYNOLDS KITCHENS Foil Baking Cups, which are paper cupcake liners plus a foil liner; these stand alone on a baking tray. Silicone liners are another option.

EASIER LEMON JUICING: As noted in the recipe, be sure to zest your lemons before juicing them! Also: Leave your lemons out on the counter overnight so they’re at room temperature when you squeeze them. They’ll be easier to squeeze and you’ll get a little more juice out of them. Forgot to do it? Try microwaving them for about 15 seconds before cutting and juicing.

Why Did My Cake Sink in the Middle? FOOD NETWORK

Is it really a POUND cake???

Pound Cake History – The name (Pound Cake) comes from the fact that the original pound cakes contained one pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour.  No leaveners were used other than the air whipped into the batter.  In the days when many people could not read, this simple convention made it simple to remember recipes.

A cake made of 1 pound of each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour would have been very large and would have been able to serve multiple families.  As years went by, the portions of the ingredients used were adjusted to make a smaller, lighter cake.  However, the name of the cake stuck.

~ courtesy: What’s Cooking America?

LIFE GOES ON:

Who’s this? Well, the photo is awful but our many-year friend, Mr. Towhee –along with his wife and children– are probably the birds who most visit our yard here in Colorado Springs. The soundtrack of our summers is that of Mr. Towhee calling to Mrs. Towhee. All. Summer. Long. Mr. Towhee NEVER. GIVES. UP. These sweet, noisy neighbors are actually spotted towhees and they’re good little guys–interesting, fun, caring, and, of course, big singers. Mostly the same song, though, unlike sweet, redbreast robins–who have a different song for everything. By the way, some people call towhees, “ground robins,” but I don’t really agree. Robins themselves frequent the ground; come on. I like towhees because they don’t eat dead squirrels or chase the other birds out of their nests or squabble over eggs from other songbirds. They’re on the ground a lot, so you get to watch them. Know them a bit. When they arrive in the spring, we know life is about to change. You have a Towhee Family where you are?

If you follow me on fb, you’ll recognize what could be one of my “When your breakfast is creepy but you eat it anyway” posts. This particular egg was one being cooked for our labradoodle, Rosie, who’s had some difficulty eating lately. Eggs–no problem. I include it here because I’ve been poach-scrambling her eggs as she’s not supposed to have olive oil anymore. Huh.

The thing is, the poach-scrambled eggs are delicious! I’ve begun to eat them myself. You’ve heard of “the dog’s breakfast,” have you?! You could add salt and pepper and I sometimes do, but they’re yummy naked. So, you add a couple tablespoons of water to a nonstick skillet and heat it over medium heat. You crack in an egg and cook it til it’s about half-done. Like you were making a fried egg, so to speak. BUT! Then: You begin scrambling it, scrambling in the water….scrambling a minute or so until it’s cooked but still tender and moist. You could eat it then or..make something else of it. Should you have time and interest:

One of my favorite Poached-Scrambled Egg Breakfasts is:

Poach-Scrambled Egg on Grilled Bread with Smashed Grilled Tomatoes and Queso Fresco. Fresh oregano because I had it. Pepper. Quite a bit. (I cook the grilled bread and tomatoes in the same skillet after the eggs are done because I don’t like to do too many dishes.)

_{So. You could start a new breakfast trend, right?}

Thanks very much for keeping me company in the kitchen. It means a lot.

And, while you’re in your kitchen, bake a cake. Invite someone to share it. You’ll both be happier.

Come back,

Alyce