Sunday, June 20, 2010

Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake

I was eagerly anticipating how this month's cake would turn out because it uses blueberries. That I have plenty of .. frozen ones .. in my freezer. What a great way to get rid of some of my cache from last summer! And guess what, summer is here again! Singapore really does not have summer or the four seasons for that fact. Hmmm ... come to think of it, we actually do have four season; hot and hotter, wet and wetter. I'm not joking.

Speaking of wet, we have a really bad thunderstorm on Wednesday morning. We had about 100mm of rainfall in less than 3 hours. The main shopping belt, Orchard Road, was flooded. Of my 20 years staying in Singapore I have never heard of Orchard Road being flooded .. never! I was totally glued to the
photos which were being posted in cyberspace. I watched over prime time news that evening and it reported that shops which operated in the basement of these affected buildings had a lot of their goods damaged and they are anticipating quite a set back in their busines. Vehicles which were stranded in the floods and stalled along Orchard Road, would have to have their entire engine overhauled and dried out. How lucky I was not to be working in that part of town!

I remembered last year in November we experienced similar floods. Some of the buildings' basement carparks in a residential district was entirely flooded. Cars that were parked there were totally submerged and I meant underwater. There was a relatively new Ferari parked in one of these buildings and I think the driver would have to pay at least $$300,000 or maybe more just to repair his vehicle. That's provided his Ferari could still run.

Photobucket


Before I ramble further, this particular blueberry cake may look simple but it was oh so delicious. It's extremely, extremely moist and light. Not as light as a sponge cake but not that far of in my books. I had at first thought of halfing the recipe but am glad that I did not. The batter was extremely thick and as I was using a handmixer, the blades were kind of groaning a bit. I had so anticipated a heavy and dry cake but on the contrary it was not. This is one recipe, in my books, is for keeps!

Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake
Recipe Adapted from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw and dust the blueberries with about 2 tablespoon of the flour mixture)

Method

1) Heat the oven to 375F and generously grease a 9 inch square or round pan.

2) Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and stir with a fork to mix well. In a medium bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer at high speed until well combined. Add the egg and beat well for 1 to 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl until the mixture is smooth and light.

3) Stir in half the flour mixture then half the milk, mixing just enough to keep the batter fairly smooth and well combined. Add the remaining flour, then the rest of the milk, mixing gently. Stir in the blueberries. (Note that the batter is extremely thick and you will likely have to scrape the top so as to level out the cake batter)

4) Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 375F for 30 minutes or until the cake is golden, springs back when touched gently in the centre and is pulling away from the sides of the pan.

5) Serve a square of cake right from the pan, warm or at room temperature. If its round, let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack or folded kitchen towel for 10 minutes and then turn it out to cool, top side up.

Photobucket


Photobucket

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the texture of this cake. Look so soft and fluffy.

busygran said...

Like the soft yellow look contrast with the blueberry. Looks like I can't put off baking a blueberry cake. Instead of using frozen blueberries, will fresh ones do? Just wondering if it will affect the texture.

ann low said...

Ooh..this cake really looks so soft and fluffy. I want to bookmark it as I saw very cheap blueberries at NTUC yesterday.

Quinn said...

Looks soft....I usually don't put cake with butter in fridge. I kept them at room temperature in an air tight container. It's so fun to just pass by and pop it in your mouth as you go. I love the look of this!

Jo said...

Hi Ellie, Ann and Quinn, thanks for dropping by. The cake is very moist even though the batter is extremely thick. So don't be intimidated if you are making this and think you have done something wrong.

Hi Busygran, yes, you can use fresh blueberries. I don't think the texture would be compromised in any way.

Anonymous said...

The thickness of this batter scared me a little bit, but I was glad to see that it baked up very light and airy. I agree that this was a great cake. I hope all of the flooding has subsided in your area!

El said...

I'm so sorry about the flooding. It looks awful. Glad you had this beautiful cake to help you weather the storm. It looks beautiful!

Noob Cook said...

your cake looks beautiful with the bits of burst blueberry ... I want that for tea break :)

Katie said...

Your cake looks wonderful and so soft and tender.

Pei-Lin said...

Jo, first of all, sorry for MIA over the past week! Been struggling with problems, at work and with my hearing problem. Sorta having a fatigue now. :S

Yea, I think I heard of the news: a flooded Orchard Road! Whoa! I wonder what'd happen if this were to happen during Christmastime. Scary ...

After work last Friday, I stopped by Cold Storage and Jusco, I found blueberries were on sale! I think they still are! I bought like 250 g and froze them because I'd already baked and cooked some stuff for my following week at work. I'm still stuck with not knowing what to do with the berries! Haha! Plus, I'm tempted to get more when I swing by CS and Jusco again, if the berries are still on sale! Haha! Greedy me!

BUT, you blueberry cake looks like a good one! Simple and yet incredibly satisfying! Reminds me so much of the blueberry bake-off from last summer when I was still in Minnesota. =)

Angel @ Cook.Bake.Love said...

Hi I am first time here. Nice blog! I made the same cake too :) it's yum yum.

Future Grown-Up said...

I love those juicy blueberries peeking out all over the cake...very yummy looking! Great job with the cake.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

looks terrific! hopefully the wet weather has calmed down a bit.

The Duo Dishes said...

It seems as though the weather is a bit crazy all over the globe. Hope the cake helped make things a little better. It's so fluffy!

Anh said...

oh. The cake does look soft and nice. I'll try it out :)

ICook4Fun said...

Jo, the texture of this cake look really soft. I've bought a lot of blueberries for freezing too and now looking for something to bake it with. This will be great! By the way, beautiful pictures

Cherine said...

This cake looks so soft and moist. Would be perfect with a cup of coffee or tea!

pigpigscorner said...

I saw the flood pictures, looks horrible =( Your cake looks gorgeous, so soft and moist!

Deb said...

I popped over from the link on Baking Bites blog...I live in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and, of course, the name of the cake caught my eye. I will have to make this; it certainly sounds/looks delicious!

Joanne said...

That looks quite fluffy and delicious! the perfect way to use up some old blueberries...and make way in the freezer for new ones!

Monica H said...

Your cake looks so light and fluffy. It makes me wish I had another slice.

Sorry to hear about all the rain and flooding. That's crazy!

Jennifer Jo said...

3/4 cups of ??? Sugar, I presume?

Jo said...

Hi Jennifer, thanks for spotting that. Yes it is 3/4 cup sugar.

Jo said...

Hi El, Pei-Lin, Ann, thanks for your concern. It was actually a flash flood. The next day everything went back to normal except for the business that were affected - they had to clean up the mess.

Jo said...

Heh Pei-Lin, no harm getting more berries when it's on sale. That what I did last year and I still have some more left. Haha .. maybe I'll get some more as well as it's pretty cheap right now. Hope everything is fine with you and don't stay MIA for so long ok!

Caroline said...

Hope you are doing well with the flooding. Love how your cake turned out, so tall & looks moist, esp the blueberries. Glad to know it will do great with frozen ones.

Anonymous said...

Do you think an 8X8 pan would work okay?

Jo said...

Hi Anonymous, yes it should. You will just have a slightly higher cake than if it was a 9"9. In fact I baked mine in a rectangular pan instead of square. Watch your baking time ... it could be just a bit longer that's all.

Jo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ingrid_3Bs said...

Looks delicious.....I made it after seeing everyone's but used raspberries instead. I goofed though I didn't adjust the baking temp for my dark coated pan. :(
~ingrid

Anonymous said...

Tried this cake & it was DELICIOUS! The texture is so soft & moist. As my kids are not a fan ogf blueberry, would be trying this cake recipe with choc chips & a crumble topping next time. Thanks for sharing this recipe

Jo said...

Hi Anonymous, so pleased that you tried out the recipe and liked it. Other than chocolate chips you could also try other fresh fruit if your kids are not fans of blueberries.

Anonymous said...

This is a very nice and delicious looking cake and would be great to bake now that the fall has arrived. A hot cup of coffee or tea, a slice of this cake, terrific.

Anonymous said...

I baked this recipe today and it was de-li-cious ~ . comment though, you didn't include the lemon zest or vanilla essence in the actual recipe, but luckily i added it ! The cake turns out exactly as promised, and im actually finding it to STOP eating. HEHE. >:)

DT said...

Dear Jo, I chanced upon your blog when I was searching for a recipe to use up my blueberries. I first saw your blueberry muffin recipe and was enticed to bake it, as like you, I like the cake like sort of muffin. I started browsing more and more of your recipes and couldn't stop, as I love the little details and the nice photographs thatyou share. I finally decided to bake this - and was so worried seeing the thick batter. Luckily your recipe mentioned that the thick batter is normal. True enough, the cake turned out so soft and fluffy, I love the lemon and vanilla scent... It even has a crispy crust when fresh out of the oven, I couldn't bother wasting time to take nice photos at all as i just wanted to have a second slice! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe... As an inexperienced baker, I am so happy whenever I bake something successfully. Thank you!!:)

DT

Jo said...

Hi DT, I am so glad to hear that you tried out this recipe and liked it. It is always such a pleasure to receive feedback from readers such as yourself. I hope you try out some of the other cake recipes in my blog. Happy baking.

Related Posts with Thumbnails