Lemons and Blueberries Make My Heart Sing!

There's just something about lemons and blueberries mixed together that make me happy! Maybe it's the vibrant colors or the way the flavors dance around on my palate, but I can't get enough of these two. Anytime I find a recipe for this delightful duo, I've got to try it.  Hence this 3 layer cake....

It's a LOT of work, but well worth it, so here we go...

THE CAKE

2 cups plus 6 tbsp flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Sift all together and set aside

In a small bowl, mix....
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp pure lemon extract
1 tsp lemon zest

Three cups of fresh blueberries tossed with 1 tbsp of the flour mixture                        

Fresh lemon zest

THE CURD

6 large egg yolks, separated
Zest of one lemon
1/2 cup of lemon juice
3/4 cup of sugar
1 stick of butter, cold, cut into pieces

Fresh lemon juice and zest

Cooking the lemon curd

Combine egg yolks, lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar in a small sauce pan.   Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick. The curd should be thick enough to cover the back of the spoon, about 5-7 min.

Poor the curd into a shallow pan and cover with plastic wrap; directly on top of the curd to keep a film from forming.  Wrap tightly with plastic over the top and refrigerate until cooled.

FROSTING

1 cup softened butter
2 tsp lemon zest
5-6 cups powdered sugar
2 oz fresh lemon juice
6 tbsp whipping cream
1/2 tsp pure lemon extract
2 tbsp water
Pinch of salt
Yellow food coloring, optional

Cream the butter and lemon zest in a bowl, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the powdered sugar, mixing on low speed about 2 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and mix on high for 3-4 minutes until fluffy.

Layer the cake with the lemon curd between the layers. This is kind of tricky. I frosted the edges as I was doing this to keep the curd from oozing down the sides. Finish frosting after you've layered it all. Garnish as you please. I was so tired from being in the kitchen all day, I just sprinkled with some yellow sugar and added some lemon rind. Worked for me!

ENJOY!
It's SO good!

Sugar Coma

My son's birthday fell on Friday the 13th...his lucky day or so he says. I wanted to bake him a special cake and was looking through my box of old recipes and found one from mom called, "The Perfect Chocolate Cake." Well, "perfect" caught my attention. I perused the recipe and made sure I had all the ingredients it called for, and let's not forget the cute apron. A baker MUST have a cute apron when making a cake of this magnitude. I proceeded to start this cake on the afternoon of the 13th. We were taking Scooter and his girlfriend, Tracie, out to dinner that evening, so I needed to get it done. Oh, did I mention I was also working through all this? It has been slow, so I thought, good, I won't be bothered much...WRONG...sooooooooo wrong! I was slammed (thank you #13)...I should have known.

Now, when I cook or bake, I do my best to kind of clean up as I go along..really, I do. Not this day. I was on a deadline, had faxes coming in, paperwork to deal with and this huge cake to figure out. Needless to say, powdered sugar was flying all over the kitchen! I had to boil the chocolate mixture and wait for it to cool. Whip the frosting over a bowl of ice (huh?) and bake 3 pans at one time. That made me so nervous.




The cakes had cooled, the frosting done, and the whipped cream filling waiting to be layered between the cakes. The cakes came out the pans just fine and the filling was layered and the cakes didn't slide off(I was holding my breath). The cake was a little lopsided, but not much. I made the mistake of leaving the frosting in the pan sitting in the bowl of ice, so it was not so easy to spread. I let it sit a bit and just whipped it up some more. I did some swirly moves with my knife and also took the back of a spoon to create some peaks. I didn't have anything to garnish it with, so it would have to do. It was 4:45 and I had to hop in the shower and get ready for the kids to arrive and take them out to dinner. It all got done in the nick of time.


After dinner, we came home and cut into that monster and that first bite was so goooood! Very moist, the filling delightful, and the frosting perfect. The chocolate was just right. Not too rich. Add a little vanilla ice cream and let the sugar coma begin!

BTW...that's the birthday boy, Scooter, with his lovely fiance, Tracie!