Tuesday, July 25, 2006

A cake for ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday




Lemon-Blueberry Bundt Cake
Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2006 Copyright 2005

Cake:
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
4 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) container reduced-fat sour cream
2 cups fresh blueberries

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. To prepare cake, coat a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; dust with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Set aside.
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, stirring with a whisk.
4. Place 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar. butter and rind in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (about 4 minutes total). Beat in vanilla and sour cream. Add flour mixture; beat at medium speed until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
5. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and lemon juice, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Yield: 16 servings. Per serving: 299 cal, 7.8 g fat, 5 g pro, 53.2 g carbs, 1.1 g fiber, 71 mg chol, 1.5 mg iron, 172 mg sodium, 68 mg calcium
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I saw a gorgeous blueberry bundt cake on a magazine cover recently. I resisted buying the magazine for that recipe but when I came across this recipe in my new Cooking Light annual, I knew I had to make it. I thought I had everything I needed except the lemons, which I picked up, but here's a good lesson for you - always check your containers! I thought I had an untouched container of light sour cream but when I got to the point in the recipe where I needed to add the sour cream, I only had half of a container. Although I could have added yogurt, I chose to send my husband to the store instead. Disaster averted.

I loved the texture of this cake. It was so smooth and moist. Personally, I could tell this was a lightened up cake, but that isn't a bad thing. It just wasn't as sweet as a 'regular' cake - that's really a very good thing. The blueberries were really sweet and flavorful and honestly they weren't that great before they were baked into the cake. I tried eating them with yogurt for breakfast and they were way too tart. I haven't tasted really good fresh blueberries in years. I know they're out there somewhere but they're not ending up in my produce bin. I still have another container of blueberries I need to find a use for.

Why oh why can't I conquer the art of glazing? My glazes are either too thick or too thin. I thought this runny glaze did a good job of flavoring the cake but just once I would like to have a picture perfect glaze on a cake (where the glaze miraculously stops running well before it hits the plate). My glazing gene must have been left behind with the pie crust gene.

After I made this I realized this would be perfect for Sweetnick's ARF/5-A-Day Tuesdays. Blueberries are definitely making a name for themselves, nutritionally speaking. They're loaded with antioxidants and studies have shown them to help vision and memory, lower cholesterol, protect the brain after a stroke, protect against colon cancer and too many other great things to mention here (read the link!).

Question of the Day: Have you had any good blueberries lately? What did you do with them?

10 comments:

Heather said...

I am not a huge blueberry fan so I don't buy them fresh. I use frozen and made some pretty good muffins with them last week.

Unknown said...

I LOVE blueberries. Put them in my yogurt every day. When they're out of season, I put frozen berries in it; this is GREAT because the texture is soft and creamy as they start to thaw. YES, I've had some great blueberries this season. I think Mississippi is great for growing them. The last really good batch I had, I made a pie with. It turned out perfect. I'll post that recipe within the week.

Randi said...

looks yummy. I make another of CL's blueberry pound cake recipe that is so good too. It uses light butter, but I just sub regular butter.

Rebel In Ontario said...

We are into about the 8th container of fresh blueberries here (SE Ontario Canada) and our favourite way is washed, straight out of the container but we have been sneaking them into some pancake batter as well! This looks divine and I may have to try it while my company is here!

ThursdayNext said...

This question is timely. :) I just got a pint of blueberries from the Korean supermarket yesterday. They were all pump and sweet; I ate them right out of the container in one sitting!

Jennifer said...

We drive 90 minutes to East Texas to get blueberries...they are fantastic! I usually eat them all before I can make anything with them.

Annie said...

Paula, It looks like we were on the same wave length this time. I just made low-fat blueberry muffins with lemon zest and juice and posted them on sweetnicks as well. I used the same link for the nutritional info too. LOL

The cake looks so good, moist and tender. I think the glaze looks just fine. =)

Jean said...

Hi Paula. I came from Sweetnicks just for this recipe as it sounded SOOO tasty. I just picked 15 pounds of blueberries yesterday and the are the sweetest I have ever tasted. Into the freezer they go for a sweet treat during the frigid winter months. I like to make my mom's blueberry muffins, pancakes and probably throw them into a smoothie here or there and on some cereal. I found they also cleanse out little people really well...my 2 year old daughter can attest to this. :)

Anonymous said...

Wash and dry a pint of blueberries. I usually wash them and then put them on paper towels, where they dry themselves, you can pat the blossom ends if you are in a hurry. Get about a pound of chocolate - good stuff you melt and temper if you so desire, or chocolate melting wafers. I prefer dark, but milk chocolate is good if you like it. Carefully fold the blueberries (tart ones are best) into the melted chocolate. Put spoonfuls (not too big) on foil or wax paper and let cool. Yummy!

Anonymous said...

This cake looks SO good!!! Our blueberries have been ok this year. I love to bake with them, or eat them in huge quantities, but haven't so much this summer. I have WAY too many favorite blueberry recipes... NOT! :). From my cookbooks, my favorite recipes are King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking's Blueberry Cream Pie, Blueberry Pie, Blueberry Corn Pancakes, and Blueberry Oatmeal. From America's Test Kitchen, the Blueberry Cobbler, Quick Lemon-Blueberry Napoleons, and Strawberry, Blueberry and Nectarine Fruit Salad. Also, Cooks Country's Blueberry Boy Bait, Blueberry Streusel Muffins, and Bkueberry Cobbler Stuffed French Toast. Cooks Illustrated: Best Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping. From Cooking for Two 2009, Blueberry Crumble. From The Mixer Bible, Lemon Blueberry Muffins. Okay now I want some of everything!!!