Blueberry Cake

Dear readers, I hope you will forgive me, but I am having a bit of a rough week, and as such, I am going to cop out on you a little bit and recycle one of my recipes. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about this spectacular strawberry cake. I mentioned then that it was super versatile. Case in point: one slight adjustment, and we have blueberry cake! Now, imagine it as sour cherry cake, white peach cake, pineapple cake. The key is to pack in the fresh fruit as close together as possible, and bake until juicy and sticky delicious.

I have also been looking for an opportunity to use the vanilla sugar that is very prettily adorning my kitchen counter. This specialty ingredient seemed quite appropriate for this festive beach picnic dessert. Unfortunately, or not actually, California's somewhat bipolar weather patterns kept me from the beach, and this cake from leaving my kitchen.

Blueberry Cake

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup barley flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
Slightly less than 1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup unsweetened non dairy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar

Heat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9” or 10” pie pan. I used the stunning red 9” pie dish I received for Valentine’s Day.

In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until thoroughly mixed. Beat the butter in the bowl of a mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. In a blender, combine the flaxseed and water. Whip until thick and creamy. Add to the butter and sugar along with the milk, vanilla, and lemon zest. Beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into your pie dish, and spread evenly along the bottom. Top with the blueberries, pushing them gently into the batter. Sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar.

Place in the center of the oven, and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 and bake for another 50 to 60 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean (don’t worry about a little strawberry juice though). Remove from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Serve warm, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 three days.