Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake

This is what you hear when you ask your kids what kind of quick bread or pound cake you should make today. Our “boo” (Joshie to the uninitiated) wanted “booberry”). On a side note, my husband started calling Josh Boo when he was but a wee infant and the nick name just kind of stuck. Now he is Boo to practically everyone. We have half joked that when he gets to school age and the teacher asks his name, his response will be “Boo Aaron Brand!” and on his wedding day, the pastor will be asking his bride if she takes “Boo” to be her husband. Yes, we’re a strange strange family. I somehow doubt this comes as much of a surprise.

Moving on… Boo wanted “booberry cake”, Jordan (Zach was still asleep…at noon. Ahhh, the life of a teen on Summer vacation from school) wanted lemon. So what was a mother to do? I did NOT want to make one of each… too expensive and results in too much in the way of sweets in the house. Nor did I want to disappoint either boy.

So I remembered the recipe I had recently printed out for Ina Gartens Lemon Yogurt Cake. I’ve said before and I’m sure I’ll say again; you can never go wrong with Ina’s recipes. The woman is a cooking goddess. I have another one…or maybe two… might be three… of her recipes waiting to try after payday. With this recipe, I decided I could make both boys happy. I simply made the cake as written but adding about 2 cups of blueberries to the batter just before pouring it into the pan. On a side note, you ever make something while thinking to yourself what a cooking goddess/god YOU are only to find out after the fact that 350,000 have done the almost exact same thing before you did? Rather disheartening to ones cooking goddess dreams isn’t it? It’s like this big “well crap, I invented this darn it! I did, I did, I didddddd!!!” Sorry. I’m done now. 😛

But, done before me or not, this turned out wonderfully. The cake is moist and tender and nicely lemony with the little additions I made (Sorry, Ina) and the pockets of tart sweet blueberries add a wonderful fruitiness to this. Add in the tangy glaze and you have an all around yummy snack cake… dessert…breakfast…lunch…dinner…midnight snack. You get the point. So go buy some blueberries… they’re getting inexpensive right now. Then grate some lemons and get to cooking. You can thank me later. Although thanking me now is good too. I’m cool with that.

Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup yogurt (I used a vanilla Greek yogurt)
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest (It took me 3 lemons for that)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• For the lemony glaze-
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in the lemon zest and stir well.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, egg and extracts.
4. Gradually combine the dry ingredients with the wet ones.
5. Then, with a rubber spatula, fold in the oil. I know, I know, seems like a weird technique but it works. Make sure the oil is completely folded in and no oily streaks remain. Gently fold in the blueberries.
6. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for between 50 minutes to 75 minutes (first is what the original recipe said; second is what it took in my oven) or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. While it’s cooking, make the glaze- combine the lemon juice and sugar in a small pot. Cook over medium high heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear.
8. Cool in the pan for ten minutes then turn out onto a wire rack under which you’ve placed a cookie sheet or large plate. This is to catch drips.
9. While the cake is still warm, pour the glaze over the cake slowly, allowing it to soak in each time before adding more.
10. Finish cooling…if you can. Slice into huge slabs and hide from the kids. When they ask which cake you decided to make, tell them you made both and they fell on the floor and the cats ate them. So sorry. Maybe next time
    

    Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake

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