Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Let them eat (Ohio blueberry) cake!

There’s something about the winter in Ohio that gives me one heck of a sweet tooth – and when the sweet tooth strikes, it’s something I have to take care of as soon as possible.  A week or so ago, I was feeling extra motivated and decided to make a cake. From scratch.


Last summer I checked out Southern Cakes from the Columbus Metropolitan Library.  This book was full of delightful recipes rooted in southern tradition.  It also featured several cakes with seasonal fruits and flavors – win, win!  I selected a few favorites from this book and one such favorite I had been wanting to try was Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake.  This cake sounded amazing and since I had a few extra bags of blueberries leftover from the summer safely frozen and preserved in my freezer, I knew this was the perfect cake to make for the day.

The recipe was very simple – just a few basic ingredients (it didn't even call for vanilla!).  The cake was a pleasure from start to finish.  The dough was so white and when speckled with the Ohio blueberries, it was really a very pretty thing to admire.

This was a very delicate dough so not a ton of mixing was required.

Just look at those gorgeous Ohio blueberries!  So thankful to have them from last season.  Their flavor is top notch!

Ready to go in the oven!  One thing I also noticed is that local berries really held their juice and didn't turn the batter blue  -- which was awesome!
Coming out of the oven, I was overjoyed to have the pop right out of the pan after cooling on a rack (in the past, my cakes have become stuck in the pan and made a huge fail).  Slicing into the cake and tasting a bite was pure heaven.  This is definitely a cake I’ll make again.  The plump, colorful and incredibly tasty blueberries were so perfect in this cake. 

If this came out of your oven, wouldn't you be happy, too?
And even though the recipe called for Virginia blueberries, I have to say, the Ohio blueberries I used can probably give any Virginia berry a run for its money.

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