Blueberry Bundt Cake
The charm of a Bundt cake lies in its fanciness, which, if your family has become as complacent on the homemade baked goods front as mine, might be just the thing to jolt them out of their doldrums. I tried this recently with a blueberry Bundt cake, adding the berries both to the sour cream-enriched batter, and to the glaze, which turned appealingly purple.
Equipment
- 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 3½ cups (450 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- ¾ tsp. fine sea salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 cup (225 grams) room-temperature unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- 1½ cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp bourbon or brandy
or ½ tsp almond extract
or go crazy — all three!
- 1 tsp grated nutmeg or 1 tsp grated lemon zest (optional)
- ½ cup (120 ml) sour cream
- ½ cup (120 ml) milk
- 2 cups blueberries fresh or frozen (no need to thaw)
Glaze:
- ½ cup blueberries
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cups (245 grams) unsifted confectioner's sugar
- few drops lemon juice or milk (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients.
- Using an electric mixer (either hand-held or a stand mixer), cream unsalted butter with granulated sugar, letting the mixer go until the butter is light and fluffy. The softer the butter is to start with, the more quickly this will go.
- Beat in the 4 eggs, one at a time, letting the first one disappear into the batter before adding the next. Beat in vanilla extract, or bourbon or brandy, or almond extract. Or go crazy and add all three! I also mixed in a teaspoon of grated nutmeg, but a teaspoon grated lemon zest would also be lovely with the blueberries.
- Now pour in half of the flour mixture, beating briefly to incorporate it, then mix in the sour cream. Add the remaining flour, then the milk. You have other dairy options here instead of sour cream plus milk. A cup of buttermilk or plain yogurt, or 1 cup of whole milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice will also work. (Add it to the batter ½ cup at a time as you would the sour cream and milk.)
- Once the batter is nice and smooth, switch to a spatula and fold in 2 cups blueberries. Scrape the batter into the buttered, sugared pan, smooth the top, and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs clinging to it. If you see any wet batter, keep baking, tenting the top of the cake with foil if it gets too brown.
- When it’s done, transfer to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, then unmold the cake onto the rack and let it cool completely.
- In the meantime, make the glaze: In a small saucepan, heat ½ cup blueberries with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, letting the mixture bubble away for about 5 minutes, until the berries burst.
- Use a fork or potato masher to smush the berries into jam. Stir in the confectioners’ sugar, adding a little more if needed to make a thick but pourable glaze. If it seems too thick, stir in a few drops of lemon juice or milk. Pour glaze over the cake. Note: I did not strain this glaze, and it looked smooth enough to me. Perfectionists can strain at will. In either case, let the glaze set for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
- Then serve the berry-speckled slices on your prettiest dessert plates