Berries Were on Sale! Therefore: Blueberry Cake

Last weekend Sunflower had 6 oz containers of blueberries and blackberries on sale for 88 cents each, so I bought 8 containers and have been happily gorging myself all week. I love love love berries, and these are particularly good ones: the blackberries are sweet and incredibly juicy, and the blueberries are plump perfection. On Friday night we were having another game night with the McWheatyPantses, and I was supposed to take a dessert. I almost took chocolate chip cookies, because you can't ever go wrong with those, but I decided to try and put some of the berries to use. I debated making a tart, but those are best warm, and I wanted something that wouldn't be difficult to transport. So I checked out some recipes online, and decided to adapt a recipe from Orangette's blog, which I have adapted before in the form of lime cupcakes. The original recipe calls for a lemon glaze, which I left off, and I substituted lemon extract for the lemon zest it calls for, because I didn't want an overpowering lemon taste.

This time I added blueberries and made a blueberry/blackberry sauce to drizzle over each slice. The end result was pretty much a tea cake: not too sweet, with a fairly fine crumb and a nice lemony, yogurty tang. The warm blueberries on top drizzled down through the cake, and I dusted each slice with powdered sugar to add a bit of extra sweetness. Considering I think I ate half the cake by myself, I can vouch for its deliciousness. I think it would be equally good with strawberries, or raspberries or blackberries that have small seeds.

Blueberry-Lemon Cake with Blueberry and Blackberry Sauce

adapted from Orangette's blog

1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp lemon extract

1/2 cup canola oil

4 oz fresh blueberries

2 oz fresh blueberries

2 tbsp blackberry or blueberry syrup

1 tbsp water

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a 9 inch cake pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper and lightly greasing the whole pan.

In a large bowl cream together the sugar and yogurt, then beat in the eggs. Once these three ingredients are thoroughly combined, mix in the flour, baking powder, and lemon extract. Add the oil and stir to incorporate it. I did all the stirring with a wooden spoon, it just takes a minute or two of elbow grease to completely incorporate the oil. In a separate bowl toss the blueberries in about a half tablespoon of flour, until they're all lightly coated.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Dot the surface of the cake with the blueberries, then top the blueberries with the rest of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes, or until golden-brown on top. Let the cake cool at least 15 minutes in the pan, then remove it carefully to a wire rack to finish cooling. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the rest of the blueberries, the syrup, and the water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer at fairly high heat for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer and thicken for another 5 minutes or so. I poured the sauce into a small tupperware container, and took the sauce and cake separately. Then just before serving I microwaved the sauce for about 30 seconds, and then drizzled the top of each slice. Bon appetit!