The Cake Slice presents: Marbled Lemon Blueberry Butter Cake

Sorry I'm late! This new job is keeping me so busy, but I love it so I'm not complaining! I was supposed to post this entry yesterday with all of the other Cake Slicers, but as soon as I got home from work my mom swooped me up and took me to the mall to go cell phone shopping. I made this cake waayyy back at the beginning of the month. It was delicious, and the entire thing got eaten during wing night! That rarely happens! I'm gonna chalk it up to the fact that I only made half the recipe. I baked it in a 13X9 pan and then cut it into three "layers" to make a rectangular cake. I had a hard time marbling my batter, and when the cake was sliced you couldn't really tell it was marbled. But it was still yummy! The homemade blueberry filling was the best part! I wasn't a huge fan of the whole-egg buttercream. I would've MUCH rather had Swiss meringue buttercream, and Josh agreed with that! Other than that little tidbit, the cake was awesome! Another great choice for The Cake Slice!

See? The marbling looks pretty from the top... This is how I cut it to make a rectangle-shaped cake. I thought I was going to have problems with my buttercream. After whipping the eggs with the sugar syrup, I got SOUP! But it all worked out in the end... And I'm pretty darn proud of the way I decorated the top! ;D ...the marbling is indistinguishable, but it's still pretty!

Marbled Lemon Blueberry Butter Cake (from Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes)
Makes one 8-inch triple-layer cake

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1½ tsp lemon extract
7 egg whites
3 cups cake flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1¼ cups milk
Fresh blueberries, for decoration
Lemon blueberry preserves (below)
Lemon buttercream frosting (below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of three 8 inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper. In a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, lemon zest and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Gradually add the egg whites 2 or 3 at a time, beating well between additions and stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisk gently to blend. In 2 or 3 alternating additions, beat the dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times. Beat on medium-high speed for about 1 minute to smooth out any lumps and aerate the batter. Scoop 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Divide the remaining equally among the 3 prepared pans, smoothing the tops with a spatula. This gives you a smooth surface to work with. Add 2½ tbsp of the lemon blueberry preserves to the reserved batter and blend well. Drizzle heaping teaspoons of this blueberry mixture over the batter in the pans. Use a skewer to swirl the blueberry mixture in short strokes to drag it down through the lemon batter without mixing it in. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester or skewer stuck in the centre comes out clean and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Lat the layers cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack, peeling off the paper and leaving to cool completely.

Lemon Blueberry Preserves
3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
¾ cup sugar
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1½ tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Puree the blueberries with any juices that have exuded in a blender. Pass the puree
through a coarse strainer to remove the skins. In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the blueberry puree with the sugar, lemon juice, zest and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat, stirring often for 20 minutes, or until the preserves have thickened and are reduced to 1 cup. To check the proper thickness place a small amount of a saucer and put in the freezer until cold. Drag your finger through it. If a clear path is made through the preserve then it is ready. Let the preserves cool before using. (Can be made up to 5 days in advance).

Lemon Buttercream Frosting
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 eggs
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil without stirring, occasionally washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat. In a large mixer bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beast the eggs briefly. Slowly add the hot syrup in a thin stream, pouring it down the sides of the bowl; be careful to avoid hitting the beaters or the syrup may splatter. When all the syrup has been added, raise the speed to medium,-high and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and cooled to body temperature. This can take 15-20 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the softened butter 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, beating well between additions. As you’re adding the last few tablespoons of butter, the frosting will appear to break, then suddenly come together like whipped butter. Beat in the lemon juice, and the frosting is ready to use.

To Assemble
To assemble the cake, place a layer, flat side up, on a cake stand. Spread half of the lemon blueberry preserves over the top. Place a second layer on top of the first and spread the remaining preserves over it. Finally place the third layer on top and frost the top and sides with the lemon buttercream. Decorate with fresh blueberries and serve.

IronCupcake_011: Not-So-Blue-Berry Cupcakes

Iron Cupcake:Earth_011
Theme: Summer Berries
My entry: Not-So-Blue-Berry Cupcakes
Voting begins: Sunday, June 28 @ http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/ and will be open through Monday, July 6 at 12 noon Central.

This post is about blueberry cupcakes, but I need to get this rant off my chest first. It's directed to supermarket butter brands. Most people who use butter often have noticed that brands distinguish their salted butter from their unsalted butter by making the writing on the wrappers either red or blue. But why is it that some brands use red on unsalted butter and other brands use blue on unsalted butter?? It gets extremely confusing when I have more than one brand of butter in the fridge. Here's an example: While I was making these blueberry cupcakes I reached in the fridge and grabbed a stick of unsalted butter (not in it's box). The writing was red, and I clearly saw UNSALTED BUTTER on the label. So when I went to make the frosting I grabbed the other two sticks with red writing on them. I assume they're also unsalted because they're red. How shocked was I when I tasted the frosting and it was SALTY!?!?! I looked in the trash can, and sure enough, it was a different brand of butter and it was salted. So, supermarket butter brands, I urge you to please do your part to prevent future baking disasters. Create a general rule that all unsalted butter will be in a blue wrapper, and all salted butter will be in a red wrapper. THANKS!

Now on to the Not-So-Blue-Berry Cupcakes. I gave them that name because blueberries aren't really blue. They're purple. It's cool if you don't believe me. You probably missed that episode of Food Detectives. Anyway, these purple-berry cupcakes are absolutely delicious. I was afraid they would taste like a blueberry muffin with frosting on top, but they don't. They totally make a name for themselves as a cupcake. The frosting is Swiss meringue buttercream (of course) with Braswell's Select blueberry preserves mixed in. Btw, Braswell's Select is my favorite brand of all jams, jellies, preserves, marmalades, you name it! You can usually find it at Marshall's and TJ Maxx for a great price. My all time favorite is the seedless black raspberry. Mmm it's the best!

Anyway, I digress. This is my almost-late entry for IronCupcake:Earth_Summer Berries challenge! I realized it's not the most creative cupcake ever. I planned on using blackberries from the bush in our yard. I waited as long as I could, but the blackberries weren't quite ripe enough to make the deadline!
Blueberry Cupcakes (from Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella)
Makes 14-16 cupcakes
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Insert liners into a regular muffin pan.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs (one at a time) to the creamed mixture and beat well.
In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Beat portions of the dry ingredients into the cream mixture alternating with the milk. Mix for 3 minutes (I don’t know why the recipe says this. It’s not a good idea. I only mixed until the flour was almost fully incorporated.). With a spatula, fold in the vanilla and blueberries.
Fill cupcake liners 1/2 to 3/4 full with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes (mine were done at 18) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Blueberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream (my own recipe)
Makes enough to generously frost about 16 cupcakes
4 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but cool
1 cup blueberry preserves
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Put egg whites and sugar into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is hot (about 160 degrees).
Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes. While mixture is beating, bring the blueberry preserves to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the pulp. Set aside the blueberry liquid to cool to room temperature.
Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium, add cool butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. It may go through a soupy, curdled-looking phase, but it will come together. Reduce speed to low; add cooled blueberry liquid and vanilla extract and continue beating about 2 minutes to combine.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5 (even with salted butter!)



Prizes provided by Etsy artists:
A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH
A groovy linocut piece from BLOCKHEAD PRESS
Also, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice!
SWEET CUPPIN CAKES CUPCAKERY will be tossing in sweet surprise.
Corporate prize providers:
HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
JESSIE STEELE APRONS
CUPCAKE COURIER
TASTE OF HOME books
UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers

Low-Fat Blueberry Muffins

UPDATE: I noticed a lot of you commented and said you're going to bookmark this recipe until blueberries are in season. America's Test Kitchen actually recommends frozen wild blueberries. Wild blueberries are packed with flavor, and they are teeny tiny which makes them perfect for muffins. Also, they're frozen at the peak of freshness, so they're a fabulous substitute for fresh berries! It would be torture to wait for berry season!

Last weekend I was craving something other than my usual granola parfait for breakfast. I've been extremely lax on watching what I eat lately, so I wanted to make something a little on the lighter side. I looked in the Light Baking section of one of my favorite books, The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book, and found a recipe for blueberry muffins. What a great recipe! The muffins are chockful of blueberries. They're so moist and light. You'd never guess they are low-fat! I especially love them because they aren't so sweet that you think you're eating cake. They were sooo good when they were warm from the oven, and the next day they tasted like a whole other muffin. I love a recipe that does that! This is going to be my go-to recipe for blueberry muffins from now on. How many low-fat recipes are good enough to be go-to's?? Bravo, America's Test Kitchen! You definitely deserve a pat on the back for this one!

They're so pretty...
Mmmmm, can it get any better???

LIGHT BLUEBERRY MUFFINS (from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book)
MAKES 12 (I got 8 when I halved the recipe)

Vegetable oil spray
2 cups (10 oz) plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup (4 oz) cake flour
1 cup (7 oz) sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling (I used coarse sugar for sprinkling)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons fresh lemon Juice
1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt (Use low-fat yogurt here; nonfat yogurt will make dry, tasteless muffins)
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (ATK prefers frozen wild blueberries)

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with vegetable oil spray.

2. Whisk 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, cake flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat 3/4 cup more sugar and butter together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds. Beat in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla until incorporated, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Beat in one-third of the flour mixture and half of the yogurt. Repeat with half of the remaining flour mixture and the remaining yogurt. Beat in the remaining flour mixture until just incorporated. Do not overmix.

4. Toss the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of all-purpose flour, then gently fold them into the batter with a rubber spatula. Using a 1/3-cup measuring cup sprayed with vegetable oil spray, portion the batter into each muffin cup, then portion any remaining batter evenly among the cups using a small spoon (My cups were almost completely full). Sprinkle the tops with the remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

5. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

(I halved the recipe expecting to get 6, but I got 8. Therefore, the nutrition facts are a little higher than what my muffins would actually be.)
PER MUFFIN: Cal 250; Fat 5 g; Sat fat 3 g; Chol 45 mg; Carb 45 g; Protein 6 g; Fiber 1 g; Sodium 270 mg

"We wanted to drastically reduce the amount of butter in our muffins down to just 3 or 4 tablespoons-but we didn't want them to be dry and dense. The solution turned out to be twofold. First, we creamed a portion of the sugar with the butter, which made the muffins light and airy. Second, we substituted cake flour for some of the all-purpose flour to give the muffins a fine-textured, delicate crumb." -THE AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN FAMILY BAKING BOOK

Good Morning Muffins

Saturday, Josh (my boyfriend) and I decided to take a day trip to Belle Isle in Richmond. It is one of our favorite places to go to relax on the rocks and explore the trails in the woods. I always wake up way before he does, so I decided to kill time by making some hearty muffins to take with us. I started with a recipe from 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly. Neither Josh nor I really love raisins so I subbed some dried cherries, cranberries, and blueberries. I also added some chopped walnuts for a little crunch (Oh now I sound like Giada!). And I was fresh out of wheat bran, so I just added more oats. I ended up not pouring in all of the wet ingredients, because the batter was looking extremely loose. I had about 1/4 cup of wet ingredients left out. The muffins came out delicious and moist, but a little on the greasy side. Next time I'll probably reduce the oil by 1/4 cup. These muffins are a perfect portable snack for a road trip!

Oh yeah....... no pictures. Sorry.

MY NOTES: I omitted the wheat bran and added 1/3 cup MORE oats. I made my own buttermilk by mixing 2 tbsp. white vinegar with 2 cups minus 2 tbsp. whole milk. I substituted mixed berries for raisins. I added chopped walnuts. I got 16 muffins.

Oatmeal Muffins (Adapted from “500 Cupcakes” by Fergal Connolly)
Makes 12-16 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup wheat bran (I omitted this)
1/3 cup rolled oats (I used 2/3 cup oats)
Pinch of salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 lightly beaten eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 cup (6 oz.) raisins (I used ½ dried mixed berries (cherries, blueberries, cranberries) and plumped them in hot water for about 10 minutes)
½ cup chopped walnuts (My own addition)

Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Grease or line a 12-cup regular muffin pan.
In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. In a large measuring cup, beat the buttermilk, eggs, and oil with an electric mixer until combined.
Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until almost blended. Fold in the raisins (and nuts).
Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the muffins and cool on a rack.
Store in airtight container for up to 2 days (mine were still good after 4 days!), or freeze for up to 3 months.


Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: [none]

Barefoot Contessa® Country Cake Mix

It's about time for another product review, wouldn't you say? I'm gonna make a link section in the sidebar that lists the things I've reviewed. That way it will make for some very easy browsing when you get bored. Okay, Saturday I had a tiny cookout in my house. SO TINY, in fact, that it consisted of only four people including myself! Regardless, we had fun watching a documentary about two guys with the highest scores on the Donkey Kong arcade game. It sounds completely moronic, but it was actually entertaining. ANYWAY, more about the product since this is a product review! I made a cake using the Barefoot Contessa Country Cake Mix I got on clearance for $3 at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago. It made one 8-inch round cake. It came with an extra packet of stuff that you mix with heavy cream to make whipped cream, but as far as I could tell it was just granulated sugar with some vanilla flavoring... nothing special. I didn't even use it. I split the cake in half (USE STRING, IT'S SO EASY!!), layered it with macerated berries and cream cheese mousse, and topped it with more fresh berries. The cake was very moist like pound cake and was scented with orange zest. The zest paired perfectly with the berries. I definitely give this cake mix an A+. It was worth $3, but I dunno if I would've paid the regular price of $6 for one 8-inch round cake.

IngredientsFirst, you mix 1/2 cup of cake mix with 1 stick of butter. Then add the rest of the cake mix and some water.
It makes enough for one 8-inch cake.Tada!It was really yummy!

For the berries, combine 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 sliced strawberries, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar in a bowl. Cover and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Mash berries and spoon mixture directly onto cake layers.

For cream cheese mousse, beat 1 cup heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, beat 8 ounces of cream cheese, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Spread over macerated berries. Keep the cake refrigerated.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5