Aren't blueberries the best? When they're in season, they are just so plump and beautiful and juicy. They are easy to eat - just grab a handful and go. And, turns out they are a 'superfood' which means they have things called 'antioxidants' which apparently do something good for my body, so yay! Blueberries!I haven't posted lately because most of what I've been baking lately has failed in one way or another. It's really upsetting because baking is one of the few things I'm good at. I made some cupcakes with chocolate butterflies on top that ended up looking stupid, I made Martha's dessert of the month and they stuck horribly to the parchment (that Martha TOLD me to line the pan with), and then I made this blueberry pound cake. Don't get me wrong, it TASTED good, but it is not. pretty. And I just don't understand why.
My ingredients: blueberries, heavy cream (you can substitute milk or half and half), SELF-RISING flour (I'm normally an AP kind of gal, but I've been looking to use up this self-rising flour that my ex-boyfriend accidently got. *ahem*. ), sugar, butter (softened), eggs, vanilla. The lime juice in the picture is because I originally was going to make a lime glaze to pour over the cake, but in the end I decided not to. So ignore it.
First, butter a loaf pan and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
This is my new orange KitchenAid mixer!!!!! My parents got it for me as a graduation gift. I love it soooooooooooooooo much. It's my favorite color! As I baked this cake, I found myself singing "you... are... so beautiful... to MEEEEEEEE" to the mixer. This is why I don't have friends.
Not as cool as the mixer, but this is my new apron from Salvation Army - 1 dolla! It has a dishtowel attached at the waist so you can wipe your hands as you go. Brilliant!Also, I'm not naked under the apron. I have shorts on. Just FYI.
Anyway, dump 3/4 cup butter and 1 cup sugar in your mixing bowl and cream them together. You can do this by hand if you don't have a kickass stand mixer like I do.
Light and fluffy!
Add two eggs and beat together.
Add 1 1/4 cups self-rising flour, 3 tablespoons of heavy cream, and 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Yes, a whole TABLESPOON of vanilla.
Wash and pick the stems off a bunch of blueberries. I used a pint, minus about a handful (which I couldn't resist eating).
Toss the berries in a tablespoon of flour. This, theoretically, should keep the batter from turning blue and also keep the berries from sinking to the bottom. As you will find out shortly, this did not happen.
Gently fold your berries into your batter...
...and dump it all into your loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer (knife, whatever) comes out clean.
Ta da... the cake is done. But it looks... bad. Just not good.I don't have pictures of what happened next, because I was too busy cursing and getting frustrated. I let my cake cool, I dumped it out onto a pretty plate, and... ALL the blueberries were stuck to the bottom of the pan. My poundcake, which was SUPPOSED to be delightfully studded with berries, had turned into a very messy upside-down cake.
Why did this happen?! I did the flour thing with the berries...
Anyway, it still tasted delish. I guess it all gets mixed up in my stomach in the end. Any advice to keep this from happening in the future?
