Blueberry Lemon Cake

I got the inspiration for this charming cake from Molly Wizenberg's thoughtful blog, Orangette. I found out about her blog writing workshop through the awesome food distribution list at work. (One of the quirks of working at a big company is that there's bound to be people who share your interests. Don't even get me started on the daily deluge of cute cat pictures in my inbox).

I've read Molly book, A Homemade Life, and was impressed by how she wove simple, heart-felt stories around themes of food. After signing up for the workshop, I decided to drop by her blog and see what's new on Orangette. I was intrigued by the Marmalade cake, which involves pureeing whole boiled citrus fruits and incorporating it, peel and all, to the cake batter.

I didn't have an orange like the recipe specified, but I did have plenty of lemons on hand. I also had a box of blueberries in the fridge. I put two and two together and voila, blueberry lemon cake.

I used the same recipe, except substituting two lemons for the orange and lemon, and stirring in a cup of blueberries at the end.

Instead of baking one large cake, I divided the batter into four mini loaf pans (I got them for making pound cake, they're just the cutest things ever).

I learned that dividing batter between four pans is really easy if you have a scale. Hours of chemistry lab at one of the world's best research universities has taught me how to measure things on a scale. Tuition well spend, eh? 

Forty minutes later, I had four little loafs of dense, fragrant cakes.

 

This the favorite cake I've made, ever. I love its bright, fragrant, bitter-edged lemon-ness and the pockets of sweet blueberry. I also like the dense coarse crumbs. It's rustic, in an elegant Mediterranean way (must be the toasted almond flour and olive oil). I love it even more because it's a cake that keeps on getting better for days afterward.

Leo agrees with me : )