T his blueberry cake recipe is part of my blueberry dessert recipes collection. I have been cooking this Italian cake since I was 18 - and really, I think it's more like a muffin in texture (just not as dense). I altered it a bit since I was 18. I wanted to add more of a fruit zesty flavor. And I think I got it down. This is an in-between-er on texture. Slightly muffin-y texture and ever so slightly cake-y texture.
Since my whole site is Italian dessert recipes you may not be surprised to see olive oil as one of the fat flavoring ingredients. Don't freak out - there is still butter. BUT here is the key, you need to use VIRGIN olive oil. Without going into the processing of olive oil, just take my word for it. If you don't know what virgin olive oil is, or don't have it - just go with all butter.
There are couple of creative liberties you can take, like with the zest. And potentially if you HAVE to - you can use frozen blueberries. See how below. See substitution section below for ideas so that you can work with what you have in your pantry.
Thanks for stopping by -
* 3/4 cup unsalted butter
* 1/2 cup of VIRGIN olive oil
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 4 eggs
* 1 tsp of vanilla
* 1/2 tsp of almond extract
* 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
* 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
* zest of two lemons grated
* zest of 2 oranges grated
* zest of half a lime grated
* 3/4 cup heavy cream ( yes, you can use a milk if you must :-) )
* 1 1/2 cups of fresh blue berries
* Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
* Grease the cake pan. Set aside.
* Beat eggs and sugar. You want it light yellow in color.
* Add butter, olive oil, cream, and the vanilla and almond extracts.
* Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
* Mix well.
* Sift in the flour and baking powder. If you feel you want salt add a pinch here at this step.
* Stir in all the zests.
* Spoon half of the batter into the prepared cake pan.
* Drop 1/3 of the blue berries evenly on top of the batter.
* Cover with the remaining batter.
* Sprinkle the remaining blue berries on the top. Press them into the batter so you only see a little bit of the tops.
* Bake for
NOTE: If you leave the blueberries too much above the top of the batter - they heat up before the cake and they explode.
You're the cook. If you don't want or don't have the zests - don't worry about it. Make up the difference.
I usually make this with fresh blueberries. But I've done it with frozen and it will turn out OK, although fresh is always best (and more pricey!). Here's what I do:
Your blueberry cake recipe will be just fine with frozen if you make sure and totally dry them before using them.
Without going into the processing of olive oil - the simplest explanation is the "first press" is the cleanest and best tasting. This is usually called "virgin" olive oil. However, without getting into labeling and manufacturing olive oil wars - that may not always be the case in the labeling. Just make sure you are using an olive oil that doesn't have an overpowering smell or taste.
Back to the top of the blueberry cake recipe.
