INGREDIENTS:
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking power
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks soften butter or margarine
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1 cup dairy or pareve sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup blueberry preserves
1 teaspoon confectioner's sugar
DIRECTIONS:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan. In a large bowl whisk or sift the flour baking powder and salt together. With a mixer on high, beat the butter or margarine until light and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in the eggs sour cream and vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture. Remove 1/2 cup of the batter. Spread the rest into the prepared pan. Using the back of a spoon make a trough in the batter all the way around. Mix the 1 cup preserves with the 1/2 cup reserved batter. Spoon it in the trough. Bake for 1 hour. Let cake cook in the pan for ten minutes and then flip onto a wire rack to cool completely. Heat the 2 tablespoons of preserves until just melted drizzle over the cake dust the top of the cake with a sprinkle of confectioner's sugar.
selected by Ellen R
8 comments:
Jeremy and I made this cake a few weeks ago, knowing that it would be torture to anticipate making it during Passover...and it was absolutely delicious!
Visually, the tunnel of purple batter added an element of contrast and surprise. I was worried at first that it looked kind of Smurfy, but the finished product just looked striking. I've also had problems in the past with bundt cakes sticking to the pan, but this one slid right out with the help of a generous coating of that special baking Pam mixed with flour.
I added dried blueberries to both the regular and the blueberry batter, which contributed extra blueberry flavor, a slight tang, and a chewy texture.
I also wavered between adding lemon extact and zest or almond flavoring, both of which I adore with blueberries. (Did anyone else go lemon? If so, how was it?) I ended up adding about 2 t of almond extract and a handful of slivered almonds to the batter, and extra almonds sprinkled on top -- which, of course, becomes the bottom -- for crunch. The end result was scrumptious!
I had intended to add an almond frosting, since I had only enough leftover jam for the filling, but I got lazy and left it naked...how was everyone's glaze?
We enjoyed the first still-warm slices after dinner, but it was an equally tasty breakfast the next morning. (Hey, it has fruit in it...it's healthy!) We had about half the cake left over before Pesach started, so I put it in the freezer, but we might bust it out tonight. (I'm writing on the last day of the holiday...sorry to be early.) I'm thinking that we might also try toasting little "croutons" of this cake in a chilled fruit soup (maybe mango or cherry, with a little champagne), or serving it a la mode.
Thanks so much, Ellen...delish. Maca, if you're still thinking of adding blackberries, please let us know how it goes. I was thinking of trying it again with raspberries.
My effort was basically a disaster. Laura will post my picture tomorrow on the site (come back for a laugh). I made the cake in 2 loaf pans but the cakes totally fell apart when I turned them out of the pans. I blame 2 factors:
1. High Altitude: The cakes basically boiled over the pans while in the oven. I added extra flour to try and prevent this but probably also should have reduced the sugar and increased the oven temperature. Any other high altitude bakers out there?
2. My Troughs Were Too Deep: Because I split the batter in halves, it was easy to dig the troughs all the way down to the bottom of the pan. So, the blueberry jam batter sunk all the way to the bottom and had a different consistency that stuck to the bottom of the pan when I turned out the cake, ripping the cake apart
Despite the awlful appearance, the cakes taste really good, though incredibly rich! Tonight we will be chopping up the cake and eating it as cobbler with ice cream and whipped cream on top.
Is anyone else jealous that Ellen has a bundt pan?
Also... I agree that blueberry jam is not essential. Can easily be made with any other jam but maybe it would be safer to stick to a berry.
Hmn. I'm so surprised at the negative comments.
Somehow (i'm a TERRIBLE cook/baker) I thought this was an easy, delicious recipe. Mine came out looking clean, and unique with the stripe of cherry flavoring (I couldn't find blueberry) in the middle and I thought it was delicious. Mine looked exactly like Ellen's cake.
I ate a quarter of the cake last night and had to take the rest into work b/c I'm sure I would have devoured the rest of it by the end of tonight. I would definitely make this recipe again.
We ate the chopped up cake with ice cream and whipped cream just now. REALLY YUMMY!
The bundt pan must make a huge difference...my cake looked just like Ellen's, too. I think the hole in the bundt allows the heat to get to the batter on a few sides, so it's not such a big mass of goop in one place, if that makes sense. If anyone out there has an angel food or tube pan, it should have the same effect.
The Pam with flour also really helped my cake slide out neatly. I'm bummed that not everyone loved the appearance of this recipe as much as I did.
Great call on the cherry, Anne ES...I'm dying to try raspberry next.
As for Kara's ice cream idea...YUM!
So I totally forgot to post a comment yesterday, but better late than never.
I'm with Anne ES - I found this cake to be easy to make and was really pleased with the results! I will say that I wasn't sure how deep to make the trough for the batter, and because I made it too shallow, I had blueberry/batter leftover. Also, I didn't have enough left in my jar of preserves to make a glaze the way I thought it would look. I just microwaved the scant amount I had left and sort of spooned it over the top. Looked kind of silly, but tasted great!
I served the cake as dessert at our family Easter dinner, and everyone really liked it. My brother said it tasted like a giant blueberry muffin. I agree - sort of think and dense, but not in a bad way. And the blueberry added a nice sweetness to the tart of the sour cream.
One last thing - I think a bundt pan or angel food cake pan is a must with this recipe. Without something to bring heat up and through the batter, it ends up being too thick, dense and probably not really evenly baked. I don't actually own a bundt pan - the one I used was courtesy of my mother!
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