July 14, 2015

Dessert validation: berry-lemon cake


The other night I brought dessert to a family dinner, as I often do, and as usual I hoped it would taste okay. I'm not so confidant about my desserts. On tasting her piece, my seven-year-old granddaughter, Miss E, declared that I was the best dessert maker in the whole wide world. Hahaha, imagine that. Then she said I should write a cookbook with only desserts. And send it to the President!


I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled to have her approval of my baking skills, but the downside is that now I have to maintain my reputation. :D

So what did I bake to earn such an enthusiastic endorsement? It was an easy-to-throw-together blueberry/strawberry lemon cake that has appeared on these pages before. But since it got such a high approval rating, I thought I'd reprise it. It's basically the same as the cake in this post except I added a flax egg and a blueberry glaze, and baked it in a round cake pan instead of a square one. It rose so beautifully and had such a pleasant taste and texture, I'm going to make it more often.


Berry-lemon quick bread
based on a recipe from Fire and Earth Kitchen for
blueberry breakfast bread
bake in a 9"x9x2" square pan or a 9 x 3" round pan.

Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed plus 3 Tbsp cold water
  • 1-1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour (or similar GF flour blend)
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1/4 cup oat flour 
(2 cups of wheat flour can be used instead of the other flours, if you aren't baking gluten-free. I haven't tried it but F & E Kitchen says yes, and I trust them.)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of salt (1/4 teaspoon or less)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 small organic lemon, seeds removed, plus enough almond (or other) milk to equal 1 cup  OR juice and zest from 1/2 small lemon plus enough almond milk to equal 1 cup (I used a high speed Vitamix. If your blender can't handle the intact lemon, use the juice/zest option)
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup oil (I used avocado oil)
  • 1.5 cups fresh blueberries or 1 cup blueberries plus 1/2 cup strawberries cut similar size to blueberries. The strawberries amp up the flavor.

Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil pan and line the bottom with parchment paper cut to size.
  2. Place the flax meal in a 1-cup glass measuring cup and add the water. Let sit while you measure the dry ingredients.
  3. Add the GF flour, almond meal, oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to a large mixing bowl. Whisk together all the dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed. 
  4. Beat the flax with a fork until gluey. Add the (cut-up) lemon to the cup. Add almond milk to make one cup. Mix together.
  5. Add the flax- lemon-almond milk mixture to the blender. Add the vanilla, maple syrup and oil to the blender and blend until smooth. (I used a high speed Vitamix.)
  6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, scrapping out the blender to retrieve all the batter. Beat with a spoon or an electric hand mixer until the dry ingredients are well incorporated.
  7. Add half the berries and fold in. 
  8. Place the batter into the greased pan and spread the remaining berries evenly over the top. Press in gently, so they still show on top.
  9. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan about 15 minutes before removing from the pan by inverting onto a rack then turning right side up onto a second rack. Let cool completely before transferring to a serving plate. 
I made a simple blueberry glaze to pour over the top of the cooled cake, but it doesn't really need one.

22 comments:

  1. What a beautiful granddaughter-approved cake! :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I never considered myself much of a dessert person, so her reaction really tickled me!

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  2. Granddaughter approval is the best, what a sweetie. Lemon/blueberry love!

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    1. Out of the mouths of 7-year-olds — what can be more sweet?

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  3. Forget the president! Send it to me! :)

    That is the highest of compliments, isn't it? And from Miss E! It does look fantastic. I love that it has maple syrup in there.

    I'm working on a blueberry lemon themed blog post too. Procrastination is keeping me from it though.

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    Replies
    1. Hahaha. If I had such a cookbook I would certainly send you one.

      Procrastination is a problem, isn't it? If I weren't such a slacker I could post a lot more than every three months.

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  4. I can see why you got such a ringing endorsement! I imagine the president would be pretty pleased to see a vegan cookbook turning up in the mail - it would have to be a million times more welcome than a lot of the stuff he must get sent!

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    Replies
    1. I would love to see the President's face when he opened the package. (That is, assuming it made it past the people who check his mail.) :D

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  5. Yum! I love the berry drippings down the side, looks great :D

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I kind of like dripping glazes over cakes. :D

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  6. I love lemon and fruit flavored desserts! This looks beautiful.

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    Replies
    1. Lemon and blueberries are one of my favorites combinations. When you use the whole lemon including the peel, its especially delicious.

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  7. Your granddaughter sounds adorable! Such high praise from an age that can't be bothered to give false acclamation. I hope your confidence has been lifted because your cake looks delicious.

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    Replies
    1. She IS adorable, if I do say so myself. In truth, I make all my desserts with her in mind. :D

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  8. Mmmmmm..... I can't wait to try this!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Claire! So nice to see your name show up here. If you try the cake, let me know how it turns out. Do you remember the chocolate banana cake? I just made a gf version and it was delicious. Hopefully I'll get around to posting it.

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  9. what a beautiful cake - i love how you poured the berries and sauce over it instead of regular frosting. It's such a great feeling to bake something and have it be well-received, isn't it?? Hope you're doing well!

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  10. Thanks, Amey. Pouring the berry sauce over the cake kept the berry theme going — not to mention being easier than making frosting. :) All is well here aside from an epidemic of laziness.

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  11. Looks amazing! I love lemon cake :) Might give it a try.

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  12. look very delicious.!!Yummy.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  13. Great post! This recipe is so awesome, its so delicious and tasty. I love cooking and making different types and flavours of cakes.
    Thanks for sharing……

    ReplyDelete

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