Cornmeal Lemon Cake with Blueberry Compote

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DISCLAIMER: Guest blogger.

 Jane:  i am back

pillow cases ironed

yay

 me:  Yay! Blog my cake!

Here's what it looks like.

 Jane:  Ok.  Here goes.

This is my lemon cornmeal cake

 me:  I will post what you say on the interweb.

It will be read by my two fans: Mom and J's Dad.

 Jane:  I made it with cornmeal because I had to.  The internet forced me.  It not only wastes my time, but now tells me what I Must Cook or Must Eat.  It goes by the name of 'Daring Cooks' or 'Daring Bakers' but I think that's just to make me feel less manipulated.

Anyway.  So I baked this lemon and cornmeal cake and put some icing on it

And then, just when I turned around to pick up the camera and take photo, a big blueberry monster came and took a big blueberry shit on it.  Plop, plop.

But it was all the more delicious for it.

 me:  Remember, Mom and J's Dad.

 Jane:  (... are you cramping my style?)

 me:  I was really going to post this conversation directly until you got all obscene.

 Jane:  (It's not REAL shit, it's BLUEBERRY SHIT)

 me:  Can I use your name?

 Jane:  (just shut up for a second)

Jane:  It was, in fact, so delicious that the rest of the lemon cornmeal (cornmeal, as you must remember, was what the Internet Made Me Do) cake went to eat the smaller slices of itself that had been shat upon by the blueberry monster.

(this is where you put the photo where it looks like pacman eating cake slices with blueberry shit on them)

(And the caption should read: 'if my poos looked like that, I'd have to go back to the hospital...')

me:  Okay, I've got all of that down now.

Do you really double space after your periods? Really? It's 2012. Your word processor makes that space FOR you now.

 Jane:  actually the caption should really be on the last photo

 Jane:  of the up close blueberries

YES.  I double space after my periods.  I LIKE IT.

oh and the one with the two slice of cake should be captioned: 'not real poo.  blueberry monster poo.'

'so delicious that the rest of the lemon cornmeal cake went to eat the smaller slices of itself that had been shat upon by the blueberry monster'

Cornmeal Lemon Cake Recipe

(Also from Bon Appétit)

This cake was a snap to make, and had a lovely moist crumb. It was lemony and delicious and I'd definitely make it again. I halved everything below in order to make it into a 6" cake.

You'll need:

1 1/2 (188 g) cups AP flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

3/4 cup (170 g) sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tbsp grated lemon peel (I used the zest of a whole lemon for the 6" cake)

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick, 114 g) butter, melted (and cooled enough that you won't cook the eggs)

For the glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter your cake pan and line it with parchment. Whisk together dry ingredients. Whisk together wet ingredients. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just blended. Scrape the batter into the pan and bake about 30 minutes (about 20 for the 6"), until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. Yeah, it really was that easy.

While the cake bakes, mix up your powdered sugar and lemon juice glaze. Add just enough powdered sugar that the consistency is smooth and paste-like, but still pour-able. 

When the cake is done, remove it from the pan immediately--this involves running a knife around the edge of the pan and then flipping it onto a plate and banging at it with oven mitts. Once the cake is out, you can put a rack on the bottom and invert it again so that the cake cools right-way-up. While the cake is still hot, heap the glaze on top and spread towards the edge of the cake. You might want to slide a cookie tray or a plate under the cooling rack to catch any glaze that dribbles down the side. Allow the cake to cool completely.

'not real poo.  blueberry monster poo.'

The blueberry compote was equally delicious. We ran out of cake first, and I went on to use the blueberries to stir into my yoghurt. Also, just to shovel into my mouth. I associate Nova Scotia with highbush blueberries the way I associate Ontario with freestone peaches, but I used a pint of wild blueberries that I bought at the local market. This was for the 6" cake, but I had leftovers so it could probably stretch to a 9" cake. Wouldn't hurt to double it, though.

 'if my poos looked like that, I'd have to go back to the hospital...'

Blueberry Compote Recipe

You'll need:

1 pint of blueberries

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

pinch of salt

Reserve about half of the blueberries. Put everything else in a saucepan and let it simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the berries are soft and the liquid is syrupy. Remove from heat and stir in the reserved blueberries.