Blueberry Lemon Rosemary Bundt Cake
Fresh fruit, lemon juice and rosemary flavor this homey, comforting cake.
Servings 12 to 16 slices
Equipment
- A 12-cup bundt pan and a hand mixer (see Kitchen Notes)
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups blueberries (or other fruit—see Kitchen Notes)
- 2-3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon unbleached white flour
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter (or a mix of butter, plant butter and a neutral oil—see Kitchen notes)
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh rosemary
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup buttermilk, shaken well
For the glaze, optional
- 1-1/4 cup confectioners sugar (see Kitchen Notes)
- 6-8 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Put the blueberries in the small bowl and toss with the 1 tablespoon of flour. If you are using a mix of fruits and they vary in degree of softness, separate them for this step.
- Spoon the remaining flour into the first large bowl. Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt, and gently stir together with a fork.
- In the other large bowl, beat the butter (or butter/plant butter mixture) with a hand mixer until it is smooth, then add the sugar and beat until it becomes fluffy (this is where you see how the plant butter acts the same as regular butter—it’s pretty cool to see).
- If your mix includes vegetable oil, add it now; then beat in the eggs, one by one, mixing well between each one. Then add the lemon juice and the vanilla and combine. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk. When that step is complete, mix in the fresh rosemary.
- Finally, carefully fold in the berries, by hand.
- Lightly oil the bundt pan, then spoon the batter into it.
- Bake the cake at 350ºF for 45 to 50 minutes—in our oven, this was done at about 45 minutes. A tester slid into the center should come out clean.
- Cool the cake for 20 to 30 minutes on a rack. Loosen the edges carefully with a thin knife, then turn it out of the mold onto a sizable plate.
- Glazing the cake. If you intend to glaze this, wait until it is completely cool. Stir the confectioners sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl until the sugar completely dissolves and there are no lumps. Spoon the glaze over the cake.
- I used my usual glaze recipe, and waited for several hours before glazing, but for some reason the glaze refused to be visible. The photo you see here does show this cake with glaze on it—it is apparently my famous invisible glaze—who even knows any more? Honestly, this cake is so sweet and likeable that I don’t think it really needs a glaze. But adding the glaze ramps things up a notch and keeps it moist and tender for an extra day.
Kitchen Notes
No bundt pan? If you don’t have a 12-cup bundt pan, you can make this in muffin tins drastically reducing the baking time, but then IT IS NOT CAKE.
Picking fresh fruits. You may also mix this up with other berries—this time, I used 1-1/4 cups of blueberries and 1/4 cup raspberries. I cut the raspberries in half and tossed them with flour. Blackberries or gooseberries would also work nicely. You can also use pome fruits instead—cooking apples or ripe pears —if you chop them and toss them with lemon juice and a bit of sugar instead of the flour.
Let’s talk butter. You can use all butter, or a mix of butter and other fats—this time, we used 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup “plant butter” and 1/2 cup grapeseed oil. The plant butter we used was Country Crock Plant Butter with avocado oil—we have found that in baking it really does act exactly like butter, but please note, it still does not quite taste like butter.
Don’t skimp on the confectioners sugar. Please use a reliable brand like Domino’s. I’ve found that the discount brands tend to be chalky tasting.