Blueberries Make The Cake

A simple single layer cake with lots of blueberries.

It’s July, so if you’re on Instagram, you may be noticing that everyone’s feed is filled with blueberries.

Whether you picked them yourself, found them at a farmers market, or bought them at the grocery store, ’tis the season.

My favorite cakes during the summer are simple single layer cakes. They aren’t too sweet. They travel well. Plus, since they aren’t frosted, they hold up in the heat.

One of the recipes that I use as a base is a Norwegian Apple Cake. I’ve been using this recipe for years, with a few changes. One of the easiest ways to adapt it is by changing the type of fruit.

I made the cake a few weeks ago using cherries. Everyone loved it, so this past week I used blueberries. Lots of blueberries!

I used two cups and the cake was bursting with blueberry flavor. Here’s the recipe if you want to give it a try.

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Summer Blueberry Cake
(makes one single layer cake)

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter (softened)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups blueberries (washed, stems removed)

INSTRUCTIONS:
In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar and eggs. Stir in salt, extracts, baking powder and flour until well combined.

I use a regular size round cake pan, but a square or loaf pan would probably work fine too. I used to grease and flour the pan, but now I use parchment paper. So whatever way you prefer is fine.

Pour batter into a pan. Pour the blueberries over the batter and press into the cake.

The original recipe says to bake for about 25 – 30 minutes at 400 degrees. I’ve baked this cake a few times and am still adjusting the time and temperature. Blueberries are more wet than apples, so more baking time was definitely needed. The last time I baked this cake (July 13, 2019) for about an hour at 350 degrees. That seemed to work well. Everyone loved the cake and raved about the texture.

After the cake is done, I put it in the fridge and let it cool down. If you are taking it to go, maybe for a picnic, wrap it in foil,  pack it and be on your way!

Let me know if you try it and what you think.

Hey Boston! Celebrate National Ice Cream Day with Free Vice Cream!

Vanilla ice cream with orange ripple, dark, white and milk chocolate chunks.

Happy National Ice Cream Day! One of my favorite days! Although, I celebrate by eating ice cream far more than once a year.

If you’re in Boston today, you might be able to get some free ice cream. Today, between noon and 4pm, the Vice Cream Truck will be patrolling Boston streets and walking around the areas where people are outside enjoying this beautiful summer day.

Plus, they will meet anyone who tweets “Today is National Ice Cream Day and I want @eatvicecream” along with their location.

Vice Cream truck shown at city hall plaza in Boston, ready to give out ice cream.

The Vice Cream Truck will be giving out samples of their most popular flavors: Choc of Shame, Bourbon Mash, Toffee Wife, Breakfast in Bed, Higher Grounds, Afternoon Delight and Minted while supplies last. The company also has an interesting back story.

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Vice Cream is all about unapologetic indulgence with eight super premium flavors and tagline “Live Life, Dig In.”

When Vice Cream Founder Dan Schorr was in college, he paid for school by driving a Good Humor ice cream truck during the summer. It was during those hot summer months that he saw first-hand the joy ice cream could bring people. Years later in 2015, life threw Dan a curveball when doctors told him he had cancer – an aggressive form of lymphoma.

After undergoing treatment that included chemotherapy at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Dan beat the disease and made a decision to not just live life, but indulge in it, which led him to create Vice Cream in Boston.

To Dan, ice cream is, and always should be, about unapologetic indulgence. Through the “Nice Vice” program, Vice Cream aims to bring smiles to cancer patients and their families by supporting various cancer charities nationwide, and at events like the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl and sampling Vice Cream at hospitals.

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I haven’t tried Vice Cream — yet. I’ve been trying to be good with Halo, but I’m intrigued and may indulge at some point.

Well, as I write this, it’s close to 1pm. They only have one truck, but they will do their best to get to everyone who tweets in the 4-hour timeframe. So time to get tweeting!

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Images: L’Orange A Trois and Vice Cream Truck courtesy of Vice Cream.

Taking Note: Mindfulness During Summer

Taking note of a tree branch in the foreground, puffy white clouds, blue sky, a dock, boats and canoes in the Charles River in Boston, with buildings in the background. On the right, two small pictures, the top is a square piece of cherry and pistachio tart on a napkin and minted lemondade in a plastic cup with the word "Tatte" printed vertically, the bottom picture shows the moon rising in a bluish grey sky over the tops of trees.

Summer is precious when the weather isn’t always beautiful. And by beautiful I mean, lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 80s. Having daylight past 8pm is an added bonus. For those of us in New England, we only get this perfect combination in July in August. So I’m taking note. Paying attention to how I spend my time.

Time is our most valuable currency. We can’t get it back. No exchanges or refunds. Plus, we don’t know how much we have. So we need to budget accordingly.

Enjoy what we have now and be able to look back at how we spent it and revel in the memories. For this first weekend in July, I met up with a friend on Saturday. We walked and talked. Strolling along the Charles and then went to Tatte Bakery for a snack. I had a pistachio and cherry tart and minted lemonade. So good!

Every Sunday I have dinner with my family. When I brought my mother home, we noticed the moon rising. At 8:30pm, the sky was still light. The beauty of July!

My mom’s lavender plants are blooming. Tomorrow, I’m going to get some to bring home and dry. She also has a lot of very tall mint plants that are ready to take over the place.

I’ll do her a favor and take some of that too! The minted lemonade that I had at Tatte was really delicious, so I plan to make my own. Of course I’ll be taking note and hope to blog these too!

There are so many things that I’d like to do this summer, but besides time, money is always a factor, so I will have to improvise. Good thing that there are so many free events around the city!

At the very least, like I say every year, I’d like to go to the beach (on the Cape, maybe the North Shore, or somewhere far away) at least a couple of times. Also, I hope to enjoy some outdoor music. Of course, I like eating outdoors whenever possible.

Hopefully I’ll also be able to attend a few of the free outdoor yoga classes as well. Maybe even just take my home practice outdoors. There’s a nice park nearby. I should use it!

By the way, I’m working on the new 2017 summer list of free yoga classes. Hopefully it will be up within a couple of weeks!

What about you? What are your summer plans?