I think I can feel a little satisfied with myself
There's so much to do in the summer. With our sort of camp, I find myself with a house full of kids all day Monday and Tuesday, which is lovely—but it doesn't leave much time to take care of the house and yard. Still, I don't think I did too badly yesterday. Besides showing the kids—ours and the two visitors—a good time, I managed a little weeding, baked bread, made pickles, and made a cake. It helps that all five kids are wonderful human beings and interacted peacefully for the seven or eight hours they were together. They also made some money selling candy and cycled around 10 miles round trip, to and from the Farmers Market in Lexington. So they didn't do too badly either!
pickles
The cake came out good too: just the thing to end our long busy day, served on our friends' back porch as it started to get dark (you see why all three boys are still sound asleep well after the sun came up this morning!). I made up the recipe; it's based on this chocolate cake, which I've made a few times and which revealed to me that buttermilk and baking powder are magic for making home-made cakes rise almost like ones from a mix. We have lots of blueberries—four of the five kids here yesterday helped pick them last week—so I decided on a blueberry variant.
the cake, pausing on the way to the car
Here's the recipe.
Blueberry Cake
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a bundt pan with plenty of butter. In a large bowl, combine
2 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4th tsp. salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
In the stand mixer, mix at medium speed
3/4 c. butter, softened
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar
Increase speed to high and beat for five minutes, until pale and fluffy. Add one at a time, beating at medium speed after each one
3 large eggs
At medium speed beat in
2 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of one lemon
Mixing at low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts alternating with two parts of
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
Fold in
1 1/2 c. blueberries
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes.
For the glaze, combine in a medium bowl
1/3 c. melted butter
2 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Whisk until smooth and pour slowly over the cake, letting a layer dry before adding more on top (I didn't have time to maage that last part between getting back from the farmer's market and leaving for dinner at our friends' house... my one failure in an otherwise pretty successful day!).
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And of course, I need to credit my mom for helping out in the morning, giving Lijah a little much-needed one-on-one attention... thanks!!