Honey Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

I have nothing interesting to say.  Would you call that the summer time blues?  I guess it just has to do with trying to keep everyone entertained, fed, appeased, bathed, and exercised.  While I attempt to keep the house cleaned, the weeds pulled, and the damn bathing suits and towels hung up.  It hasn’t helped matters that my husband was on the west coast all last week.  The kids and I are having a great summer, but I’ve just been unable to focus on cooking anything complex or interesting.  When we are here by ourselves, dinners usually include fancy things like eggs and toast.  You would be surprised by how nicely a glass of wine goes with breakfast food.

So, I was so pleased when my mom, grandmother, and sister decided to come visit us for the afternoon.  Aside from bringing cousins, which are an amazing source of entertainment, I got to plan a nice lunch for everyone — which pulled me out of my cooking funk.  I figured it probably wouldn’t have been cool to serve them the leftover pizza I had in the fridge.  So I made some great tarts based on this Epicurious recipe which were really delicious (and provided me with leftovers to get through the rest of the week).  For dessert, I made a Honey Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake inspired by another Epicurious recipe.  I felt redeemed.

I made my cake entirely with whole wheat pastry flour and sweetened it with honey and brown sugar.  I flavored it with a bit of fresh thyme — although lavender or rosemary would be equally nice for a little herbal flavor.  If the sweet and savory combos aren’t your thing, just skip the herbs.  I also added some sour cream to balance out the whole wheat flour, which frequently requires more moisture.  I served the cake with some fresh whipped cream and a simple blueberry sauce made of fresh berries, a little water, and a drizzle of honey simmered until thickened.

The only problem was that with six eggs in the recipe, I had to come up with something other than omelets for dinner.  The leftover cake, however, made a tremendous breakfast.  (Oh.  You judge me.  But if it were in muffin form, no one would think anything of downing it with a cup of coffee.)

You see?  I told you I had nothing interesting to say.

Honey Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

Makes one bundt or tube cake

1/3 cup whole milk
2 t vanilla extract
6 eggs
1/2 cup of sour cream
2 2/3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 1/2 cups of butter, softened (three sticks)
Zest of two lemons
1/2 cup of honey
1/2 cup of brown sugar
3 heaping cups of fresh blueberries, tossed in about 1 T flour
2 t fresh thyme, finely chopped (or other herbs such as lavender or rosemary)

For the glaze:
Juice of two lemons
1/3 cup of honey

1.  Butter and flour a ten inch bundt or tube pan.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, vanilla, eggs, and sour cream.

3.  In another medium bowl, stir together whole wheat pastry flour, salt, and baking powder.

4.  In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter with lemon zest and herbs (if using) until light and fluffy. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by 1/3 of the egg and milk mixture.  Repeat with remaining flour and egg mixtures until they are incorporated.  Do not overmix.

5.  Gently fold about half of the blueberries into batter.  Spoon about 1/3 of the batter into the bundt pan and top with 1/2 cup of remaining blueberries.  Repeat with remaining batter and blueberries (3 layers), ending with a layer of blueberries on top.

6.  Bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  (Mine took a lot longer than this b/c I was using a bunk silicone pan– which I subsequently threw in the trash — but I think any decent pan will be done within 1 hour and 15 minutes.)

7.  While cake is baking, place juice of two lemons and honey in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer and remove from heat.  When cake is finished, poke holes all over with a toothpick or skewer and brush on about half of the lemon glaze.  Let cool about 20 minutes and invert onto cooling rack or plate.  Poke holes on top of cake and brush with remaining lemon glaze.  Cool completely and serve with loosely whipped cream, blueberry sauce, or lemon curd.