Lemon Blueberry Upside Down Cake

Here's another dish from the dinner party I mentioned so long ago. This was dessert and it was so delicious!

I found the recipe via BakeBakeBake which is a cooking community based on Live Journal. I love Live Journal for its communities as there is no limit as to what you might find. People from all over the world add their recipes and photos of their creations which means you can always find something to make.



The original recipe is from Bon Appétit April 2006 but I will reproduce it here as I made it with the alteration of marzipan instead of almond paste.

Ingredients

Blueberry topping
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Lemon-almond butter cake
3/4 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 ounces marzipan broken into small pieces
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature

Preparation

For blueberry topping:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine brown sugar and butter in 8-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides (preferably nonstick). Place cake pan over medium heat and whisk constantly until butter and sugar melt and mixture is smooth and bubbling. Using pot holders, remove pan from heat; cool 15 minutes. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over.

For lemon-almond butter cake:
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Combine marzipan, sugar, and lemon peel in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until marzipan is broken into very small pieces, about 1 minute. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, beating until mixture is smooth and scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Add flour mixture and beat just until batter is smooth. Spoon batter in dollops over blueberries in pan; spread evenly with offset spatula to smooth.

Bake cake until deep golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 43 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 1 minute. Run small knife around cake to loosen. Place large platter atop pan. Using oven mitts or potholders and using both hands, hold platter and cake pan firmly together and invert; shake gently, allowing cake to settle on platter. Cool at least 20 minutes.



This was a really big hit with everyone eating. The blueberry topping is sweet and the lemon and almond cake compliment it beautifully. I will definitely add this to my repertoire and I really think it is the epitome of summer eating. The deep purple topping with the yellow lemony cake is beautiful and so tasty. I recommend that you make this before the season is out.

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The Slow Cooker: Dolmades

I've been away for a long time and I'm sorry. I've been working hard recently at a school doing admin work just up until the end of term. I've also been doing some other bits and pieces and have just had no time to blog. That doesn't mean I haven't had time to cook! Of course not, I'm still cooking loads of meals for the family and have a backlog of entries for you. I'm on holiday with my mum at the moment so I figured now was a good time to get all caught up.

As well as cooking normal family meals; I cooked a mezze type meal for my parents and two of their closest friends and it was all delicious. I tried several new recipes and will be posting them all as I work through them starting with slow cooker dolmades.



I'd never eaten dolmades before let alone made them (I seem to do that quite a lot don't I?). In case you don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain what they are. Dolmades are stuffed vine leaves and they can be stuffed with all kinds of things. I used minced beef and bulgar wheat with a few flavourings and spices and they were delicious.

I decided to use the slow cooker for these as I was busy making lots of other dishes and wanted to be able to leave them alone to cook for a couple of hours while I got on with everything else.

We had a vacuum sealed pack of vine leaves in the cupboard that needed using. I started by opening the bag and rinsing the leaves in cold water to remove some of the salt and liquid from the packet. I didn't really measure the ingredients for this one and mostly eye-balled it.



Ingredients
Vine leaves
250g minced beef
2 small handfuls of uncooked bulgar wheat
Selection of dried herbs and spices (mint, mixed herbs, paprika, salt, pepper, chili powder - use whatever you like!)
Stock or water (enough to come 2-3 inches up the sides of your slow cooker)

Put the bulgar wheat into a bowl and pour enough boiling water over to cover then cover the bowl with cling film and leave to stand.
In a separate bowl, mix the meat and spices together and add the bulgar wheat once most of the liquid has been absorbed.
To make the parcels, take a leaf and place it shiny side down onto a board. Add a small amount of mixture (it varies according to the size of the leaf) and fold in the two outward sides into the centre. Finally, roll the parcel away from you and place seam side down into the steamer insert in your slow cooker.
To cook the filled leaves, put some stock or water into the bottom of your slow cooker and then a steamer insert over the top (I balanced mine on 2 metal egg cups - it's all about improvisation!). I also used home made chicken stock and it did seem to impart some flavour. Place the little parcels into the steamer insert, put the lid on and then switch the slow cooker onto low. The dolmades will take 2-3 hours and are cooked when they feel quite firm to the touch.

I'd recommend using beef or lamb if you are going to use meat at all. I think that these could be equally delicious with a mixture of vegetables but I do think you need some kind of starch int here like rice of cous cous or bulgar wheat. These can take a lot of alteration and modification.

We had ours cold but these would be delicious warm with a home made tomato based sauce.

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Tasty Morsels

Well the hot weather is well and truly here. It's so hot here and it's meant to get hotter as the week goes on! I've decided that while I prepare my next update I'll point you in the direction of some summery treats that other people have been blogging about.

Nicole at Baking Bites has some delicious Chocolate dipped ice cream cream puffs. They look divine and am sure hey taste even better!

Deb at Smitten Kitchen has a lovely looking horseradish potato salad that would work excellently as a side dish at a barbecue.

The Vegan Visitor made a lovely summery soup from radish greens.

Ian at Food From 4 has a delicious looking lemon mousse recipe that would be a perfect al fresco pudding (assuming it doesn't rain!)

So enjoy your summer and feel free to link me to any delicious summery recipes you find.

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