One of my coworkers is leaving for a position that she is much better suited for than her current one. She’s young and in school and has been my morning comic relief for a couple of years now. A while ago, she showed me a picture of a lemon blueberry cake and asked, “Doesn’t that look good?” I agreed, made a mental note, and filed it away that I would make her one when she was on her way to bigger and better things. Today is the beginning of the end of her last week so I brought it in for her and the rest of my coworkers. I cut a few slices, wrapped them in wax paper, and put them in a Tupperware container just for her to take home and freeze before I invited everyone else to help themselves.

Ingredients:

for the cake:

• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
• 2 cups lemon sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 3 cups fresh blueberries, washed, dried, & tossed with 1 tbsp. flour
• Zest of 1 large lemon, or 2 small-medium size lemons

for the frosting:

• 16 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 tsp. of salt
• Zest and juice of 1 large lemon, or 2 small-medium size lemons
• 8 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Preparation:

for the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 9 inch round pans by greasing the bottoms and sides of the pans and the parchment paper rounds as well; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. To make the lemon sugar, add the zest of the lemon to the sugar, and using the back of a tablespoon, work the zest into the sugar, until fully incorporated. In the bowl of a stand up mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, add the eggs one at time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each one. Fold in the sour cream and buttermilk. Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until just combined. Do not over stir! Gently stir in the blueberries and divide batter amongst the prepared pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, but begin to check for doneness at 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in pans for 10-15 minutes before removing and transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.

for the frosting:

Cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in the salt, lemon juice, and lemon zest and mix together until smooth. Starting with two cups at a time, sift in the powdered sugar and beat well after each addition; scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Using a plate or cardboard round, add one layer of cake, spread 1 cup of frosting, add another layer of cake, spread 1 cup of frosting and with the last layer frost the top and sides. Garnish with fresh blueberries on top, if desired.

Note: I’ve never bought buttermilk, I’ve only ever made it. You can make it by adding either 1 tbsp. vinegar or 1 tbsp. lemon juice to a 1 cup measuring cup and filling the remainder of the way with milk. Stir to incorporate and let sit for 5 minutes. With this recipe, I used the juice of the lemon.

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