Blue

Blueberry cake

I’m back in Oregon and having grandchildren withdrawal symptoms right now. When I was there in Hawaii, I couldn’t wait for my life to get back to normal and concentrate on my painting or having lots of ‘me’ time but I think of them often and everyday. I feel melancolitic –is that a word? May be not but whatever I’m feeling is blue or else I‘m catching a cold. At Costco, I bought a package of blueberries remembering how much they liked that fruit.

What should I do with this 2 pounds of blueberries though? I could just have them in my cereal but I have so many. You know the industrial size package they sell at Costco? This is my love-hate relationship with the store, really. I love their pricing but hate the waste all the not eating stuff plus it’s a pain to put away the bought items into already crammed spaces. How about the over zealous packaging of some cosmetic and supplements etc.? You really need an Xacto knife or something to chisel them out from the cardboard. OK, back to my questions. What can I make with these cute little bleuets?

I don’t want to bother to look up on the internet so I made this cake up. An experiment but it worked. It didn’t give me the blue hue that I was after but the sponge was nice and soft and not so sweet. You need just a few ingredients and it is not so complicated to make. The cake tastes like a distant cousin of blueberry muffins but with urban sophistication and flair? I meant to say snobbish cousin of,,,.

Sponge

• 4 Egg white
• 4 Egg yolk
• Sugar 120 g- I used bakers fine sugar but regular sugar will work too.
• Flour 100g- I prefer weak flour sold at Asian market but all purpose flour may be used. Sifted.
• Pureed blueberries about 200g- Just put two cup of blueberries in food processer. If you like smooth texture, use sieve to strain after pureed, but I like pulp and all and I was lazy.
• 13x9 rectangle cake pan or 2- 8 inch round pans. Spray with non-stick spray and line with parchment paper.

1. Put all the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk at medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add 3/4 (90g) of the sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
2. Put the whipped egg whites in another bowl and set aside. If you have a room in your fridge, cover the bowl and rest in there until ready to use.
3. In a same bowl of electric mixer (no need to clean), put egg yolks and beat until they turn to pale yellow. Add the rest of sugar (30g) and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
4. Add flour and beat at low speed until smooth.
5. Add blueberry puree a spoonful at a time. Beat at low speed until all combined.
6. Heat oven to 320F at this point.
7. Gently fold in the egg whites; try not to disturb foam.
8. Pour into the prepared pan(s) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Check after 35 minutes by poking with a skewer. Cake is done if the skewer comes out clean.
9. Remove the cake from the pan and cool on a wire rack

Assembly

• Blueberries 40-50
• Syrup- 2 tablespoons sugar dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water.
• Heavy cream  2 cups- this may be more than enough.
• Sugar 3-4 tablespoons

1. If you’re using 13x9 pan, cut in half (I cut off edge too). Brush one side of sponges with syrup.
2. Whip the heavy cream and sugar until soft peaks form.
3. Spread some whipped cream on one of the sponges and line up berries then top with more whipped cream.
4. Lay the other sponge cake on top.
5. Decorate with more berries and whipped cream.

Going to Hawaii feels like visiting an English speaking foreign country ya? My days spent there were hectic and on day three I wanted to go home. I was scratching my skin like crazy. Those mean mosquitos were really pests!

Birds cry out side my window sounds like’ Peek a boo’ as if they think it’s cute. At 5 o’clock in the morning they are not! They were lucky that I didn’t have a rock to throw.

Gentle rain fell the other day. It’s cool and comfortable but way too quiet. I had this cake for breakfast the next morning too and nobody stopped me or no one asked to share – it had some sadness. As I said, melancolitic…

My 3 beautiful people