Don't Mind if I Do

Greetings from Kathy's kitchen.

So I'll just go ahead and acknowledge that it's been five months since any of us posted. Since our last post life has been busy - we've had a college graduation, two high school graduations, a child moving to a new city and two kids going off to college. We've had some vacations - including a wonderful (although too short) trip to Vermont to celebrate our Dad's 75! All three sisters were there and had a blast celebrating with our adorable Dad!!

Now my nest is empty and I'm looking for ways to fill up some extra time. What better way than to bake?

This week I made the The Lemon & Blueberry Cake on page 198 of the Three Sisters Bake Cookbook. Two things I love are blueberries lemons - so this one just called to me. And it ally has been calling for weeks as I flipped through this cookbook planning what to try next. See, I've been thinking about this blog if not actually writing it!

Very simple ingredient list. The only thing I really needed to purchase were the fresh blueberries and lemons. The batter comes together in a flash.

It took a little over an hour to cook through - which is fairly typical for my oven. I baked it in a spring form pan. This always makes me a little nervous. One time I had a huge mess on my hands while using a spring form pan. Long story short, I bought a new pan and ALWAYS place it on a cookie sheet when it goes into the oven. That might affect cooking time, but it's a good trade-off (5 more minutes in the oven vs at least an hour scrubbing out the oven!).

When it was done, it was a light golden brown just as described in the cookbook!! Success so far!!

Now let's talk about the frosting for a minute. In an earlier post I mentioned my fondness for cream cheese frosting. This cake has a cream cheese frosting with a lemon flavor. The flavor comes from fresh lemon zest so you can control just how lemony you want it. I added extra zest for a stronger lemon flavor. Oh. So. Good. The frosting covers just the top of the cake and then the whole thing is topped with more fresh blueberries.

This cake would be excellent with a cup of tea in the afternoon. It's not too sweet - not a really decadent gooey dessert. Just the right touch of sweet that is perfect with tea. Or coffee. My husband likes it as a breakfast cake. Although it's not decadent, it's yummy. So after your first taste as you ponder a second go ahead and say to yourself "Don't mind if I do . . . " and slice another piece!

Unfortunately, I don't have a nice picture of a slice of this cake to show you. I took one shortly after it came out of the oven, but it didn't come out very well. I just went to get a slice for a nice photo - and the cake is gone. My husband decided to take it to work today without mentioning it to me. Apparently it was a big hit at the office, but that is not what I planned.

As we get into autumn it's a great time to bake all sorts of yumminess. So we may not stick strictly to the Three Sisters Bake Cookbook, but will keep up with the blog more frequently.

Until nex time . . . bake on my sweets!