berries – The Entertaining Anthropologist

Today is my daughter’s birthday, so she planned the menu. I’m surprised that each year she has a new request for her birthday dessert, and a different dinner meal as well. Last year was chicken enchiladas with a chocolate cake that had a thick layer of mint frosting in the center and chocolate ganache on top.

Other years it is spaghetti with key lime pie. I’ve had to invent a fair number of the desserts, including the cake just mentioned and a s’mores cake. This year her dessert and dinner are easy: snacky dinner (basically a French themed antipasto) and sopapilla cheesecake.

Her requested breakfast, though, has been pretty consistent. First of all, there has to be sausage. My girl loves her some breakfast meat, and link sausages are at the top of the list. And I think I’m not bad at delicious breakfasts, so she really has a list to choose from. My husband, for example, always goes for sourdough pancakes with our fresh blueberries. My kid, though, always picks a Dutch baby.

Dutch babies are kind of a hit with guests, too. They look very impressive, I think, and they are incredibly simple to make. I use a recipe from James McNair’s book, Breakfast, which I highly recommend.

I don’t think they are terrible for you, until you put some goodies on top. Which we like to do. The traditional topping for a Dutch baby is lemon juice and powdered sugar. That’s nice, but that is not what we do. We like to have another family favorite with the Dutch baby: stewed blackberries.

These are so good. If you can convince yourself to freeze some of those berries you picked in the summer, this dish is a wonderful use for them. Of course, you can buy frozen berries at the grocery store too. These also are not so bad for you, so we feel the need to add cream and put lemon curd on the Dutch baby. I mean, that’s a little over the top, I know, but it’s just who I am.

Cream is almost always the right choice.

This trait is probably why you like me, if we are both honest.

Dutch Baby

4 large eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

lemon zest

8 ounces unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 475ºF. That’s going to be a while, so get to mixing! Beat the eggs until they are frothy and then gradually add the milk while beating. Gradually add the flour while beating as well. Mix in the vanilla. Zest your lemon into the batter.

By now the oven should be close. Using a cast iron skillet (mine is 11 inches) or other oven safe skillet, put your stick of butter in the pan. Add the pan with the butter to the oven to melt the butter. Watch it closely, because it will go fast! Remove when just melted and pour in the batter. Don’t freak out about the butter. You won’t eat it all. It just keeps things from sticking and it seasons your pan beautifully. Cook for 10-12 minutes, keeping an eye on the baby. It’s going to puff up a lot!

Take it out to the admiration of friends and family. If they are not crowing about it’s loveliness, then you need new friends or to coach them in better manners. Serve immediately.

Stewed Blackberries

Boil 1/2 cup water with 1/4 cup sugar and a cinnamon stick for about 5 minutes. Add 4 cups of frozen blackberries (or a 16 oz. bag) and cover. After it simmers, reduce the heat to low and stir occasionally. You want the boil to be gentle.

Serve with the Dutch baby. My husband likes to coat the Dutch baby with lemon curd and then add a little blackberry juice on there for good measure. Others just keep it separate. Both ways are correct.

It looks fancy, but it is truly a breeze to make both of these. You should try it!

I am really a terrible gardener. The only thing I can do well is put things in the ground. It’s pretty easy for me to decide that I want a plant to grow close to me. Most of my decisions about plants are motivated by the potential for eating them, or at least smelling them. My daughter will pick things solely for how they look, and I’m grateful for her perspective but I don’t understand it. Me, I want to put them in my mouth.

My husband is generally very supportive of my poor gardening, in that he does nothing to criticize or discourage me. He does occasionally suggest plants, and blueberry bushes were at the top of his list. I quickly followed those with raspberry and blackberry canes, given to me by a friend when his bushes spread. Now I have a nice little patch. and I get this every few days.

Faced with this abundance, I have to act fast. I freeze, I snack, but I also make desserts, which brings me to this beautiful cake. I know you came here for the cake.

While I am definitely bad at gardening, I am a decent cook. Okay, I’m a good cook. I know you are eyeing that very homemade-looking cake and you are doubting me. My food may not always look gorgeous, but it tastes amazing. I think you should probably try making this cake and see what you think.

I got the original recipe from the August 2001 issue of Bon Appétit, and they got it from Thymes Two Catering out of San Francisco. Don’t you think those chefs lie a little bit when they give out their recipes? I mean, I probably would. But I’m not going to lie to YOU. I made this cake just a little different. Some would say better, but let’s just assume that they were lying about the real recipe and I somehow accidentally discovered it. I have restored it to its previous glory!

Lemon-Blueberry Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups plus 6 tablespoons cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

3 cups fresh blueberries

1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon Penzey’s double strength vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon Penzey’s lemon extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter and flour three 9-inch cake pans, and line with parchment paper. Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. Take one tablespoon of flour mixture and toss with fresh berries until coated in separate bowl.

Stir together the milk, lemon zest, vanilla, and lemon extract in small bowl. Beat the butter and sugar together in a mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Alternate adding flour and milk mixtures, about a third at a time, until blended.

Divide the batter between the three pans. (I honestly think you could use two pans if you wanted thicker layers, but then you get less frosting per slice, so I’m going to leave that up to you.) Sprinkle on the blueberries evenly over the batter. I use my fingers to lightly swirl the batter over the blueberries. You could just mix in the berries, but I like a more even distribution and I don’t want them all stuck on the bottom.

Bake cakes for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and the tester comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans on racks for about 10 minutes and then turn out onto the racks to cool to room temperature. Now make the frosting!

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
¾ cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Penzey’s lemon extract
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Penzey’s double strength vanilla extract

Beat the cream cheese and butter together using a mixer. Gradually add the powdered sugar, followed by the lemon juice, vanilla, and extract. Taste for lemon! I like mine strong. Refrigerate until cool enough to spread easily, about an hour.

Assemble your layers, covering each with about 3/4 cups of frosting. I always have frosting left over, no matter how much I slather on, so be generous. Use some of your other berries to decorate the top. I have tons of raspberries, so I like those, but any berry would be fun. Or leave it plain or add some lemon peel curls.

Eat and enjoy! Let me know how it turns out for you. I store mine in the refrigerator because Arkansas is hot this time of year!