Blueberry cake tops off the meal
I turned to Janie Hibler’s “Dungeness Crabs and Blackberry Cobblers” to come up with a quick dessert that would please the eight people who would gather around my table in 30 minutes. Dinner was set; no worries there, but I had nothing but ice cream bars (good ones, though) for dessert.
Hibler bailed me out with her recipe for Fresh Raspberry Cake. I didn’t have raspberries, so I substituted blueberries. And it worked out just fine.
Wow. Jane Hibler’s cake looks great, even though I had to substitute blueberries for raspberries.
Fresh Raspberry Cake (8 servings)
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups fresh raspberries or 2 cups of blueberries
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×9-inch cake pan.
Cream the butter and 3/4 cup of the sugar. Add the egg and beat well. Mix the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together and add alternatively to the creamed mixture with the buttermilk. Pour into the greased pan and cover with the raspberries or blueberries. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and bake for 45 minutes or until done.
— Jane Hibler
Janet talking here: No way could I cook this for 45 minutes. I didn’t have a 9×9 pan, so that was a factor. I baked the cake for about 25 minutes, and the toothpick came out clean. Two of us had whipping cream; the others chose vanilla ice cream. The cake was moist and delicious.
Janet Cleaveland
What happens when a retired journalist spends a lot more time in the kitchen than in past years? She tries new dishes and jumps at the chance to write a blog about food, family and good times. My kids are grown now, but I'll be looking back at how they learned to cook, what recipes my husband (the Intrepid One) and I are experimenting with, and how food and conversation make for happy times in the kitchen. I worked for The Columbian for 15 years as a copy editor and another 10 elsewhere, though I didn't start out as a journalist. I thought I wanted to teach English literature. My husband grew up in Clark County, and I've lived here since 1983. My kids have grown and left home. Like my husband of 52 years, our adopted chocolate Lab would never pass up a chance for a tasty meal.