I might think of this moist, simple cake with summer berries baked inside as Snow Day Cake from now on. We had another snowstorm Wednesday, with snow falling by the foot, not the inch. I was stuck at home with nothing sweet in the house but with sour cream to use up and a bag of mixed berries in the freezer, so I turned to this tried and true family recipe, a favorite. It’s buttery like a pound cake but much lighter, and I usually make it with fresh blueberries when they’re in season.
Slices are prettier when made with blueberries, as they’re all the same size and shape. But as the snow piled higher and higher, the thought of strawberries, raspberries and the odd blackberry in addition to blueies was irresistable. I didn’t defrost them; there’s really no need. I didn’t even measure them — no two bags are alike and if measuring by volume, strawberries take up a lot of room. I used about half of a 15-ounce/425g bag, enough berries that the batter doesn’t look stingy but not enough to dominate. You’ll know. The precision that matters most in baking is with dry ingredients and leaveners.
Sour Cream and Berry Tube Cake
1 stick/113g unsalted butter, softened and cut into eighths
1 cup/200g sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups/250g all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into the cup
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup/240g sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pint/2 cups fresh blueberries (see note)
OR
equivalent frozen berries, not thawed
Spray or grease a standard tube or Bundt pan. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F/180C/Gas 4.
Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until very light in color, 4 minutes or so, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each additon. Scrape the bowl.
Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and beat well, about 2 minutes. Fold in the berries by hand. The batter will be thick. [Unless your kitchen is very warm -- mine is not -- using frozen berries might cause the butter in the batter to begin to stiffen, so be sure to have the pan ready. ~ ella]
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 – 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Move a cooling rack and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool on the rack.
Ella’s Note: Fresh blueberries are usually sold by the pint in the US and the container is marked 402g or, inexplicably, 551mL. I just bought some in a 6-ounce/170g container so who knows what’s “standard” these days? One cup of fresh blueberries weighs 145g. In any case, two greedy handfuls of blueberries should be fine in this recipe.
Related post on From Scratch: About Creaming
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