On Summer Cakes

And fresh berries!

Oh hello, and happy Friday! This is the weekly recipe post for paid subscribers. On Tuesday, all readers will receive a post on food as nostalgia has been a TREAT to write so far. Next Friday, paid subscribers will receive two recipes for homemade zucchini pickles. There is a hard stop ahead, which sucks, but hey: I need to provide my cats with the life they deserve somehow!

Berries on the farm!

This will be a short one today, as I’m visiting my parents’ farmette this weekend and anxious to get my hands dirty to pick some produce for dinner. The tomatoes are absolutely perfect right now, the beans are bursting, and our family dog, Holly, is at her happiest when she’s gnawing on an ear of corn. Life is good!

Today’s cake is a family favorite, and perhaps to prove a point, I’m going to make it for brunch tomorrow. Growing up, my mom made this every spring, and to me, it is the perfect warm weather cake: not too heavy, with light, zippy flavors, and a tangy cream cheese icing. If you are not a cake with icing person, first, let me say hello and welcome to the dark side. This cake would be delightful with an orange juice glaze or even some cardamom-infused simple syrup. Do with that information what you will.

These are some throw-WAY-back photos, but I don’t hate them.

Blueberries are a treat here, and a personal favorite, but this would be delicious with blackberries or raspberries as well. I can also imagine little slices of peaches suspended in this buttermilk cake batter, but I have not yet tested that and therefore cannot officially endorse it.

I also wanted to take a moment and recognize that this recipe was originally published in Better Homes and Gardens, but that it called for a yellow cake mix in place of the buttermilk cake base that I use. When I posted this recipe back in the early days of Page & Plate, I sort of scoffed at their use of cake mix and poo-poo’d that kind of baking. In my older, wiser years with the gray hairs to prove it, I’d like to officially go on the record and say that this recipe is a fantastic way to take cake mix and jazz it up to be something special. Whichever way you decide to make it, I’m proud of you for baking. You go! Go eat a piece of cake, that is.

Blueberry Citrus Cake with Cream Cheese Icing