One for the moms…

Our good friend Joy the Baker (no, we’re not actually friends and okay, you caught us, we may or may not refer to her by first name as if we have actually met her) wrote a hilarious post a while back entitled, How to Impress a Boy by Baking. In said post Joy teaches us valuable life lessons. She teaches us how all the boys worth anything love baked goods, she explains how to make brownies to win over friends, how to put bacon in cookies and make boys drool, how we should feel good about baking up yummy things for boys because we want to, never because we should.

Joy also teaches us how to impress boy’s moms. That’s right. I hesitate to write this because it is highly possible a certain mother could be reading this post, but I must admit I needed a little help from Joy this weekend when my boyfriend’s parents came to visit.

It would be fun to say that this cake was the result of a calculated decision. I’d like to describe how every aspect of this cake was suited to taste and that the buttermilk and poppy seeds and blueberry glaze each had an intended effect designed to woo my boyfriend’s mom. I’d really like to be able to tell you that I spent hours in the kitchen crafting this exceptionally delicate cake all for the sake of a happy mother and a good impression. Unfortunately, I made the cake simply because it was pretty and yummy and I cooked it all up without breaking a sweat in under an hour because it’s just that straight forward. Shucks.

Regardless of my lack of calculation and slaving in the kitchen to produce this cake, I can assure you that it was a huge hit. Just don’t look at me, I didn’t do anything, it was all thanks to my friend Joy.
-EmB

Buttermilk Poppy Seed Cake with Blueberry Glaze
(Adapted from Joy the Baker)

For the cake:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ⅓ cup canola oil
1 cup buttermilk (make your own by adding 1 tablespoon white vinegar to 1 cup skim milk and leaving to sit for 5-10 minutes)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

For the blueberry glaze:
1/4 cup frozen blueberries, thawed but not drained
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons buttermilk (or regular milk is fine too)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan and set aside. (It is always better to over grease than to under grease when using bundt pans.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together canola oil, buttermilk, egg, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once. Whisk together until just combined and no lumps remain. Stir in the poppy seeds. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cook in the pan for 20 minutes. Carefully run a butter knife along the edges of the cake to assure that it is well loosed before inverting the cake onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the blueberry glaze:

Mash the thawed blueberries in a medium sized bowl releasing lots of dark blue juice. Remove most of the blueberry skins from the juice and discard. Add the vanilla extract, buttermilk and lemon. Add the powdered sugar and whisk to combine. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk to reach the desired consistency. If the mixture is too thin, add just a bit more powdered sugar.

Drizzle the glaze over the completely cooled bundt cake and allow to set for 20 minutes before serving. (If you can wait that long…)