Blueberry Lemon Cake

This Blueberry-Lemon Cake is an eggless, sattvic vegetarian dessert. The tartness of lemon enhances the flavor of blueberries, and the sour cream adds a luscious texture. It is the chemical reaction between the baking soda and acidic lemon and vinegar that causes the cake to rise and maintain a fluffy, light texture.  As all of those of us who made baking soda volcano experiments as kids may remember, this chemical reaction is relatively short lived, so the cake must enter directly into a hot oven after adding the vinegar, at the very end, when all of the other ingredients have been added. It is possible to change the type of berry used to vary the flavors – for example replacing the blueberries with raspberries and the lemon juice with orange juice and orange rind.

Dry Ingredients:

 

3 cups of flour

1 2/3 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon baking poweder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

 

Wet ingredients:

3 lemons – first grate the rind and reserve, then juice. Add water, until you have 2 1/2 cups of liquid altogether.

1/2 cup of sour cream

1/2 cup of sunflower oil

 

1 1/2 cups of blueberries

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, or plain white vinegar

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking dish, or line with baking paper.

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Separately combine the wet ingredients.  Slowly add the wet ingredients while mixing with a mixer on medium speed. Blend on higher speed until the batter is smooth.  Add the lemon rind and then fold in the blueberries.

Pour into the prepared baking dish.  This batter also works with cupcake forms.

Bake until it tests dry with a toothpick – approximately 40 minutes.

 

Lemon Glaze:

Melt a half a stick of butter. Add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and blend until the glaze has a creamy consistency. Spread over the warm cake and let cool.