How to Philosophize with Cake: Vegan blueberry bundt cake with blueberry lemon glaze

One of the best parts about using fresh fruits in baking is the natural colors they lend the dish. And because we are clever humans, we often manipulate or make use of those lovely natural foods just for their gorgeous colors. I’m partial to using matcha for as a green coloring agent and beet puree for a rosy shade of pink.

As it turns out, blueberry juice is also a natural beauty. It lends its vibrant magenta to this cake in the form of a glaze, inspired by the one I saw a while back on Baker’s Royale. See, blueberry skins tend to get in the way of a blueberry’s color. If you puree a bunch of blueberries, you’ll get a nice appetizing shade of...grey? Dark blue? Nothing very interesting. (Yeah, there are pureed blueberries in this cake, but they are mostly obscured by the flour and sugar and whatnot.) Strain out the skins, and whallah—-pure blueberry juice, which happens to be a dark magenta.

I know; it’s confusing. Blueberries, which have blue skin and pale yellowish flesh, yield pink juice?

"Blue" "berry". source

Here, that gorgeous homemade blueberry juice is added to powdered sugar and lemon juice for a wonderfully sweet-tart glaze. Pretty fancy.

And it does a hell of a job spicing up that relatively normal-looking blueberry bundt cake. The cake is very rich, with loads of sugah and buttah and shit, not to mention very blueberry-flavored with 3 WHOLE CUPS of those babies in there, but a pink glaze can’t hurt, can it?

It's like abstract art.

The recipe is taken once again from Vegan Desserts and so I assure you, it is super good. A very worthy use of your fresh-picked blueberries. Even worth—dare I say it—turning on your oven in this summer heat.

If you're crazy like me.

Here’s the recipe.

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Vegan blueberry bundt cake with blueberry lemon glaze

Adapted from Vegan Desserts by Hannah Kaminsky

Ingredients

Blueberry bundt cake

224 grams • nondairy margarine, softened • 1 cup

300 grams • granulated sugar • 1 ½ cups

55 grams • dark brown sugar • ¼ cup

204 grams • all-purpose flour • 1 ½ cups

136 grams • whole wheat pastry flour • 1 cup

8 grams • baking powder • 2 teaspoons

1 gram • cinnamon • ½ teaspoon

3 grams • salt • ½ teaspoon

444 grams • blueberries • 3 cups

184 grams • nondairy milk • ¾ cup

15 grams • lemon juice • 1 tablespoon

Blueberry lemon glaze

112 grams • blueberries • ¾ cup

15 grams • water • 1 tablespoon

240 grams • powdered sugar • 2 cups

30 grams • lemon juice • 2 tablespoons

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a bundt pan and dust lightly with flour.

Place margarine, granulated sugar, and dark brown sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer and cream until light and fluffy.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in 148 grams • 1 cup blueberries and toss to coat with flour mixture.

Blend remaining 296 grams • 2 cups blueberries in a blender until as smooth as possible. Add milk and lemon juice and pulse to combine.

Add about a third of the flour mixture to the stand mixer and mix just until combined, followed by half of the blueberry mixture. Repeat and finish with the remaining third of the flour mixture. Do not over-mix the batter.

Pour batter into prepared bundt pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until browned around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make glaze, start by combining blueberries and water in a small saucepan. Heat, mashing and stirring up with a fork, until the blueberries release their juices and the contents of the pan turn syrupy. Remove from heat and strain the juice out into a bowl, discarding the blueberry skins. Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth. Whisk in lemon juice.

Drizzle glaze over cake. Slice and munch.

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