Last weekend family and friends gathered to celebrate my dad’s retirement.  After 40 years of working (albeit one day per week  for those of you who know him, haha), he is now on Easy Street.

The opportunity to feed a group other than my coworkers (or me, myself, and I) was there, so I decided to bake a cake for our family to enjoy.  The recipe below has been adapted from one I found online –  the jam and icing weren’t originally enough.  You can make the jam ahead of time, and I recommend doing so in order to save time once you are ready to bake the cake itself.

Lemon Blueberry Triple Layer Cake
Adapted from Lick the Bowl Good

Blueberry Jam (can be made up to 5 days in advance):
4 ½ c blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 c + 2 T sugar
3 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 ¼ t grated lemon zest

• Puree the blueberries with any juices that have exuded in a blender. Pass the puree through a coarse strainer to remove the skins.
• In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberry puree with the sugar, lemon juice, and zest.  Bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat, stirring often until the preserves have thickened and are reduced to 1 ½ cups.
• To check the proper thickness of the jam, place a small amount in the freezer until cold. Drag your finger through it, and if a path is made through the jam then it is ready.  Cool before using.

Cake:
2 sticks (1 c) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c sugar
2 t grated lemon zest
1½ t lemon extract
7 egg whites, room temperature
3 c cake flour
4 t baking powder
½ t salt
1¼ c milk

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of three 8 inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
• In a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, lemon zest and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Gradually add the egg whites 2 or 3 at a time, beating well between additions and stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In 2 or 3 alternating additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beat the dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture. Beat on medium-high speed for about 1 minute.
• Scoop 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Divide the remaining equally among the 3 prepared pans, smoothing the tops with a spatula. Add 2 ½ T of the lemon blueberry jam to the reserved batter and blend well. Drizzle heaping teaspoons of this blueberry mixture over the batter in the pans. Use a skewer or knife to swirl the blueberry mixture into designs on top of and into the cake batter.
• Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cool for 10 minutes and turn out onto a wire rack, peeling off the paper and leaving to cool completely.

Lemon Buttercream
1 ½  c sugar
¼ c + 2 T water
3 eggs
4 ½  sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
+/- 2 c blueberries for decorating, if desired

• In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil without stirring, occasionally washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat.
• With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs briefly. Slowly add the hot syrup in a thin stream, pouring it down the sides of the bowl, carefully avoiding the beaters or the syrup may splatter. When all of the syrup has been added, raise the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and cooled to room temperature. This can take 15-20 minutes.
• Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the softened butter 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, beating well between additions. (The frosting may appear to break, but it will come back together like whipped butter.)
• Beat in the lemon juice.

To assemble the cake, place a layer on a cake stand or platter. If the top is uneven or rounded, even it out with a knife.  With a piping bag, create a “wall” of icing around the top edge and spread half of the blueberry jam within that icing border. Place a second cake on top of the first and repeat with icing and jam. Finally place the third cake layer on top and frost the top and sides with the lemon buttercream icing. Decorate with fresh blueberries and serve.

Makes one 8 inch triple layered cake.

Serves: 8
calories: too many to fathom, just forget about it