The bundt cake above is the perfect vehicle for the summer berries in abundance now at the farmer’s markets, produce stands and local groceries. In celebrating the bounty of summer in the menu I served last week (or in the case of the gazpacho, almost served), this was the dessert that made the cut.
The raspberries, blueberries and blackberries weave their way throughout the moist yet light cake which is blanketed in a sweet yet tart lemony glaze. This Triple Berry Summer Buttermilk Bundt Cake would be just as perfect served for brunch as for dessert, or served with a cup of tea or glass of lemonade. Go crazy!
Triple Berry Summer Buttermilk Bundt (from www.smittenkitchen.com)
For The Cake
2 and ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 and ¾ cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, room temperature (extra large worked for me)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup buttermilk
3 cups mixed berries (I used 4 cups)
For The Glaze
2 cups powdered or confectioner’s sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, very, very soft
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 10-cup Bundt pan, either with butter or a nonstick spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk or sift 2 and ½ cups flour (leaving 2 tablespoons back), baking powder and salt together and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and impossible fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Then, with the mixer on low speed, add your eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in vanilla, briefly. Add 1/3 flour mixture to batter, beating until just combined, followed by half the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk and remaining flour mixture.
Scrape down from time to time and don’t mix any more than you need to.
In the bowl where you’d mixed your dry ingredients, toss the berries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour.
With a silicon spatula, gently fold the berries into the cake batter. The batter will be very thick and this will seem impossible without squishing the berries a little, but just do your best and remember that squished berries do indeed make for a pretty batter.
Spread cake batter-you might find it easier to plop it in the pan in large spoonfuls, because it’s so thick- in the prepared baking pan and spread the top smooth. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, rotating the cake 180 degrees after 30 minutes (to make sure it browns evenly).
The cake is done as soon as a tester comes out clean of batter.
Set cake pan on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes, before inverting onto a serving platter to cool the rest of the way. Cool completely.
Once cool, whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth and very, very thick. (If you’d like it thinner, add more juice, but I like the thick drippiness of it, seen below.) Spread carefully over cake, letting it trickle down the sides when and where it wishes. Serve at once or keep it covered at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
