Purple Cake

The following recipe isn't quite perfected, but the taste is phenomenal. Everyone who has tried it so far raves about it. The imperfection is in appearance, not taste, so those of you requesting an advance copy of the imperfect recipe, please enjoy.... Once the appearance issues are solved, I will post a correction, of course. =)





Aunt Melissa' Purple Cake

3/4 cup soft margarine
1 cup sugar
2-1/4 cups self-rising flour
(or 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour +1-1/2 t. salt, 1/2 t. soda and 2-1/4 t. baking powder)
2 t. baking powder
4 large eggs
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 cups Trader Joe's frozen organic blueberries (thawed)
1 heaping Tablespoon of frozen orange juice concentrate (do not add water!)
1 heaping teaspoon fresh grated ginger or ginger paste (do not substitute dried ginger, it doesn't even come close)

Grease and flour two layer cake pans and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer, cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs. Combine dry ingredients and add to wet mixture. Add lemon juice, orange juice concentrate, ginger and blueberries. Mix until batter is uniformly purple, but do not overmix.

Divide equally into prepared cake pans and bake approximately 40 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out dry, with no crumbs sticking to the wood, and the edges should shrink from the sides of the pan. Allow to cool completely prior to frosting.

Frosting:

Approx. 1 lb of confectioner's sugar
1 T. softened butter
1 T. frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup thawed Trader Joe's organic wild blueberries
1 t. fresh grated ginger (I use ginger paste)

Measurements for the icing is very approximate. I began with 2 cups confectioner's sugar and kept adding until sugar until proper spreading consistency was attained. 1 lb is an approximation. At the time it seemed I was making an incredible amount of frosting, but it covered exactly two layers, so everything worked out right.

NOW, about the "appearance" issues. These cakes are VERY moist and dense. The centers have a slight indentation. If this doesn't bother you, enjoy. On my next attempt, I intend to try using butter instead of the soft margarine and possibly using more flour. I haven't tried using fewer blueberries or OJ concentrate, because the brightness of the flavor is what makes this cake good.


Happy July and Enjoy your cake!

Aunt Melissa




p.s. a preview of recipes to come... homemade dog biscuits

.......................................chocolate almond biscotti

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