2 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
11/2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Beat egg whites until stiff. Add about 1/4 cup of the sugar to keep them stiff.
Cream shortening, add salt and vanilla to this. Add remaining sugar gradually. Add unbeaten egg yolks and beat until light and creamy. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk. Fold in beaten whites. Fold in the fresh blueberries (Take a bit of the flour called for in recipe and gently shake berries in it so they won’t settle.)
Turn into a greased 8 by 8-inch pan. Sprinkle top of batter lightly with granulated sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Serves eight.
MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH BLUEBERRY CAKE WITH CORNMEAL AND LEMON
This cake is my (Food Editor Peggy Grodinsky’s) variation on the original Marjorie Standish recipe. I don’t bother tossing the blueberries with flour, as Standish instructed. Recipes often call for berries to be tossed with flour, the theory being they then won’t sink in the cake while it’s baking. When I worked at America’s Test Kitchen, we tested that theory 10 consecutive times and found it to be an old wives’ tale.
Heads up: The batter for this cake is quite stiff before you fold in the egg whites, more like cookie dough than cake batter. Also, if you use frozen blueberries, they will stiffen it further. Melt-in-Your-Mouth-Blueberry Cake is especially nice served slightly warm.
Serves 8
2 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon, plus 1 tablespoon juice
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal, preferably local and stone-ground
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
11/2 cups fresh or frozen wild blueberries
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling
Grease and flour an 8 by 8-inch square pan (or 9-inch round pan). Set aside. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat the egg whites in a stand mixer until stiff, gradually adding about 1/4 cup of the sugar to help keep them stiff. Set them aside.
Add the lemon zest to the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and mix it together with your fingers to infuse the sugar with the zest.
Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.
Combine the milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract.
Cream the butter with the sugar-lemon mixture in a stand mixer until light and creamy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, and beat until incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternately with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mix just until incorporated.
By hand, stir in a big spoonful of beaten whites to loosen the batter, then fold in the remaining beaten whites. Gently fold in the blueberries.
Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the top of the batter lightly with the turbinado sugar. Bake 45 to 50 minutes until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into its center emerges without any wet batter clinging to it. Let cool 10 minutes, then de-pan to continue cooling. Serve slightly warm or cool.
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