Skip to main content

Featured

Swapping Huckleberries

Himalayan Honeysuckle ( Vaccinium glauco album)  Himalayan Honeysuckle ( Vaccinium glauco album) has been an attractive feature along our north-facing foundation since I planted it in 2016. You will have to take my word for it since I cannot locate a photo although I know one exists somewhere in the realm of the Internet or floating on a cloud somewhere.  I did locate a photo of how it looked when it was first planted - It took a few years to fill out but it did so nicely to an attractive mound about 2 feet high by 3 feet wide.  Last year, it started to look bad.  I cut it back but it had not improved and this is how it looked a few weeks ago - I decided to rip it out and plant another huckleberry - this time Vaccinium ovatum , more commonly known as the "Evergreen Huckleberry".  This is a plant that I've wanted for ages and kept putting off getting one because I could not find a good place for it. By most accounts, this is an amazing plant, a native one and excellent for

Blackberry-Lemon Pound Cake


Last week our neighbor gave us a big bag of blackberries. Michael said he would like a blackberry pound cake so I set out to find a recipe. I ended up adapting a Lemon Blueberry cake recipe and hoped for the best. It turned out great and Michael loved it.

2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
Zest of one large lemon
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Juice of one large lemon
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 cups blackberries (frozen or fresh)

Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 TBS. lemon juice
1 TBS. lemon zest
1 TBS. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 large loaf pans or a Bundt pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Cream the butter. Add the sugar, sour cream and lemon zest and beat for about 5 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well.

Add the vanilla and lemon juice.

Mix in the flour mixture alternatively with the buttermilk in two or three additions.

Fold in the blackberries.

Bake for 45-55 minutes until a tester comes out smooth.

Allow the cake(s) to cool completely on wire racks. Whisk the glaze ingredients together and pour it over the cooled cake.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts