Port Wine Blueberry Cake
Sometimes, life is extra sweet.
I was recently gifted with two fantabulous local bounties at once.
First, my star blueberry bushes delivered a bounty of fresh berries. And, second, a friend bestowed a wonderful bottle of 2006 Quailhurst Pinot Port dessert wine to my kitchen.
Mmmm, my instincts said that the deep bing cherry flavor of the port was destined to be paired somehow with the blueberries. And so the recipe search began.
A recipe for Port Wine Blueberry Cake won me over. Originally published on www.ciaoitalia.com, I actually found it republished on several other sites. Unfortunately, the pictures and instructions didn’t match up. And, questions/comments about the recipe were never answered.
Oh, well, I decided to take a chance on it and watched it carefully in the oven. The results were so worth the trouble.
Quailhurst’s Affinity gave the blueberries and cake an intense, complex flavor. My entire family loved, loved, loved it.
My little guy has a slight obsession with the berry coffee cake at Starbucks and declared that mine tasted just like it. My husband disagreed and declared mine, “way better than Starbucks.”
I do understand what my son was saying though. The density of the cake was very similar to Starbucks and unlike anything I’ve made at home before.
My kiddos ate the cake for breakfast, but the grownups enjoyed a slice in the evening. A little sip of port, a little nibble of cake, a little heaven on a summer night…
I feel a summer tradition in the making. Or, perhaps, it will be a monthly tradition…blueberries do freeze quite well.
Ingredients List
- ¼ cup softened butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup milk
- ¼ cup port wine (I used Quailhurst Affinity)
- 1 ¾ cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen but may need to increase baking time by up to 10 minutes.
- Sifted powdered sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 350ºF
Lightly oil a non-stick bundt pan.
In a stand-up mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, milk and port wine.
Slowly add in the flour, baking powder and salt. Stop the mixer, scrape the sides and continue to mix until throughly combined.
Stop mixer and gently fold in the blueberries with a spatula or spoon.
Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Cake should be golden brown, pulling away from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the cake should come out clean (other than some blueberry stain).
Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a butter knife gently around the edges, invert the cake onto a plate and remove from pan. Slide the cake back onto the wire rack and allow to cool for 20 minutes.
Dust cake with sifted powdered sugar. Serve while still warm or at room temperature.