Blueberry Lemon Teacake

When you live in a two room apartment encased in brick there aren't many reasons to have your oven compete with the AC in summer. This blueberry lemon teacake, however, is definitely one of the better reasons to initiate an appliance show-down. The lemon flavor is light, fresh, and bright. The blueberries retain their juiciness; bursting with each push of the fork and staining the dense crumb with purple flecks. It's a perfect cake to serve with a dollop of sweet whipped cream at the end of a summer meal on the patio.

Eight Layer Coconut Lemon Cake with Raspberries and Toasted Coconut

This eight layer coconut lemon cake with raspberries and toasted coconut is a birthday cake to end all birthday cakes. A behemoth of a cake that took nearly all day to make but was the birthday present in itself.  My sister-in-law loves coconut cake. Last year for her birthday I made a chocolate cake with orange marmalade filling and a coconut frosting. It wasn't one of my best. This year, I decided to make the biggest, bestest, tastiest, moistest, most coconutty cake possible. Behold! The Eight Layer Coconut Lemon Cake!

Several days before Andrea's birthday I sent her about three emails with various options for coconut cake pairings. I wasn't able to procure passion fruit, which was our combined first choice; I couldn't get coconut-chai out of my head so I made this Chai Almond Cake with Toasted Coconut Buttercream for a dinner at my mother's house the day before Andrea's birthday. Seriously. Baking cakes for days and days. And I'm surprised there's too much buttercream around my middle layer? Oouf. Or should I say oeuf? Heehee... just a little French baking humor.

Right. Back to the cakes. Mmm... cake. Andrea's close second choice was a coconut lemon cake and so this is what happened... 

Blackberry Peach Teacake

It is no exaggeration to say that this Blackberry Peach Teacake was devoured in twenty-four hours between Thom and me. I have a spectacular fondness for cake... which you... uh... probably already knew considering the name of this blog... but anyway... this style of teacake is one of my particular favorites. The cake is dense and rich while remaining moist. The fruit on top adds a wonderful fresh burst of natural flavor to the mildly spiced and creamy cake.

If you've been reading this blog regularly you know this cake is a springtime variation on a theme; the Pear Marzipan Teacake is brilliant in early autumn and the Orange-Fig Teacake with Caramel Glaze is perfect for bridging the gap between the fall and winter seasons. For spring I lightened up the cake a bit with less sugar and cream as well as added richness to the flavor with almond flour and almond extract. Some slivered almonds on top of the cake would be great, too.