I made this cake yesterday to take to my fire station for training. It was super delicious and I’m glad that I made the cream cheese frosting instead of the glaze I was originally planning on making because it just made it next level. Recipe and photo courtesy of celebratingsweets.com.

Cake:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour*
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda*
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, (if you don’t have butter milk try ⅔ cup plain or vanilla yogurt mixed with ⅓ cup milk)
• 2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a bundt pan by greasing and flouring it. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla and beat until combined. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, mix well. Beat in flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk. Beat for 2 minutes. Put ⅓ of the cake batter (batter will be thick, you will most likely need to spoon it in) in the bottom of the bundt pan, sprinkle with ⅓ cup of the blueberries. Put another ⅓ of cake batter on top of that and again, sprinkle with ⅓ cup of blueberries, finish by putting remaining cake batter on top and sprinkle with remaining blueberries. Using a butter knife or spoon, push blueberries down into the cake batter a little bit. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out of center clean. Let cake cool completely ( I like to do this by putting it (still in the pan) into the freezer for 1 hour, it helps lock in the moisture. You can cool it on a cooling rack if you prefer. When cake is completely cooled run a butter knife around the edges and gently shake cake back and forth to loosen it before inverting it onto a cake stand or plate for frosting.

For the frosting, combine all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until fully combined and fluffy. Spread over cooled cake and top with fresh blueberries.

*If you are baking this at altitude, leave out the baking soda and increase the flour to 3 cups.

I was gifted two huge zucchini’s and went on the hunt for a deliciously sweet way to use them up. After perusing Pinterest I found two good contenders, one of them being this lemon bread. The thing I liked about this was that is as different from most of the zucchini recipes out there. Recipe and photo by lilluna.com.

Bread

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1 cup zucchini, grated

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Then add oil and sugar until well blended. Add lemon juice, buttermilk, lemon zest to this mixture and blend all together. Fold in zucchini until it is mixed well. Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend all together until well combined. Pour batter into greased 9×5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. While still warm, make glaze and spoon over the bread. Let the glaze set up before cutting and serving.

I found this bread via Pinterest. If you can get a hold of the cinnamon chips made by Hershey’s this is a really yummy bread. I would suggest stocking up at Christmas when the stores carry it.

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 bag  cinnamon chips
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon

Cream butter, sugar, salt and cinnamon until fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Add vanilla and sour cream and mix well. Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.  Add to wet ingredients and mix until all combined.  Add cinnamon chips and stir into batter. Set aside.  Spoon batter into 4 mini loaf pans until about 2/3 full.  Mix 3 T. sugar and 3 t. cinnamon in a bowl and sprinkle over the batter in each loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Let cool before removing from pan.

This pumpkin bread recipe comes out of Better Homes and Garden Fall Baking magazine. I think it’s even better than Starbucks pumpkin loaf, which is saying something.

• 1 1⁄2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1⁄2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 3 1⁄3 cups (427 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2⁄3 cupwater
• 1 15 oz can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease bottom and sides of three loaf pans; set aside. In an extra large bowl combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Add eggs; beat well. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Alternately add flour mixture and the water to sugar mixture, beating on low speed until just combined. Beat in pumpkin. Spread batter evenly into prepared pans, and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.