Marbled Blueberry Bundt Cake

Ya know how in regular blueberry cake or muffins there's always big pockets of bluberries and big empty, lonely spaces of batter that totally miss out on blueberry flavor?

It's the worst right?

Well this cake fixes all that and more.

First off, we blend the blubs up until they're smooth and mix with some warmed sugar and pectin to make it like a runny jelly consistency.

Pectin is basically this stuff you can buy at your local supermarket that acts as a thickener when you make jams and jellies. It's just like this magic powder in a box that turns fruit into jelly!

Anyway, we're gonna use a really cool technique to swirl the berry filling into the cake batter.

  You pour half of the cake batter into the bundt pan, then make a well in the batter with the back of a spoon and fill it with half of the berry filling. Then using a butter knife you swirl the berry into the batter. And then repeat with remaining batter and filling.

This ensures that we get an even berry flavor in every bite of the cake!

And you end up with a really pretty swirl design. Bonus!

 It's a sea of blueberry swirl. I'll take a swim now please.

 Time to flip. Hold your breath!

 

It's always such a sense of accomplishment when a bundt comes out clean.

I'm king of the bundts!

 I like big bundts.

 Marbled Blueberry Bundt Cake

from: Cook's Illustrated May & June 2013
Serves 12

Ingredients:

Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs plus 1 large yolk, room temperature
18 Tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar

Filling
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons low- or no-sugar-needed fruit pectin*
pinch salt
10 ounces (2 cups) fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

 * Cook's Illustrated recommends both Sure-Jell for Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes and Ball RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin

Directions:

Cake
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees F. Heavily spray 12-up nonstick Bundt pan with baking spray and sprinkle with flour. Tap out excess.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in large bowl. Whisk buttermilk, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla together in medium bowl. Gently whisk eggs and yolk together in another small bowl.

Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to medium and beat in half of eggs until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Repeat with remaining eggs, scraping down bowl after incorporating. Reduce speed to low and add one-third of flour mixture, followed by half of buttermilk mixture, mixing until just incorporated after each addition, about 5 seconds. Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture. Scrape down bowl, add remaining flour mixture, and mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside while preparing filling (batter will inflate a bit).

Filling
Whisk sugar, pectin, and salt together in small saucepan. Process blueberries in blender until mostly smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer 1/4 cup puree and lemon zest to saucepan with sugar mixture and stir to thoroughly combine. Heat sugar-blueberry mixture over medium heat until just simmering, about 3 minutes, stirring frequently to dissolve sugar and pectin. Transfer mixture to medium bowl and let cool for 5 minutes. Add remaining puree and lemon juice to cooled mixture and whisk to combine. Let sit until slightly set, about 8 minutes.

Spoon half of batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Using back of spoon, create 1/2-inch-deep channel in center of batter. Spoon half of filling into channel. Using butter knife or small offset spatula, thoroughly swirl filling into batter (there should be no large pockets of filling remaining.) Repeat swirling step with remaining batter and filling.

Bake until top is golden brown and skewer inserted in center comes out with no crumbs attached, 60 to 70 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert cake directly onto wire rack. Let cake cool for at least 3 hours before serving.