This is a Jewish recipe from Iraqi Kurdistan for Rosh Hashanah. The earthy chard, salty beef, and tart lemon combine with the sweet beets to create a deliciously nuanced flavor in every bite. Even though the rice must soak for an hour, heating and preparation are simple for the stunning and intricate dish it produces.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 (9-inch) cake |
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon butter, or as needed
- 12 ounces fresh blueberries
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, or as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter and lightly flour the sides of a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Place blueberries in a bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon flour and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
- Beat sugar and eggs in a mixing bowl using an electric mixer on high speed until thickened and light in color, at least 5 minutes. Mix in sour cream, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and salt on low speed until just combined. Add 2 cups flour and baking powder and mix until combined. Add lemon juice and lemon zest and mix well.
- Pour 1/2 the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Spread 1/2 the blueberry mixture over batter. Pour in remaining cake batter and spread remaining blueberries on top, pushing them halfway into the batter.
- Bake in the preheated oven until top is browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove outer ring from springform pan and let cool completely. Dust top of cooked cake with confectioners’ sugar using a small sifter.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 363 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 48 g |
| Cholesterol | 48 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 186 mg |
| Sugars | 25 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I love blueberries and lemon together. Great breakfast item or with your tea.
Really nice and simple. Made a few changes – 3/4cup of white sugar, used creme fraiche and olive oil, and used demerara sugar on top. Next time, I will def add more lemon.
What a lovely cake! So easy to make and so delicious!
This cake was DELICIOUS! So moist and flavorful. I might just toss the blueberries in the sugar without the lemon next time. They are tart on their own:) This recipe is a KEEPER!
Easy to make and delicious. It was just the right sweetness and was a terrific way to use fresh picked berries.
This is great as is. I tend to use less sugar in most recipes. Making major changes to a recipe and the giving it 5* is no help. Monk fruit??? Lemon extract is a completely different flavor than lemon juice and zest.
I don’t bake a whole lot, but this was easy enough to make, and a very impressive flavor. I brought it to work and it disappeared quickly. I agree with the directions that it is difficult to tell when the middle is cooked due to the blueberries. Mine came out a little undercooked (even though it seemed done), so I would go the full 45 minutes next time. I didn’t think there would be enough lemon in the ingredients, but I followed the stated amounts anyway. You end up with a very light lemon flavor, which I thought was perfect, which doesn’t overpower the blueberries. I would make this again!
It was delicious! A moist cake with warm blueberries after being microwaved. The only thing I was confused about was it didn’t taste so lemony. I think I’ll add more lemons next time.
I loved it, my husband loved it and he had me back a couple of them to take to friends. It was a hit.
Delicious. The consistency came out just like a giant blueberry muffin. I used more than the stated lemon zest and still couldn’t taste the lemon. Perhaps it was the lemon I used? Other than that, great recipe and would make it again.
Great recipe! I didn’t have any real lemons, so subbed lemon extract. The first day, it seemed a little dry, but after sitting on the counter overnight (covered in plastic wrap), it tasted SO GOOD!! I think I will plan to make this a day ahead next time.
My son made this for a local country fair and won reserve champion!
This cake came out very well. It received rave reviews from all. I love lemon and don’t like very sweet desserts so I used about double the lemon zest and 1/2 cup lemon juice in the batter. I also brushed the top with limoncello when it was cool and served it with whipped cream. Very tasty!
So yummy!! I don’t have a springform pan so I used a bundt pan and it turned out so well!! I went a little less for the blueberries and it was perfect for me.
Really good & was moist! Wonder if regular sugar would have made it sweeter than the monk fruit. Next time will do a combo
The new go-to blueberry cake! Love it, I used spelt instead of regular flour, extra lemon zest, halved the sugar and simply sprayed a bundt pan with Pam and it came out great twice- in two weeks to show how good it is.
I lost my blueberry lemon cake recipe, and I am pretty sure this is exactly what I used to have! I used olive oil and didn’t change anything! Light, moist, fluffy, and a perfect summer cake!
My Family and I LOVE this cake!! The cake never last more than 24 hours.
great recipe essentially as is. The vegetable oil keeps the cake nice and moist. If you want a stronger lemon flavor, I can suggest adding a bit more lemon zest to the cake and then finishing the cake with a lemon juice / confectioners sugar glaze.