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By Sarah Condley

Columnist

Our son, Daniel, and his family were coming to our house on Saturday for a visit, and I was going to prepare supper for them. Since our grandson, Bruce, is just a few months old, he is on a schedule, and I knew Daniel and his family would leave before supper time. I wanted something ready that they could take home and eat once Bruce was down for his sleep time. Of course, the meal would only be complete with dessert.

Since I was busy on Friday and didn’t want to spend my time on Saturday in the kitchen, I started looking through a stack of recipes I’ve collected over the years for something pretty simple. When I ran across a recipe for Blueberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake, I’d gotten from the local county extension office when I worked there. I decided to give it a try. Courtney, a former co-worker and friend, always touted how good this recipe was, but I’d never made it.

I turned on the oven Friday afternoon and then got busy putting the cake batter together. The recipe didn’t say to soften the cream cheese, but I did to make it easier to combine with the canola oil (I didn’t use fat-free because I didn’t have it on hand). After putting both into a large mixing bowl, I turned the hand mixer on to medium, and the stuff started flying out of the bowl, so I slowed the speed down for a few seconds until the oil was beginning to mix with the cream cheese, then I turned the speed to high. It only took about a minute to get the mixture to a smooth consistency. I poured in the dry cake mix (the recipe calls for an 18-ounce mix, but the only thing you can get at the store nowadays is about 15 ounces – so I just used that) along with the instant pudding mix. After adding the egg whites, whole eggs and vanilla I turned the mixer on again. The batter kept rising on the beaters, and I had to keep turning the mixer off, scraping the beaters and start mixing again.

I could not believe how stiff the batter was, and I looked over the recipe to ensure I hadn’t left out some wet ingredients. I finally got the batter thoroughly mixed and turned off the mixer. I had to scrap the beaters again to remove the batter from them and then poured in two cups of frozen blueberries. Now I know the recipe said to use fresh blueberries, but this time of year, they typically aren’t that good, and besides that I had excellent ones in the freezer that we grew last summer. It probably is a good thing I used frozen ones because I’m afraid if I’d used fresh ones, they would have been smushed to bits while I was trying to fold them into that thick batter.

I spooned the batter into a Bundt pan that I’d sprayed with the non-stick spray with flour. After smoothing out the top of the batter, I put the cake pan into the oven and set the timer for 60 minutes. Of course, the cake needed to bake a little longer, 18 minutes longer. That may be because I used frozen berries in the batter, or it might just be my oven, even though I’ve tested it to ensure the temperature is correct.

The cake sat on the counter to cool for 20 minutes, and then I turned it out of the pan onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.

On Saturday, after a pleasant visit with family, I cut the cake in half for Daniel and Katelyn to take home with them and kept half because we had a friend over for supper on Sunday, and I didn’t want to make another dessert.

Daniel texted me Saturday after they had eaten and said they enjoyed the cake.

Brad and I waited until Sunday evening to give the cake a taste. Our friend, Shiela, and ourselves thought the cake was delicious. It wasn’t an overly sweet cake; plenty of blueberries were in it, which added a nice flavor.

With everyone’s blessing, I Nailed this recipe and added it to my self-made cookbook. Now I know why Courtney encouraged me to give it a try.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Instructions

• 1 8-ounce package fat free cream cheese

• 1/2 cup canola oil

• 1 18-ounce package yellow butter cake mix

• 1 5-ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix

• 2 large egg whites

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Ingredients

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

• Lightly spray Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust with flour.

• Combine cream cheese and oil in a medium bowl; beat with mixer at high speed until smooth and creamy.

• Add cake mix, pudding mix, egg whites, eggs, and vanilla extract.  Beat at medium speed until blended.

• Fold in berries.

• Spoon batter into prepared pan.

• Bake 60 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

• Cool cake in pan for 20 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely.