Grocery stores have become some kind of battleground, shoppers donning face masks and plastic gloves, hand sanitizer and lysol holstered at the ready. Six months ago, this is not how any of us imagined such a mundane activity, grocer shopping, to be. And yet, here we are.
As stocks of staples dwindle, we rely ever more on recipes of decades past. Particularly Depression-era baking recipes have seen an unprecedented uptick in popularity. I’ve fondly termed these eggless, milkless, butterless baked wonders Impossible Cakes. Because, somehow, this cake comes out impossibly light, fluffy and delicious.
This recipe is borrowed from King Arthur Flour.
Last year, I posted a lemon blueberry teacake recipe after a bountiful blueberry harvest at a local grove. The cake was good, but its lack of spectacularity has haunted me ever since. So I give you this recipe instead, King Arthur Flour’s Lemon Tendercake with Blueberry Compote. If you read the prologue to the recipe, you’ll see that this is a favorite of English chef Nigella Lawson, a fine endorsement if you ask me.
Like I said, this Impossible cake contains no eggs, flour or butter. It relies wholly on shelf-stable pantry ingredients, save the blueberries, which can easily be replaced with whatever berry, or fruit you have on hand, fresh or frozen.
As it happens, this cake is indeed vegan and by default dairy-free, hooray!
The original recipe includes a yogurt topping, which I admit I forwent in favor of the easier alternative, a can of whipped cream. You could just as easily replace the compote with a sweet jam you have on hand, or swap available yogurt for the coconut yogurt in the recipe. I recommend, however remaining as close to the cake recipe as possible. The coconut milk lends a sweet, almost nutty flavor and sweetness is balanced with a whisper of tart from the lemon.
For an easy printable version of the recipe click here.
