for a birthday: lemon blackberry cake with icing

Can I say that family is interesting?  On Monday, we drove to celebrate my Beloved's Grandmother's birthday.  I baked a cake but it did not get eaten.  I really wished to make this with raspberries but we had no raspberries in the house.  It was a last minute trip so going to the store just did not work.  I also wanted to make a layer cake with frosting but with three hours in the truck and 96 degrees outside, I could not figure out how to do that.

My Beloved and Tall Short person are very happy with this cake.  So happy, I think they are glad they did not have to share!

Lemon Blackberry Cake

1 cup plus two tablespoons butter

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons lemon zest from four small lemons

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, milk, or hempmilk

10 ounces frozen blackberries

4 small lemons (used for their zest) sliced

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan, put the lemons, water, and 2 cups sugar.  Bring to a boil and then turn the heat under them so that it will simmer for 15 minutes.  Turn off the heat after 15 minutes and let cool with the lemons in the syrup.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a 9 in springform pan.  Flour the greased pan.

 In a large bowl, cream the 1 cup sugar and the butter together.  Mix in the vanilla and lemon zest.   Mix in the eggs.  Mix in the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  A little bit at a time, mix in the cream or hempmilk.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Smooth is out with a spatula so it is even.  Top with the blackberries.  Bake for 1 hour.  Test with a knife.  The cake is done when the knife comes out clean and the cake is golden brown.  I actually had to bake for another 30 minutes but I covered it with aluminum foil so it would not get too brown.

Let the cake cool for about a half hour.

Strain the lemons out of the syrup.  Take 1/3 cup of the syrup and drizzle over the cake while the cake is still warm.  Let the cake cool completely in its pan.

For the icing, put the powdered sugar in a bowl (mine worked for traveling).  Add enough lemon syrup to make a thick icing.  

Remove cake from pan.  Drizzle icing over it or drizzle icing over each slice.

This is one of those cakes that is good cold, room temperature, or warmed.  But I do not make anything different because I really do not like sponge cake!