Re-entering the Kitchen: Zesty Blueberry Pudding Cake

Pudding, cake, or both?

The first time I came across such an interesting combination of cake and pudding was at this blog and then Mark Bittman’s blog (the owner of the original recipe). I have tried both the adapted version (using coconut milk) and the original version (using buttermilk) and prefer the original. I made a few changes to Bittman’s recipe to suit my personal preference. Below is my adapted version courtesy of Bittman’s.

Ingredients

• Butter – 4 tbsp (or 56g), melted, room temperature
• Buttermilk – 1 cup
• Caster sugar – 3/4 cup: divided into ½ cup and ¼ cup (Actually, I used slightly lesser than the suggested amounts)
• Eggs – 3 large, separated*
• All-purpose flour – 1/3 cup
• Salt – a pinch (e.g. 1/8 tsp)
• Fresh blueberries – 80 g (or as much as you like :P), rinse and pat dry with kitchen towel
• Orange zest – 1 tbsp (about grating 1 medium orange)
• Vegetable oil – for greasing baking dish

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease an 8-inch square ceramic or glass baking dish** with vegetable oil. (I like to use a piece of cling wrap to wrap around one hand to do the greasing)

2) Rinse the blueberries and pat dry. Set aside.

3) Prepare the orange zest: Wash a fresh orange with warm water thoroughly (if non-organic), wipe dry and grate the outermost orange skin. Avoid scraping off the inner white part (bitter!) of the skin. In fact, after you have grated one part of the skin, don’t grate the same area a second time.

4) Put the butter, buttermilk, 1/2 cup of sugar, egg yolks, flour and salt in a blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Pour the batter into a big bowl. Stir in the blueberries and orange zest and set aside.

5) In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites (use an electric mixer if you have one as whisking by hand can be very tedious and tiring) until they hold soft peaks, sprinkle in the remaining 1/4 cup of caster sugar and beat until the whites hold soft peaks*** again; fold them into the batter gently but thoroughly.

6) Pour the batter into the prepared dish and put the dish in a baking pan large enough to hold it comfortably. Carefully, pour enough warm water into the baking pan (i.e. the water bath) to come to within an inch or so of the top of the dish. Transfer carefully to the oven and bake until the top is golden brown and the center is just set but slightly jiggly, about 40-45 minutes.

7) Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool down a bit before serving. Alternatively, cool the dish completely on a rack, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours, before serving. This will keep well in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days.  Serve with whipped cream if you like.

Footnotes:

*It is easier to separate egg yolks from the whites when they are still cold. Make sure that the whites are completely devoid of egg yolk during separation as the presence of fat will affect successful whisking of egg whites.

**On one of my attempts, I used six 6-cm ramekins and 2 big ceramic cups (as I ran out of ramekins).

***The original recipe calls for stiff peaks but this makes it quite difficult to combine the egg whites with the batter. Soft peaks makes mixing easier.

The original recipe uses lemon zest. I have come to prefer orange zest because orange is a common fruit we have at home (we hardly use lemon for anything). In addition to yielding that citrus tang, the orange zest also gives a lovely tangerine perfume to baked goods. I enjoyed the rush of warm orange scent the moment the oven door was opened after baking was done. Yep, some aroma therapy at home indeed. :P