Blueberry Dreams

Blueberry Dreams are a cross between a cake and a square.  Light, airy cake layers sandwich a lemony blueberry filling.  Eat warm with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream for a delightful dessert to complement any dinner.

At this time of the year one can't have too many blueberry recipes on hand.  Don, the maniac blueberry picker, is still busy filling the freezer with the little blue gems and I'm busy baking through as many as I can.

Blueberry Dreams come from an old church cookbook which I abducted from my mother while under the guise of a friendly visit.   Years ago an Aunt and Uncle picked up several copies on their travels through Nova Scotia and gave them to Mom and her sisters when they came to visit. The book was published by the members of the Women's Association United Protestant Church in Sydney River, Nova Scotia some time in the late 1950s or early '60s and is the typical hand-typed, Gestetner or duplicator copied and stapled together book that was common at that time.   It would have been sold as a fundraiser for the women's association and every member would have a stack to sell to friends and relatives.  The blue cover is long gone, but wonder of wonders I still have every page of the cookbook that contains recipes.  

As you can see from the photo, this Blueberry Dream recipe was submitted by a Mrs. Albert MacDonald (no doubt, of good Scottish ancestry).  I imagine Mrs. MacDonald is also gone the way of the blue cover so I thank her descendants for this recipe.  

As with many church cookbooks, the directions for the recipes can be somewhat hazy and one is left to surmise what may have been the intent of the contributor.  Mrs. MacDonald's directions are surprisingly good but she neglected to say in what size pan the Blueberry Dreams should be baked.   So without this direction, I have baked these in both small and large pan sizes and have had good results both ways. But the best pan size is in between small and large--a 7x10-inch pan.  It takes the full 45 minutes and is perfectly baked in this size pan.  


Blueberry Dreams
⅓ cup shortening or butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted cake flour or 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup milk

Filling:
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Grease or pan spray a 7x11-inch pan or baking dish.

Cream shortening and sugar, add egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Add flour to egg mixture alternately with the milk. 

Spread half the batter in the greased baking pan. 

Mix all filling ingredients together and place on top of the batter in pan, spreading evenly.  Cover with remaining batter.  Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Cut in squares and serve warm with cream.  Makes 8-10 servings.

If desired a thin glaze of icing sugar and lemon juice can be spread on top of baked cake. (1 cup icing sugar, 1 teaspoon soft butter, 2 tablespoons lemon juice.  Mix all together and spread on hot cake.)

Cream shortening or butter with sugar, add the egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy.  Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to form a thick batter. 

Spread half the batter in the prepared pan.  Sprinkle with the berry mixture and cover with remaining batter.  You may have to place spoonfuls of batter over the berries to make spreading easier.

Fresh from the oven.  The Dreams baked 45 minutes to a perfect golden brown.  See that blueberry layer poking through the cake.

Light, airy, cake layers sandwich a lemony blueberry filling.

Serve the Blueberry Dreams warm with a dollop sweetened softly whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.  

 So good you'll dream about them!