Guest Author - Anita Burroughs

This is a pound cake that works well as a dessert, but doubles for those who would love something close to a corn muffin for breakfast. I adore anything with corn meal, and this loaf has gotten rave reviews from friends and family.

1 ½ cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal, preferably a coarse grain or stone ground
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon plain yogurt (non-fat or low-fat is fine)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
2/3 cup fresh or frozen (not thawed) blueberries
sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan or something comparable and set it aside for the time being.

Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a bowl, and set this bowl aside. Combine and yogurt and lemon juice in a second bowl, and put this to the side as well.

Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer on medium until the butter mixture is light. Then, beat in the eggs one at a time. Reserve one tablespoon of the dry ingredients. Then, slow down the mixture, and add the dry ingredients alternately with the yogurt mixture just until blended.

Take the reserved tablespoon of flour and mix with the blueberries, and then add this to the batter. Place the batter in your prepared loaf pan, smooth it out, and sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon over the top.

Bake the pound cake for about 25 minutes. Then, cover the cake loosely with tin foil, and continue to bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes more.

Cool the cake before slicing. The cake can be stored in the pan covered until needed, and sliced right out of the pan.

If you’ve never used a microplane for zesting, I would suggest giving one a try. This is a hand-held device that makes zesting infinitely easier, and insures that you will get little if any bitter pith in your zest. This model below from Amazon has a fine end for grating lemons, limes, nutmeg, cinnamon and more; the coarser end is great for chocolate, cheese, and vegetables. This device makes my life as a personal chef so much easier, and is one of my favorite baking tools.