Lemon Blueberry Upside Down Streusel Poundcake

It’s been a lemony blueberry kind of summer. I have made lots of goodies using this delicious pairing, and most likely, there will be more yet to come. Like chocolate and peanut butter, lemon and blueberry are two great tastes that taste great together. They bring out the best in each other.

I was planning on making something different for my coffee cart, but I still had blueberries that I needed to use, so a lemon blueberry upside down streusel cake it was. Yet again, it was a big hit. This week’s coffee cart did have a few leftovers on it though, but I attribute that to the fact that we had two baptisms yesterday, and we offered a wide array of ice cream treats following the baptisms, allowing everyone a chance to celebrate the occasions with something cool to help beat the heat. 🙂

I call this cake an upside down streusel cake because the streusel “topping” was actually on the bottom of the cake this time.

Lemon Blueberry Upside Down Streusel Poundcake

Had I made this cake in a 9×13 baking pan, the streusel would have been on top, but I chose to make into a bundt cake this time. I wasn’t thinking about the streusel topping when I added it to the cake before baking it. But of course, I had to flip the cake onto my serving platter and the topping was now on the bottom. Oh well. These things do happen. As my mentor, the one and only Julia Child would say, ” never apologize when cooking. Act as if the results were the intended results all along”. How can I argue with logic like that, right?! 🙂

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 190* C.

Spray your pan with cooking spray. If you want the streusel on the bottom, use a bundt cake pan. If you want the streusel on top, use a 9×13 baking pan.

The Streusel

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

4 TBSP cold butter, cubed

Mix everything together until it all resembles coarse sand and set aside.

The Cake

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 or 1 1/2 sticks softened butter

3 large eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract

1 cup blueberries, or mixed berries, lightly coated in flour

Coat the berries in flour and toss gently. i actually had a few balckberries and raspberries included as well.

Combine all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy, then add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing in between. Add the vanilla and lemon extract and mix again. Add 1/2 of the flour, mix, then 1/2 of the milk, mix, and repeat until it is all incorporated into the batter. Do not overmix.

Fold in the berries carefully.

If you are using a 9×13 baking pan, pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Add the streusel on top. If you are using a bundt pan, add 1/2 of the batter and spread evenly into the pan, add 1/2 of the streusel, then repeat, finishing with the streusel on top, which will be the bottom later.

Bake for about an hour or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan and slicing it to share with friends.

According to legend, though I think it was taken out of context, Marie Antoinette said “let them eat cake”. I think you should eat cake too.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay cool, stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.