Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish Cake

Happy Independence Day! We've already exhausted ourselves with the festivities this weekend. Friday night we snuck away to explore some more of D.C. and discovered the arboretum (a massive park/gardens hidden right in the middle of the city) and some fantastic pizza and gelato on Capitol Hill. Saturday I learned to shoot a shotgun. Very patriotic, right? And I actually hit something! We also went to dinner and shopping and to the movies. Yesterday we had our family BBQ and played way too many rounds of Bang! (which incidentally also involves a lot of shooting). And now that the 4th is here, we're tired and headed for home. Perhaps tonight we'll catch a few fireworks along the river.

Over the next week I'll be sharing the new recipes I made over the holiday. Starting with dessert, today. Originally I was going to make a cheesecake with blueberry sauce (and someday will), but at the last minute I was feeling lazy and settled on this danish cake, filled with cream cheese and blueberries, instead. The buttermilk cake base was light and moist. The lemony filling was rich and creamy. The blueberries were beautiful. And the toasted almonds added a bit of crunch to each bite. That's how we celebrate.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish Cake

INGREDIENTS
Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. all-purpose flour
1 egg
2 tsp. lemon zest
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Oil a 9-inch round springform pan and lightly dust with flour.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg and set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add the brown sugar and beat for about a minute, until light and well-blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternate adding half the flour mixture and then half the buttermilk, mixing briefly after each addition, and repeat. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

4. To make the filling, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg, and lemon zest until very smooth and creamy. Spread the filling over the center of the cake batter, leaving a 1-inch margin of cake batter exposed around the edges. Sprinkle the blueberries over the cream cheese filling and the almonds around the perimeter of the cake.

5. Bake for 40-50 minutes (mine took 42 minutes), until the cake begins to pull away from the edges of the pan and the filling is slightly set in the center. Place on a wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving.

Makes a 9-inch round cake.

(Adapted from Modern Comfort Food)