Did you know that Zinnias are edible? I had no idea, but I found out earlier this year and it made me so happy (although, I bet they’re not delicious). I’ve been growing zinnias in my raised beds before and this year was no exception. Actually, I decided to grow them almost exclusively based on that piece of knowledge because I wanted to use them to decorate cakes (and I love them too, of course). When it comes to actually picking the flowers though, I struggle. I like seeing them out there from my kitchen window. For this blueberry sheet cake, I made an exception and picked a few of my Maryland Zinnias.
Blueberry Lemon Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cake
- 360 g all purpose flour (2 1/2 cups)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp flaky salt
- 225 g salted butter, softened (2 sticks)
- 340 g granulated sugar (approx. 1 3/4 cups)
- Zest from 2 lemons
- 4 large eggs
- 200 ml Turkish or Greek yogurt, 10% fat (3/4 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp)
- 125 ml milk (1/2 cup)
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 175 g frozen blueberries
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 125 g butter, softened (slightly more than 1 stick)
- 200 g cream cheese
- 200 g powdered sugar (1 1/3 cups)
- 3 tbsp blueberry jam
Topping
- Fresh blueberries, for decoration
- Edible flowers (I'm using homegrown Zinnias)
- Lemon slices
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease a 31 x 23 cm (12 x 9 inch) pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the lemon zest. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. The batter might curdle at this point but adding the flour mixture should fix that.
- Add the flour mixture, yogurt, milk and lemon juice in additions to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir until the batter is smooth.
- Toss the blueberries with 1 tbsp flour and quickly fold half of them into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Scatter the remaining berries on top.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 40-45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the butter and cream cheese together until creamy, then beat in the sugar until combined. Beat in the blueberry jam until frosting is creamy and smooth. Spread the frosting over the cake and pipe any leftovers on top. Decorate with berries, flowers and lemon slices.
Notes
-Make sure that all ingredients for the cake are at room temperature before you start.
-I’m using frozen blueberries (bilberries) for the cake – make sure to take them directly from the freezer or they will bleed into the batter. If you’re using fresh blueberries, you can skip the step of tossing them in flour.
-If you want to pipe the frosting and it seems too runny, let it set in the fridge for 15 minutes before piping.
-Store the cake in the fridge for 3-5 days
