Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

I decided to go ahead and make my first bundt cake yesterday, and also decided to use my antique bundt pan that I hadn't used yet... I must say, I loved it! 

It had a vent on each side that you could open once your bake was done to help it cool off and also to slide a knife through to loosen the cake.

As the Great British Baking Show judges would say...  "That is a loverly bake"...  or so I hope they would.  ;)

My pan had barely any residue in it once the cake came out... I was quite surprised that it really didn't stick at all!

And there you have it!!  

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake with Tart Lemon Glaze
   For the Cake:
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks of unsalted, room temperature butter
1 3/4 C sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 T fresh lemon juice
3/4 C buttermilk
3 C fresh blueberries

  For the Glaze:
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 T milk {I use vanilla almond milk}
2 T fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon

For the Cake: Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a Bundt pan with floured baking spray and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, sugar and lemon zest. Cream together for 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the mixer. Add in 1 egg at a time, and mix for an additional minute after each egg. Turn mixer down to low and add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix just to combine. Alternate adding a little bit of the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the butter mixture. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in blueberries with spatula. Transfer batter to prepared Bundt pan, and smooth out the top with spatula. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Clean and Paint Hinges

So... In case you ever decide to paint your cabinet hinges, I would suggest going about it like this:

 First, remove all hinges from cabinets. (With an adorable Little helper, of course!)

Next, soak the hinges and screws in some baking soda, dish soap and boiling water.  I don't have measurements for this, but just visualize the amount I used, because it seemed to work quite well.  ;)  And make sure the water covers them up all the way!

I let them soak for about 10 minutes or so, then took a toothbrush to them to get any sticky residue off.  Then, once I rinsed them, they were clean as a whistle!  

Let them dry all the way, then put the screws down into styrofoam so they stand upright when spray painting, while laying the hinges flat so you paint all parts well.

Then... Well... Spray!
 

Give at least 30 minutes between coats (I did 2 coats).  I then let them dry and sit overnight and we put them on the next morning.   :)

Well worth it!

Finished Projects part III

Just a couple...

This one I made for our Family Reunion on my dad's side, for an auction that we do every year.  We are all West Virginia lovers, so it just made sense!   :)

This thing was a pain to make...  Paint bled under stencils though I was careful, so I had to go back, wet and hand scrape the ugly right off of each letter! 

Once it was all done, I spread Howards Beeswax over top,to help preserve and give "life" to the wood.

This is how I attached the boards on the back, and added hangers of course. 

Here is a table and 4 chairs that were separate, that I painted to be a set...

(Before)

(After)

(Before)

Painted wood and stained seats.

       

(After)