In his article titled “Blueberries,” in Hearth & Field magazine, Anthony Esolen describes summer berry picking on the island of his summer home in Nova Scotia. He says of this island that he is “aware that God’s bounty is rich on the Isle Madame,” and that he doesn’t “know the half of it.” He then begins a description of the varied apples, berries, and game abundant on the island, all easily harvested and procured. When Esolen gets home with the berries he harvests, he explains, some berries go into pies and cakes; the rest go into jam. Since the fruit is “practically limitless,” his wife and daughter use on part fruit to one part sugar, which results in a jam that is “intensely flavorful, since the fruit is wild, and therefore richer in flesh than the blander and more watery commercial stuff.” With his description of the abundant availability of wild blueberries around his summer island home and the splendid dishes in which his family uses those berries, Esolen creates a very lovely and enticing image of the glories of wild blueberries.

Blueberry dreams in my mind inspired by images such as these Esolen and others create with their beautiful descriptions of summer berries made me eagerly anticipate the abundance of blueberries we would enjoy when Phil and I planted several two year old already-fruiting blueberry bushes last year. We had our soil analyzed when and found that we face quite a challenge to grow anything without a massive amendment of our soil. With a long term plan in place to naturally add nitrogen to our nitrogen-starved soil, we purchased several hundred yards of soil from the nearest garden center so that we could immediately start our garden. Poor soil notwithstanding, we do have at least one condition under which blueberry bushes thrive and produce abundant fruit. According to the various gardening sources we referenced, blueberries thrive in direct sunlight. We definitely have plenty of direct sunlight on our land.

We also, however, frequently have harsh, drying winds which unfortunately are an enemy to blueberry bushes. Our poor blueberry bushes also have threats other than wind to their well-being. We have rabbits that snack on, before we can harvest them, the few berries that manage to grow ripe and plump.Additionally, we have on our land a plague of grasshoppers of biblical proportions that decimate leaves on plants almost before the leaves are fully formed, and they did feed on our berry bushes. We (like everyone else in Texas) have summer drought and intense heat. Finally, we have Clotilde, Isabel, and Colette, my dear sweet Sebastapol geese, who while keeping me company as I toiled in the garden, helped themselves to a few berries the rabbits left untouched.

Given these challenges, we failed for a second summer in a row to enjoy a plentiful crop of plump, juicy blueberries to use in summer bakes. I ended up turning to the grocery store and Lucky Leaf for canned organic blueberries for my summer fruit bakes. My family particularly enjoyed this blueberry pie cake, and I offer this recipe to people of Bastrop County as a farewell to summer flavors before welcoming the warm flavors of autumn.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Pie Cake

Notes:

• Because I didn’t harvest blueberries, I used Lucky Leaf organic blueberry filling. This filling contains nothing artificial, no high fructose corn syrup, and it is gluten-free verified. HEB in La Grange and Bastrop carries this brand of organic blueberry filling.
• Unless I make my own blend of gluten-free flour, which I often do when I want a special blend with a specific flavor profile, I use either King Arthur Measure for Measure all purpose gluten-free flour, or Bob Red Mill 1 to 1 all purpose gluten-free flour. Costco usually has one or the other for the best price one can find it. Sometimes Costco is out of stock; in that case I order King Arthur Measure for Measure from Amazon, where it is priced a bit lower than at HEB. HEB does carry it both, but the cost of each is a little higher at HEB.
• Always use good quality European style (or cultured) butter in gluten-free bakes. The higher fat content aids the quality off the texture of gluten-free baked goods.
• To add structure, improved texture, additional fat, and richness to gluten-free bakes, use a tablespoon or more of whole fat powdered milk to the dry ingredients. The protein in the powdered milk helps to make up for the lack of gluten protein in the baked good, and the fat enhances the flavor and mouth-feel of the baked good. A variety of good quality whole fat powdered milk are available online, but sadly not in our local HEB, and not even readily available in specialty grocery stores in Austin.
• Use ONLY pure extracts. Extracts that list “natural” ingredients on the table are not pure. Natural ingredients are made from flavors engineered in labs from natural substances, but not from the source of the flavor of the extract. Pure extracts cost more than imitations or those with a blend of pure and natural flavors, but if one is going to put time into baking something, he needs to use the best ingredients produce the best quality culinary creation worthy of her time and effort. 
• One caveat about pure extracts: pure lemon extract has a stringent, chemical flavor. Pure lemon oil adds a lovely lemon flavor, but add a little at a time to taste. A little lemon oil goes a long way.
• Always line baking pans and baking sheets with parchment paper to ensure that bakes release readily from pans. Gluten-free bakes are more fragile than gluten-containing bakes and using parchment paper hedges one’s chances for success.
• I use ground vanilla bean in my vanilla cake recipe, but it is an expensive ingredient these days. If can be omitted from this recipe.
• I add eggs as the last ingredients, instead of to the creamed butter and sugar, when I make cake batter.  Adding the eggs to cake batter after the other ingredients have been added help the batter to stay light and moist, which is especially important with gluten-free cake batter. Additionally, it prevents the batter from curdling, which often happens at the stage in which the eggs are added to the creamed mixture. Rose Levy Barenbaum popularized reverse creaming in cake baking in her classic work The Cake Bible. I tweak her process a little by creaming the butter and sugar the traditional way, but then adding the eggs after all the ingredients have been added.

Blueberry Pie Cake with Lemon Buttercream

Shortbread Pie Crust

1 cup (two sticks) European style butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 cup (125 grams) Powdered sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups (250 grams) gluten-free all purpose flour
1 tablespoon whole fat powdered milk

Blueberry Pie Filling

2 21 oz cans Lucky Leaf organic blueberry pie filling
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
4 tablespoons European style butter
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Vanilla Bean Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) European style butter, room temperature
2 cups (400 grams) sugar
5 eggs + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
3 cups (375 grams) gluten-free all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon whole fat powdered milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla bean (may be omitted - see note above)
1 cup + 2 tablespoons milk,, cream, or half & half at room temperature

Lemon Buttercream

2 cups (four sticks) European style butter, room temperature
6 cups (750 grams) powdered sugar
4 - 6 tablespoons lemon juice (may substitute lemon oil - see note above - NO lemon extract)
Zest of one lemon
1/4 cup cream (add more by the tablespoon if necessary to get frosting to spreading 
    consistency

Shortbread Pie Crust:

1.Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line two 8 inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
2.Place the butter, powdered sugar, flour, vanilla extract, and powdered milk in a food 
  processor. Pulse the ingredients together until the mixture begins to come together to form a
  ball. If necessary, and only if necessary, add a tablespoon of milk to help the dough come  
  together.
3.Divide the dough in two equal pieces (I used a digital scale to weigh the dough to make sure 
  the two pieces are equal in weight) and press each piece of dough evenly in the two prepared 
  pans.
4.Bake the shortbread crusts at 300 degrees until they are light to golden brown, about 20  
  minutes.
5.Allow the crusts to cool in the pans slightly, then turn them out of the pan onto cooling racks.

Blueberry Filling

1.While the pie crust is baking, empty the cans of blueberry filling into a pot. 
2.Mix the sugar, vanilla, and corn starch into the blueberries.
3.Add the butter, then heat the blueberry filling on low to medium heat, stirring until the butter   
  melts and is incorporated into the filling, and the filling thickens. 
4.Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Vanilla Cake

1.Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter three eight inch cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan 
  with parchment paper, then butter the surface of each piece of parchment paper.
2.Cream the room temperature butter and sugar together at a moderate speed ( 3 - 4 on a 
  stand mixer) for 2 - 3 minutes. The mixture should be light, fluffy, and pale yellow in color. You 
  should feel very little grit when you rub a little of the mixture between your fingers. 
3.Mix the flour, baking powder, powdered vanilla bean (if using), and powdered milk together. 
  Add to the creamed butter and sugar mixture with the vanilla extract and milk. Beat a low 
  speed until all the ingredients are blended together. The batter will be thick. Add the eggs 
  and the egg yolk one at a time, beating after each addition. 
3.Using a digital kitchen scale, weigh the batter to divide evenly into the three cake pans.
4.Bake the cake layers at 350F, checking the internal temperature of the cake with a digital 
  meat or other kitchen thermometer starting at 25 minutes to check for doneness. The layers 
  are done when the internal temperature reaches 208 - 210 F and the thermometer comes    
  out clean or with only a crumb or two.
5. Cool the layers in the cake pans on wire racks for 15 minutes. Turn the layers out of the 
   pans, then cool only slightly before wrapping each layer in plastic wrap to hold in moisture    
   while the layers cool completely.

Lemon Buttercream

1. With a paddle beater, beat the 2 cups of butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, 
   the lemon juice, the zest of lemon and 1 tablespoon of milk, cream, or half & half. Beat at
   low speed until the ingredients are well-blended. The frosting will probably still be stiff
   at this point. Add more milk (or cream or half & half) one tablespoon at a time until the 
   frosting is of spreading and piping consistency, but not so soft that the piping won’t hold 
   its shape.

     
To Assemble the Cake

1.Place one layer of cake on a cake board. Spread a very thin layer of buttercream over the top 
  of the layer. Place a shortbread pastry crust round over the layer of buttercream.
2.Fill a piping bag with buttercream. Cut the end of the bag. Pipe a thick line of frosting around   
  the perimeter of the pastry layer to create a dam to prevent the blueberry filling from seeping 
  out of the center of the layer. 
3.Spread enough blueberry filling over the pastry crust to cover the crust, spreading to the 
  edge of the buttercream dam, but not so much that the filling will leak when the next cake 
  layer is placed over it.
4.Repeat steps 1 through 3 with the next cake layer and pastry crust round.
5.Place the third cake layer on top, and spread a thin layer of buttercream over the top and 
  sides of the cake to create a crumb layer.
6.Refrigerate the cake for about an hour.
7.Remove the cake from the refrigerator and frost the cake over the crumb layer, reserving 
  enough buttercream to create top and bottom borders.
8.Using a star piping tip, pipe a border on top of the cake, and around the bottom of the cake. 
  Refrigerate the cake for at least an hour. 
9.Remove the cake from the refrigerator and carefully spread the remaining blueberry filling 
  within the border of the cake, leaving no buttercream showing under the blueberry filling.
10.If you desire to add sprinkles or other accents to the borders of the cake, add them before 
   you refrigerate the cake after piping the borders. I covered the cake with unicorn glittery 
   sugar, but no additional adornment is necessary. The cake tastes just as delicious whether 
   or not it is adorned with sprinkles!