Cornmeal Cake-Mind

There are three things that occupy a Tart's mind on a daily basis...food, food...oh, and food. The other day, I called Danielle and asked her what she was doing and she replied, "Take a stab in the dark." She was of course reading, writing and thinking about one thing...food. One of the reasons we're not good at meditating is because we can never reach 'no-mind'. We only get as far as 'food-mind'. "Om, om, om....tuna melt with avocado..."

Determined to think about something else, we planted ourselves in lotus position, closed our eyes and began with a few deep breaths..."Om, om, om...Blueberry Cornmeal Cake..."

Oh well. Let's move this meditation into the kitchen...

The Santa Monica gem, Huckleberry, serves up a Cornmeal Cake that literally, takes the cake. It's the perfect morning treat without being too sweet, somewhere between a corn bread and a cake. Each day, they surprise you, adding a different fruit, like tangerine, strawberry or blackberry. Our personal hero is blueberry, so when Bon Appetite posted the much sought-after recipe, we screamed aloud and ran to the store. And then we screamed some more...until some lady told us to shut our cake-hole. Touché, lady, touché.

Blueberry Cornmeal Cake

Adapted from Huckelberry Cafe

Non-stick vegetable oil spray

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup yellow cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon honey

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/3 cup plain yogurt

3 cups fresh blueberries

Equipment:

10-inch diameter springform pan with 2 & 3/4 inch sides

Preheat oven to 325. Spray pan with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking soda and powder in medium bowl. (we used this cornmeal...)

Whisk oil, eggs, vanilla and honey in another bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter, 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar and 1 & 1/2 tsp salt until creamy. With mixer on medium speed, gradually add egg mixture; beat to blend. Beat in flour mixture just to blend. Add ricotta and yogurt; beat on low just to blend. Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Scatter 1 & 1/2 cups blueberries over.

Spoon remaining batter over in dollops, then spread to cover blueberries. Scatter remaining blueberries over. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over. (How many times can we say remaining?)

Bake until top is golden brown and tester comes out clean, about 1 hr and 15 min. Cool completely in pan on rack.

Tart Tip: Be patient. Let it bake until done in the center. We couldn't wait and pulled it out early. It's a bit underdone, but that won't stop us.

Now this is a meditation we can get behind.

Om...

Om...

Om...

Ah, the sweet serenity of cake-mind!