The Quadruple B (Blueberry Beer Bundt):

Honestly, this baking thing is changing me forever. I once set a toaster on fire making pop-tarts. Now, as my confidence in my newfound ability expands, I find myself rising to the challenge.

I’m doing things I never thought I’d do. I’m buying things I never thought I’d need. I’m running out of cabinet space. I find myself wanting to hoard pyrex casserole dishes.

On our last trip to Sur la Table in Rookwood Commons, I was poking around the shelves, pulling out objects of various sizes and evaluating if I needed the small, large, or extra large. David, done with his perusal of the knife selection, came up behind me.

“What are you looking for?”
“The right size pan to fit my recipe.” I responded.
“A bundt pan?!”
“Uh-huh.”

That’s right, I bought a bundt pan. I associate bundt cakes with the ‘50’s era of cooking. You know, the flowered apron in the kitchen, roast in the oven, jello mold, golly-gee-whiz-mister era. But I bought one anyway, because I was about to attempt my most difficult recipe yet.

The blueberry beer bundt. The beer chosen was Three Philosophers, which has cherry and malty notes, and is a little tart. Once again, this cooking with booze recipe has been cobbled together from the farthest reaches of the internet to create a recipe that has the best qualities of a bundt while including some tasty beer characteristics. And macadamia nuts.

Recipe for the triple B:

3 cups self rising flour
1 cup beer
1/2 cup sour cream
3 eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 cup nuts
Blueberries (whatever amount you feel comfortable with)
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon vanilla.

Bake on 350 for an hour and 10 minutes. Make sure you test the cake to make sure it is cooked all the way before taking it out.

The bundt cake came out perfectly, but looked a little boring without an additional garnish. I made a topping of sweetened coconut flakes, leftover blueberries, and a little honey to glue them together.

The cake itself was very moist and pretty dense—if I had to do it over, I would have crushed the macadamias. All in all, the blueberry-tart-coco-macadamia flavor combination was pretty decadent.