Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake

When your grandmother has a summer birthday, and doesn't like frosting, what do you do? Turning on the oven is a pain. Heavy flavors would make everyone wilt away on the summery spot. It has to be bright and light, like sunshine. Because that's what your grandma is like too, you know?

I was on the hunt for the lightest and brightest layer cake. What says "bright" more than happiness-in-a-jar lemon curd? What says "light" more than whipped cream? What says "meow"? What says "woof"? You have all the answers today, don't you?

Anyway, you may not know this, but hunting for the perfect lemon blueberry layer cake is like, super hard. People want you to choose between filling the layers with blueberry preserves or lemon curd, topping it with fresh blueberries or candied lemon slices, and lemon cake or blueberry cake. As we know, I don't like it when people make me choose between two good things. So, here we have it.
 A blueberry marbled lemon yogurt cake:

 filled with blueberry preserves and lemon curd,

 and topped with lemon whipped cream.

The best of every world. A world of equality. A world of delicious justice.

We'll get back to the cake. But first, a word about my grandmother.

The greatest part of baking is baking for another. My absolute favorite thing is making a cake for someone's birthday, because I aspire to make it encapsulate their personality--a reflection of the season, the harmony of flavors, whether they be sweet simplicity or adventurously complex. To me, this particular grandmother is her sunny disposition well-marbled with the forgiving blend of blueberry, a kick of tangy greek yogurt smoothed over with sweet, zesty cream. Happy Birthday, Grandma Rosemarie! To many more years.

(The cake ended up being a bit too dense for my taste. This may be because I am also very dense and completely forgot the oil--although its crumb was tight enough for me to assume that even with the oil it wouldn't be a very tender cake. All other elements were spot on perfect! In the future I will attempt the marbling technique with a different cake recipe, hopefully without sacrificing the yogurt.)

Blueberry Marbled Lemon Yogurt Cake (adapted from JustPutzing)

1-1/2 cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 tbsp. blueberry preserves

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two round cake pans. In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture. Fold vegetable oil gently into batter. Set aside 1 cup of the batter and blend the blueberry preserves in well. Divide the lemon batter evenly between the two cake pans. Drop teaspoons of the blueberry batter on top, using a skewer to swirl it throughout in short strokes without mixing it in. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until knife in center of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for cooling.
Filling: Once cooled, spread lemon curd on top of one of the cakes. Drop dollops of blueberry preserves around the rim, placing the remaining cake on top.

Lemon Whipped Cream

1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. finely grated lemon peel
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat to soft peaks. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill. Rewhisk before using.)