Because what better to serve with sausage-wrapped deep-fried hard-boiled eggs than cake, I made this blueberry poppy seed brunch cake last weekend. It has “brunch” in the title, so clearly it’s breakfast food. Disregard the stick of butter and half cup of sour cream. And the cup of sugar. Not including the glaze. It’s breakfast food, I tell you.

My sister gave me the Pillsbury Complete Cookbook when I left for college. It was my first cookbook, and it’s been really handy. It has a lot of basic recipes which were good to have when I was cooking on my own for the first time, but where it really shines is in its original recipes, like this cake and the salmon pesto pasta. A bunch of my favorite recipes are rooted in this book.

This cake is the best brunch cake I’ve made. The cake itself is tender and flavorful – the lemon zest adds brightness without making the cake taste lemony. The blueberry filling, which is spooned over the cake rather than mixed in, is the perfect compliment to the cake.

One warning though – the recipe specifies that if you’re using frozen berries, they should be thawed and drained on paper towels. Don’t skip this step! I recommend adding an extra teaspoon of flour to the filling if you use frozen blueberries as well. Otherwise, you might end up with this:

Oops.

Blueberry-Poppy Seed Brunch Cake (adapted from the Pillsbury Complete Cookbook)

8 servings

Cake:
2/3 cup (4.67 ounces) granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 egg
1½ cups (7.5 ounces) unbleached flour
2 tablespoons poppy seed
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sour cream

Filling:
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed, drained on paper towels
1/3 cup (2.33 ounces) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons milk

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bottom and sides of 9 or 10-inch springform pan. In medium bowl, combine 1½ cups flour, poppy seed, baking soda and salt; set aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add lemon zest and egg to butter-sugar mixture and beat well. Beat in one-half of dry ingredients. Beat in one-third of sour cream. Beat in remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with sour cream, until incorporated. Transfer batter to prepared pan and spread evenly.

3. In another medium bowl, combine all filling ingredients; mix well. Spoon over center of batter.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool 10 minutes; remove sides of pan.

5. In small bowl, blend powdered sugar and enough milk for desired drizzling consistency. Drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm or cool.