Lemon Ginger Blueberry Cake

I started a new job in January of last year which sadly has not left me much time for cooking.  However, with the excuse of wanting to bring something yummy to a lovely get together in the backyard of one of the lovely volunteers I used to work with, I decided to try this recipe from The Step-By-Step Instant Pot Cookbook by Jeffrey Eisner.  This is a recipe that looked intriguing and got good reviews on the Instant Pot Facebook group, so I hoped it would be a winner.

Lemon Ginger Blueberry Cake

Ingredients:

1 box lemon cake mix

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I now realize in typing this out that I misread this for the recipe and actually ended up using 1/2 cup)

3 large eggs

1 cup ginger ale or ginger beer (for a more intense ginger flavor) or 1 cup water (if you don't want a ginger flavor)

1 cup fresh blueberries

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon lemon or vanilla extract

Zest of 1 lemon (optional)

Procedure: 

1) In a mixing bowl, place the cake mix, oil, eggs, and ginger ale or beer. Beat with a hand (or stand) mixer until no lumps remain.

2) Generously spray the entire inside of a 6-cup Bundt pan (which will fit your 6- or 8-quart Instant Pot) with nonstick cooking spray and then pour the batter into it, making sure not to overfill it (you may have some extra batter, which you can discard). Add the blueberries and let them rest on top of the batter (they will sink in as it bakes).

3) Cover with aluminum foil and puncture a hold down the center of the Bundt opening for steam to pass through.

4) Add 2 cups water to the Instant Pot followed by the trivet.  Rest the Bundt pan on the trivet, secure the lid, move the valve to the sealing position, and hit Manual or Pressure  Cook at High Pressure for 50 minutes.  Quick release when done, remove from the pot, remove the foil, and allow to cool for 30 minutes sitting on the trivet on the counter.

5) About 30 minutes before you're ready to serve, make the glaze.  Sift the sugar over a large mixing bowl.  Separately microwave the butter for 20 seconds until melted.  Add the melted butter, 2 tablespoons warm water (use 3 for it to be very thin), the extract, and lemon zest (if using) to the mixing bowl and whisk/beat until totally smooth, forming an icy-glaze consistency.

  That was it.  At first, I scoffed at this recipe because it uses a boxed cake mix.  However, I will admit, it did make things a lot easier.  I think in the future I would maybe add some ground ginger into the batter, layer the blueberries (they really don't sink down to the bottom like the recipe says they will), use the right amount of oil (how embarrassing!), and maybe try swapping out the warm liquid in the glaze with lemon juice instead.  But this was a very good cake and, I'm happy to say, a hit at the party!  Thank you to all of my lovely friends who asked for the recipe and inspired me to write up this blog post.  I'm so glad we're staying connected! <3