BLUEBERRY-VANILLA CAKE (w. lemon buttercream)

Hi, dear reader. Hope you're ready for SEPTEMBER. That's right. Summer flitted by as quickly as it does every year, and September is braced to help us let go by giving us some cooler nights and teasing us with pretty fall things to come. And most of us, I think, probably need those pretty things to comfort us during our good-byes to summer skin, late nights outside, and, especially, lots of sunshine hours.

I do love season changes. They're always bittersweet (yes, even winter to spring). Life transitions are the same. I'm starting grad school next week (yay!), and I couldn't be more ready. At the same time, I've so been missing the little munchkins I nannied this year. And believe it or not, I've even missed seeing their nursery school teachers, who were perfectly inspiring and loving, and who taught heaps to their toddlers and pre-school-aged children.

This cake was for them. Thanks, teachers, for doing one of the most important jobs in the world.

It's a vanilla cake with lemon buttercream, filled with a layer of blueberry buttercream. The cake is a little heavy in order to accommodate the heap of blueberry buttercream I wanted to fill it with :)

I do love how the "grid"of berries turned out. Cool, yeah? Actually, I thought that part would be super fun, and though the first few rows were fun, the subsequent tens of blueberries took a lot of patience...

BLUEBERRY BUTTERCREAM (for filling layer)

1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup butter, softened
3 - 4 cups powdered sugar
2 - 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl, mash blueberries with a fork. Add butter and beat well. Gradually add 3 cups sugar and beat until smooth. Stir in whipping cream to combine, then beat for one more minute.

LEMON BUTTERCREAM

1 cup butter, softened
3 - 4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 teaspoons lemon juice

Combine butter and 3 cups sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and lemon and stir until smooth. Taste, and add lemon juice by teaspoon if needed, to taste. Adjust powdered sugar for consistency.