I had never heard of a Pavlova before I saw it being made a while ago on Ina Garten’s TV show. It looked neat but didn’t really appeal to what I “thought” I wanted in a dessert.

The time passed and I wanted to make a splash at a friends party with something light, berry, and cool. I remembered this one and thought it could be a really neat one if I did it right. Anything light and delicate seems to crumble under my hands, and that’s exactly what the meringue is in Pavlova.

The meringue is light and airy, with a little bit of a crunch to the outside with the inside similar to a tasty marshmallow. Topped with fresh whipped cream and berries, with a nice sauce to drizzle over the top. How in the world can you go wrong with that?

I took my time in finding the right recipe for this since meringue can get a little tricky. The first time I made it the recipe I used had the oven too high, so I decided to take it in the middle of what I thought was too low and too high. I wanted the chewy/marshmallowy texture in the center but a nice crisp to the outside. Just a whole lot of awesomeness.

I mixed my recipes to suit my needs. I followed the ingredients on one, and the method is mixed from 2 more recipes. It turned out quite well and it was a huge hit. I’ve never had people exclaim as much over dessert.

And we ate it.

ALL of it.

I found out from my coworker that her Uncle, whom was at the celebration, said that even though he had traveled extensively across Australia that mine tasted better than any he had eaten there.

Talk about kudos for me.

Pavlova
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
Meringue:

• 4 egg whites (room temp, important!)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

• 2 pints of berries, sliced (I used blackberries and strawberries)

Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Sauce:

• 2 cups frozen berries (I used raspberry and blueberry)
• 2 tablespoons sugar (more or less depending on what berries you use.)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

1. For the meringue: Preheat the oven to 275F and place rack in the middle of the oven. Using a piece of parchment paper, draw a 9″ or so circle with a pencil (use a plate for a template) and flip over the parchment so the pencil is on the bottom.
2. Mix together the lemon and vanilla in a bowl. Mix together the sugar and cornstarch in another bowl.
3. In a large bowl using a mixer, whip the eggs and salt starting on low. Slowly increase the speed to medium until soft peaks start and uniform bubbles start to form, 2-3 minutes.
4. Raise the mixer speed to medium-high and very slowly start adding the sugar and cornstarch. Mix for 1-2 more minutes before slowly pouring in the vanilla and lemon mixture.
5. Raise the speed to high and whip until glossy and stiff peaks form when the whisk is lifted, 4-5 minutes. It will be marshmallow-ish in texture.



6. Pour the meringue into the center of the circle on the parchment and spread evenly throughout the circle. Place the meringue in the oven and reduce the temperature to 250F and bake for 50-60 minutes. If it starts to brown or crack, reduce temperature to 225F and rotate the pan.
7. When done, very gently slide the meringue and parchment onto a wire rack to cool.
8. To make the whipped cream: In a large bowl combine the cream, sugar and vanilla. Whip until stiff peaks form and set aside.



9. To make the sauce: In a sauce pan on medium heat combine the lemon juice, sugar, berries and water. Cook until the berries thaw and the mixture begins to bubble, stirring occasionally. Let simmer for 5 minutes before removing from heat and letting stand for 5-10 minutes. Blend the mixture and strain out the seeds, set aside.
10. When everything is made and cooled, transfer the meringue very gently to a serving platter, top with whipped cream and berries on top. Drizzle some of the sauce over the top, leaving some for serving.

So why in the world is this chick doing a bread pudding? Grandma was very generous and let us stay with her during our Christmas traveling, but her one request was that I would cook with her and make her some home made bread pudding. So I had to practice!

Well, the pudding never happened while we were visiting her due to schedules not meeting up. Lame. But it was still fun to make and now I can actually say “I’ve eaten bread pudding.”

That’s a goal I have this year, to say “I’ve eaten _______ “. I’m a crazy picky eater and I need to change my ways. I want to say that statement a lot.

I also should probably start actually paying attention to recipes. Because sometimes 2 cups just isn’t the same in my world.

Plus any recipe that lets me demolish things always makes me happy.

So many times through making this, I kept looking at it and wondering “is this right?” I’ve never made anything like this so I really didn’t know if it was right or not.

Tempering eggs always makes me nervous. I’m always afraid I’m going to end up with my dish being filled with scrambled eggs or strange chewy bits. So far I’ve been lucky in that respect but I’ve always been OVER cautious.

Plus pouring hot liquids into a bowl is generally rather wiggy, since I always tend to spill that stuff everywhere and make a huge mess. It helps that I found a great pot at a thrift store with a pouring spout!

This is the point where I started questioning myself. Was there enough bread? Too much bread? Would this thing even taste remotely good?

I sprinkled the top with some cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg and sprinkled some raw large grain sugar on top. And I have to say it actually was really good. The top was crunchy and the bottom was soft, it was sweet and slightly spicy at the same time. The second day the top softened and the whole thing was a big gooey blob in my mouth. I can handle bread pudding the first day but I guess after that it’s going to be a no-go.

Next time I think I want to use more bread, more crust, maybe a bigger pan, try to make it thinner and have more of that lovely crunchy top. I’ve been told that it is normally served with a brandy sauce, I’ve never made one but I might have to try that soon.

Simple Bread Pudding
Serves 6-8

• 3 cups cubed day old French bread
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups milk, scalded
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar or raw sugar

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Generously butter an 8×8 inch baking dish.
2. Scald 2 cups of milk and set aside to start cooling
3. Place bread cubes in the baking dish. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Very slowly whisk in the scalded milk, tempering the eggs so they do not curdle. Pour mixture over the bread.
4. Combine the nutmeg, cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle over the top of the bread.
5. Place baking dish in a larger oven safe dish and fill with hot water until it is half way up the pudding. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve hot.

I made it again for a little party on Friday night. This type of dessert is quite awesome for those times where you won’t have enough time just before the party to get anything together and get ready at the same time, and it only gets better as it sits and all the flavors combine.

Between the layers I used a mixture of cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice instead of using a box of vanilla or lemon flavored pudding. And instead of using CoolWhip to keep it light and fluffy, I actually made real whipped cream. You know, the type made with actual cream and sugar. Too many of the recipes I’ve looked at over the years use the CoolWhip to make it, I’m looking for real food here people!

You know, I really shouldn’t be allowed to do silly ramblings when I’m not awake.

The only thing I had to make the morning of the party was the whipped cream, which took no time at all. I also used angelfood cake instead of pound cake, to keep it very light in texture and I hoped the angelfood would hold up and not fall apart like pound cake tends to.

I also spent a good amount of time enjoying the extra cream cheese mixture and extra fresh berries before we left fort he party. It was just too damn good. There will be extra cream cheese, so just save it for another use or make more trifle!

I do admit that I never did get a bite of the finished product at the party, but since it was pretty well demolished and the hosts were excited that I let them keep the rest of it, I think it was a hit. Not to mention my $7 trifle bowl was awesome.

At first people were afraid to tear into the trifle because it was so pretty. So I stuck a giant spoon in it to mess it up. Because I could.

I’ve also been ordered by the Husband that I’m not allowed to wait another 3 years to make this again.

Easy Berry Trifle
Feeds a crowd

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 (13oz) angelfood cake
• 1 (10oz) bag frozen raspberries, thawed
• 1 (10oz) bag frozen blackberries, thawed
• Optional: 1 (10oz) bag frozen blue berries or 1-2 pints fresh strawberries.

1. Cut the angelfood cake into 1/2″ pieces.
2. Drain the juices from the raspberries and blackberries and reserve, set the berries aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, whip together the cream, vanilla, and sugar until stiff peaks form.
4. In another bowl beat together the cream cheese, lemon juice, vanilla and sugar until light in color and smooth.
5. Gently fold 2 cups of whipped cream in the cream cheese mixture until fully incorporated.
6. Line the bottom of the bowl with 1/3 of the cake and drizzle with 1/3 of the berry juice.
7. Spread 1/4 of the cream cheese on the cake, then add 1/2 of the berries. Layer twice more, ending with a cream cheese layer on top.
8. Spread any remaining whipped cream on top and cover.
9. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Just before serving top with fresh berries if desired.

Earlier in the year I had a craving for brownies and wanted to make them on my own. Well they didn’t turn out too good, or too bad, they just…were a brownie I guess. It wasn’t anything to write home about but hey, I made them.

This time I decided to look for a richer brownie. After some research I found out there are so many different types of brownies! Ok well not that many. They generally can be broken down into three types: cake, fudgy, and chewy.

I found one brownie recipe that I can’t really remember for the life of me where I found it, but I decided to try it. There was lots of chocolate, butter, and some brown sugar. Now THAT sounds like a winner to me. It didn’t say what type of brownie it was, but it sounded pretty darn tasty from the description.

And they were darn tasty!

They turned out pretty good. A little on the drier and cakey side but pretty darn tasty.

This recipe isn’t for the feint of heart. It really is incredibly rich. You know that flavor and thirst you get when you get finished with your hot fudge sundae and all that’s left in the bottom of your bowl is a huge scoop of hot, rich, chewy fudge and you can’t do anything else in that moment but take that huge bite of fudge all on its own? The wonder. The decadence. The overwhelming urge to down a gallon of milk…

That’s exactly what these brownies tasted like. Almost too rich to eat on their own.

So of course the best way to eat them is warmed up, with a whole lot of ice cream.

No fudge required. It’s built in.

I think I will try to make the recipe into more of a chewy brownie next time, so some research will have to be done on what needs to be adjusted to create that perfect brownie texture.

Rich Cake-Style Brownies
Makes enough to fit an 8″x8″ pan

• 1/2 cup butter
• 6 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Butter and flour the baking pan.
3. Melt chocolate and butter together using the double boiler method over low heat. Set aside to cool.
4. Beat the eggs until they are foamy and lemon colored, add sugar and continue beating until the mixture thickens.
5. Slowly add the chocolate and butter mixture to the egg mixture, mixing until completely incorporated.
6. Whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder before adding to the wet ingredients. The batter will be very thick.
7. Pour the batter into the floured pan and smooth the mixture evenly into the pan.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out with a few crumbs when checked.
9. Allow to cool before slicing.

The last batch I’ve made was my Mixed Berry. I like to use frozen berries because they have great flavor but at the same time you don’t have to worry about spending a whole bunch of money on fresh berries.

I’m slightly surprised at how this turned out this time. I used half blackberries and half raspberries, but it came out tasting almost like a fruity cheesecake! Tangy, sweet and like berries. The only thing I can think of is the tangy raspberries just gave it that lovely flavor.

The color will also change with what type of berry mixture you use. If you use blueberries it will give it a dark purple color and a slightly sweeter flavor. If using more raspberries definitely use the full amount of sugar, but if using something sweet like mostly blackberries and blueberries, consider backing off on the sugar by a little bit since the berries themselves will be sweet.

Mixed Berry Ice Cream
Makes 5 cups

• 4 cups berries (raspberries, blueberries and blackberries)
• 1 1/2 cups cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. If using frozen berries, thaw before using.
2. Heat the cream and sugar in a pan to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes until cooled.
3. In a blender combine the berries, vanilla extract and cream mixture. Blend until smooth. Strain the mixture to remove any seeds.
4. Chill mixture overnight.
5. Freeze according to manufacturers instructions in ice cream maker.
6. Press a piece of plastic wrap over the ice cream before putting a lid on the freezing container to keep it from becoming leathery. Let harden in freezer at least 4 hours before serving.

I loathe the heat of summer. Why can’t it just be WARM and not BOILING outside? My poor fair skin needs to hide from the sun and avoid it unless wearing a strong SPF.

But the heat is also the BEST time to make the ice cream. Home made ice cream. Minty fresh ice cream with bits of lovely dark chocolate nestled through it.

Now THAT is summer.

I never was a huge fan of this stuff until this batch. I backed off just a little on the mint, so it was just enough to make it a nice smooth, creamy and refreshing mint.

You don’t have to add the food coloring to make it the green color, but that is how my Husband remembers it, and that’s how its supposed to be. At least according to him. It also helps me remember what ice cream it is if I forgot to label it.

I have issues eating green things other than vegetables. Green salsa scares me, I won’t eat avocados, Mountain Dew is unnatural and split pea soup is something evil. I’m trying to get over the dislike of green mushy stuff, but I’ll just have to deal with the ice cream.

I also believe one reason I love this batch of ice cream is because of the type of chocolate I used. Since discovering the bulk foods area in one of the local stores, I found huge pieces of dark chocolate. It’s not the best chocolate but its pretty damn good. Instead of using formed chips this time I wanted something that felt a little more rustic, something inconsistent in size so that as your going through a scoop you might find a nice hunk of chocolate to munch on.

The ice cream maker I use is the attachment for my KitchenAid and it really works really well. The consistency coming out of the bowl is always like extremely soft serve, but it tends to harden up just fine in the freezer for a few hours. One positive thing about the consistency is how easy it is to stir in whatever else you want to add in.

And then the hard part comes… Waiting for it to freeze up enough to scoop and not just eat with a straw. But when that time comes, its beautiful!

And that bite is exactly why I love using roughly chopped chocolate in my ice cream. I’ve also noticed while eating this over the last few days is that it melts really quickly. I’m not quite sure why it would, possibly using too much cream? Or maybe its because it doesn’t get really firm in the ice cream maker? I’m not the “know-all” of ice cream so I don’t know how to make it like store bought but I like it just the same. Just eat quickly!

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk (I used 2%, what i had on hand)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure mint extract
• 1 pinch of salt
• 6-8 drops of green food coloring (optional)
• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate (or chips)

1. Add the cream, milk, condensed milk, and salt to a pot and heat until everything is smooth and incorporated. Remove from heat and let sit for 15 minutes.
2. Add the mint and food coloring.
3. When almost cooled, stick the mixture in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or until cold.
4. Add to the ice maker per manufacturers instructions.
5. When the mixture is at a soft serve consistancy, stir in the chocolate until fully incorporated.
6. Transfer the mixture to a freezer safe container and press a piece of plastic over the top of the ice cream. This prevents a leathery top from forming and helps to keep it fresh.
7. Freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

Thats right. Dark chocolate salted caramel cupcakes. Have you ever heard of anything that just makes your insides just start dancing, anticipating the sugar high that is about to ensue? This causes it.

This was an experiment in all things I haven’t made before. Salted caramel, chocolate frosting, and home made cup cakes. The difference between a scratch cupcake and a box cupcake is really quite different. The box is very sweet, almost falling apart while these were a little bit denser and not nearly as sweet. But then again the lack of sweetness in the cake itself was good since all the caramel and frosting.

I got the recipe that my partner and crime used from Martha’s new cookbook on cupcakes. I’ve been teased by this book for a few weeks and finally decided it had to be done. Luckily I had help and we made awesome stuff.

The big thing that stood out for me with this recipe was the fact that they were filled with caramel. And not just any caramel, but home made, salted caramel. The salt adds this little extra flavor and truly brings out the flavor in sweet desserts, it makes it just taste awesome. Every dessert should have salt in it in my opinion, as long as its used correctly.

To get the caramel in the little bites of cake you have to cut a little bit out of the center and then drizzle the hot caramel into them. As you can see by the dripping we got a little careless. Plus it was a little difficult to get it in there since as it cooled it got thicker and stringier.

I also used a piping bag for the first time for the frosting. In the beginning it was a little difficult to get it going, and I had to figure out how much pressure to use to get it to look somewhat decent. But I think I started getting it near the end. The recipe made about 60, so I had a bit of time to practice!

Everything had a pretty good flavor, but I don’t think I would be making these all the time. Besides the fact that I can only have 2 at a time before its too much sugar for me.

I do have to admit though, caramel filled cupcakes are quite impressive. That lovely explosion of chewy caramel surprise was really worth it to try the recipe.

I need to find my ‘go to’ cupcake recipe. This one I’m not posting because of possible copyright issues and it really wouldn’t go into my personal recipe book, its impressive but just not…THAT good.

I got this idea from the peppermint bark that Williams Sonoma sells around Christmas. It’s horribly expensive but so easy to make. I ended up showing a friend how to make it last year and the husband has been bugging me for it ever since. There’s now 2 pounds of bark in the cupboard for him, so he wont complain any longer.

I started with a pound of each semi-sweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. Did you know that white chocolate chips are not actually chocolate? Its made from cocoa butter and milk solids usually flavored with vanilla. Interesting tidbit there. Also some peppermint candies, a good handful or so.

I always start by melting the white chocolate first. I like to put the white chocolate on the bottom to keep it nice and smooth, plus its not as easy to spread as semi-sweet. You could always go for the marbled look, so then it doesn’t really matter what order you melt them in. I just happen to like the two toned look.

Once its all nice and smooth, remove the bowl from the heat and set aside to let it cool. Then its on to the candies.

Unwrap the candies and put them in a plastic bag. You want to beat them with something like a rolling pin, hammer, or meat mallet (like me). The towel just helps me to not break the bag as easily on the bottom and the cutting board is just so I don’t damage the counter top when I miss.

Now go ahead and make some noise… Get that aggression out.

You want to end up with some fine powdery bits as well as some chunks. Make sure the chunks aren’t too big or you might hurt a tooth biting into it.

Empty the bag of broken candy into a sifter and sift out the powdery bits. You want to keep both sizes separate since they have different places they are going to go.

Now we get to the good stuff.

Mix the candy powder into the white chocolate, stirring until completely incorporated. The chocolate should be nice and smooth still but much cooler. I like adding the powder to the white chocolate not only for mint flavor but also for the color. It looks awesome having little colorful specs in the milky white.

Now you need to spread the white chocolate onto a cookie sheet.
I like using a 10″ x 15″ cookie sheet for this, that way it’s not too thick or thin. Try to get it as even as possible. At least I try to get it as even as possible. That’s just because I’m crazy.

I still think having a marble look to it would be awesome to try. That way you don’t have to be neat!

Now set the pan aside and let it harden, it shouldn’t take too long since it was already mostly cooled. Once the white chocolate has hardened, start melting the rest of the chocolate in the same way.

There is a point during the melting process that you have to watch out for. It’s called the “husband wants chocolate” side effect. By this time, the yummy smell of the chocolate has started going through the rest of the house, tempting him to come out of hiding and try to stick a spoon or pretzels in the melted chocolate.

Banish him to the other room until it’s done. Trust me.

After the chocolate has melted, quickly and gently spread it evenly over the white chocolate. If you work gently enough you wont have any streaks in your chocolate.

Add the larger chunks of peppermint from earlier onto the top of the chocolate. Try to spread it evenly around so that every bite will have a nice amount of mint in it.

Let it sit and harden in a cool place for about an hour or so, or stick it in the fridge for a few minutes to help it harden up quicker.

When it is finally hard, twist the pan slightly (I have cheap pans so they warp and bend easily), hopefully your chocolate will dislodge and you can flip it out of the pan. Break it into smaller pieces like you would peanut brittle and store in an air tight container.

Yum!

Now the husband will be happy.

Does that make me less of a woman?

When looking at a dessert or something sweet, I never really went for the chocolate. Sure there was the required Snickers bar in the morning during high school for about a month, or the Peanut Butter Cup that has been warmed in the window on a hot summer day and melted to the point where you have to lick it out of the cup. But beyond that not really a chocolate person.

I went on a chocolate kick a few months ago. I had to have good quality dark chocolate every day after lunch at work. To me, it was a strange habit. To my coworker who has a “chocolate emergency kit” in her desk, not so much.

I’m pretty much over my chocolate cravings. Except for one thing. Hot Fudge Sauce on ice cream.

I guess I’m a bit of a chocolate snob since I only want the best tasting chocolate, so not any store bought will do. After making the ice cream sandwiches and dipping them in chocolate, we had a LOT of chocolate left over and I tried making a sauce from it. I think though I only was able to make it into more of a ganache. While tasty, it just wasn’t what I wanted.

Then comes Smitten Kitchen. I found her site… somehow. I was probably link jumping among the other cooking blogs I look at and found her.

But I love her.

Why do I love her? Not only is she a great story teller, a fantastic photographer, a great cook and just darn cute?

She makes hot fudge sauce from scratch! Be still my beating heart. I drooled over her pictures for days, then got distracted but some other shiny object and forgot about it.

Then a few days ago at the store I knew there was a reason for me to get unsweetened chocolate, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was. I bought it anyways and left it sitting on the counter for a day. Then it came to me. HOT FUDGE SAUCE! I knew I had to do it.

And I did. It was the greatest thing to have the smell of the dark chocolate going through the house. It was also rather weird because I was also in the middle of making sour cream enchiladas at the same time. Enchiladas and dark chocolate. Weird.

It turned out fantastic. Dark, fudgy, chewy when it hit the ice cream, a little on the bitter side, and made my heart squeal with joy. It was also great just eating the stuff out of the pot. It’s also glorious to have a small spoonful out of the jar in the fridge (and yes I had a small bite before I made breakfast this morning.)

Normally I would re-type the recipe and show any changes I made to it. However, I didn’t make any changes and I respect Smitten Kitchen a whole lots (plus shes awesome) so I’m not going to re-post it. You can get to her recipe for it here. What can I say, I respect the sauce.

Work has really been evil for me lately. My schedule got knocked around majorly, I now have to be at work at 5:00am. Because of my commute I have to leave at 4:20am. I have to wake up by 3:10am to go shower.

Yeah, its early and yeah it sucks. Hopefully it’ll only be temporary.

It feels as though my soul has taken a little beating lately with the stress of a new work schedule and the stress of getting up so flipping early. It almost feels as though my soul needs a hug. Or maybe a band-aid and a bubble bath. Either way I know there is one thing to feed my soul.

Baking.

I wanted to cook. I needed to bake. My soul just needed that quiet mind time where nothing exists except me and my ingredients. Something beautiful born from something so simple, and made with the intent to feed the soul.

I wanted something slightly sweet, tart, and oh so yummy. I saw this recipe on another site and saved it a while ago. I love going through old recipes on the hard drive. Its a simple coffee cake brightened with the slight taste of lemon, topped with a layer of fruit (I picked raspberries) and cream cheese.

This cake turned out ooey-gooey and delicious. The cream cheese and berries really worried me when I was scooping it into the pan. The cream cheese seemed really too runny and it didn’t seem as though there was enough fruit. I’m glad that I didn’t add more berries to the recipe like I originally thought since it would be too tart, and the cream cheese actually made a great gooey mess on the top that tastes delicious!

I also used a much bigger pan than 9″ the original recipe calls for. I think its actually around 13″, so it’s not quite as tall as it could be, but I think its perfect!

My soul feels a little better

Raspberry Coffee Cake

• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar (divided)
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into chunks
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a small pan over medium heat, bring raspberries and apple juice to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until berries thaw and start to break up. In a small bowl, mix up the cornstarch and 2 teaspoons water. Add to the berry mixture and stir until it thickens, about a minute. Set aside to cool.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour and 3/4 cup of the sugar. Cut butter in with a pastry blender until the mixture looks crumbly. Reserve ½ cup of the flour mixture and set aside for the topping. In the remaining mixture, stir in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon peel.
4. In a bowl, mix yogurt, vanilla, and 1 egg until blended; stir into flour mixture and mix well. Spread batter into a buttered and floured 13-inch round spring form pan.
   Mix the cream cheese, the rest of the sugar (1/4 cup), one egg, and lemon juice until almost smooth. Spread over the batter in the pan, leaving about a half an inch border bare. Gently spread blueberry mixture over cream cheese mixture, leaving some of the cheese visible. Sprinkle reserved flour mixture over the cake evenly, concentrating around the edges as well.
5. Bake until the center of the cake barely jiggles when pan is gently shaken and the top of the cake is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then remove pan rim.
6. Serve warm or room temperature.