Lemon Pound Cake Parfaits in Jars

As fresh blueberry season is winding down I wanted to share one more of my favorite blueberry desserts. With lemon pound cake, lemon curd, blueberries and whipped cream this dish is absolutely delectable. There are several steps involved, (some of which you can do ahead of time) so don’t let it feel daunting. The outcome is so worth the ending. I hope you give it a go and enjoy.

Recipe makes enough for about seven pint jars

Lemon Pound Cake

(can be made the day ahead)

½ cup butter, softened

1-cup sugar

2-cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2 large eggs

½ cup milk

zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5” loaf pan. (It helps to cut out a rectangle of baking parchment paper and put it in the bottom of the loaf pan and butter and flour that).

In a large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat the butter with the sugar until blended. Increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

Reduce speed to low and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Be sure and scrape your bowl down with a spatula. Alternately, add flour mixture and milk and blend. Add lemon zest and juice and blend. Spoon batter and into loaf.

Bake loaf 1 hour and 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool loaf in pan 10 minutes and remove from pan to wire rack. (I check my cake at about 55 minutes and it is usually done).

Lemon Curd

(You can make this the day before and refrigerate it).

3-cups whole milk

½ tsp. vanilla

Peel of 1 large lemon, cut in one long strip

4 large egg yolks, at room temperature

1 1/8 cups sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 cup whipping cream

1 TBSP sugar

Over low heat, slowly bring the milk, vanilla, and lemon peel to a boil in a large heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally. Let the peel sit in the milk for at least 5 minutes.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and blend well.

Remove it from the heat and discard the lemon peel. Little by little, beat ¾ cup of the hot milk into the eggs.

Slowly stir the egg mixture into the remaining milk in the saucepan, stirring constantly. When it is thoroughly incorporated, return the pan to high heat and let the crema boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until thick and creamy.

In a bowl, beat the whipping cream and sugar until you have a nice whipped cream. Stir this into the lemon curd, reserving a little of the whipped cream, if you like, for topping the parfait at the end.

Blueberry Filling

3 cups blueberries

1 TBSP Chambord or Crème de Cassis

1 TBSP Turbinado sugar

1 TBSP vanilla sugar

juice of ½ lemon

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and allow to sit for 30 minutes.

Assemble the parfaits (1/2 pint canning jars, or individual serving dishes of your choice).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice pound cake into ½” slices and then cut into 1” cubes. Take some of the trimmings and place on a baking sheet and toast for about 6 minutes. Grind these up in your food processor or blender to make a crunch topping.

Place a layer of blueberry filling in each of the jars. Add a few pieces of the pound cake. Add a couple of tablespoons of the lemon curd on top of the pound cake. Add some of the crunchy toasted crumb topping. Add a little blueberry filling on top of that. Repeat once more. For last layer, put lemon curd on top of pound cake and a little of the crunchy topping. Top each parfait with a little whipped cream.

You can assemble these earlier in the day and refrigerate until ready to serve.

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