Tangled Up In Blue Cake

• blueberry cake
• 3 cups fresh blueberries
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup half & half cream + 1/4 cup extra (in case)
• 2 tablespoons blueberry loose leaf tea
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped + bruised
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 4 room temperature eggs
• 1/2 cup room temperature buttermilk
• German buttercream
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 cup half & half cream
• 3 tablespoons loose leaf blueberry tea
• 2-4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1.5 ounces cornstarch, sifted
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 16 ounces unsalted butter, softened to room temp. + cut into 1-inch cubes
• 16 ounces mascarpone cheese, softened to room temp.
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease three 8-inch cake pans. {note: pans should be at least 2-inches deep.} Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper, butter the parchment and dust with flour.
2. Toss blueberries with 3 Tablespoons of flour; set aside.
3. In a medium-size saucepan, combine cream and loose leaf tea. Bring to just a simmer, remove from heat and cover. Let tea steep for about 5 minutes. Strain cream into a bowl, squeezing out as much as possible (you should be left with 118g of cream). Set strained cream aside to cool. Discard tea leaves.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder & salt; set aside.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the room temp. cream/tea mixture & buttermilk; set aside. {note: make sure the cream has cooled completely before mixing with buttermilk.}
6. In a large bowl, combine about 1 cup of the sugar with crushed basil. Use your finger to rub the basil into sugar until aromatic; whisk in remaining cup of sugar and set aside. In stand mixer bowl, fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter on medium speed until light & fluffy; about 5 minutes. Add sugar and continue beating for about 3 more minutes. Scrape down the edges of the bowl, add eggs one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Once all eggs have been incorporated, beat batter on med-high speed until light and voluminous (about 4-5 minutes).
7. Switch over to a large rubber spatula. Fold in flour & buttermilk/cream mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Add blueberries and gently fold into batter till evenly dispersed.
8. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake 25-30 minutes or until center is set and a thin knife comes out with a *slight* amount of crumb. {note: rotate pans half-way through baking time.}
9. Remove pans from oven and place onto cooling rack. Cool cakes for about 20 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before frosting. {note: cakes can be made three day ahead of time. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.}
10. In a medium size saucepan, combine the milk, cream loose leaf tea and thyme. Bring to just a simmer, cover, and steep for about five minutes. Strain into a bowl, squeezing out as much cream as possible (don't worry about having an exact measurement). Discard tea leaves and thyme sprigs.
11. In a large heatproof mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, eggs, and yolks; set aside.
12. In a large saucepan, return the cream mixture to a slow simmer. Whisking constantly, slowly stream a small amount (about 1/2 cup) into the egg mixture. Stream in about another 1/2 cup, whisking constantly - this will temper the eggs so they won't scramble. Pour the warm, tempered, egg mixture into hot cream. Whisking constantly, simmer until thick and sluggishly bubbly; then cook for about 1 minute more - just to make certain the cornstarch is completely cooked out.
13. Remove pan from heat and transfer mixture to stand mixer bowl. {note: if your eggs scrambled up a bit, no worries. Use a strainer to catch any mishaps.} Using the whisk attachment, set the mixer to low-medium speed until the bowl is room temperature and mixture is completely cool to the touch. This can take up to 20 minutes. Do not rush the process; mixture must be cool before continuing. If you have extra time, cover the surface of the cream with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to proceed - the stand mixer method is much faster.
14. When pastry cream is completely cool, begin adding the room temp. butter cubes; about 1 Tablespoon at a time, with the mixer set on med-high. Once the butter has been added, repeat process with mascarpone cheese, adding about 1 Tablespoon at a time. {note: the mixture may appear to curdle halfway through adding butter, don't fret, keep mixing + adding...it will smooth out eventually.}
15. Once all the butter and cheese has been incorporated, add the salt and whip until thoroughly combined. {note: at this point I added about 1/4 cup of blueberry preserves for colour.} You may use the frosting immediately or cover the bowl and refrigerate until needed. If you refrigerate the frosting, bring it to room temperature, then re-whip in stand mixer (using whisk attachment). If frosting is too cold, it will curdle - make sure it's completely reached room temp. before whipping.
16. Don't be shy when frosting the cake layers; this recipe makes a lot of buttercream! You will more than likely have leftover frosting - which is fabulous on cookies, waffles, and toast! Please note: the frosting is temperature sensitive. If your house is humid, keep the cake in fridge until ready to serve.

cake, fresh blueberries, allpurpose, cream , loose leaf tea, allpurpose, baking powder, salt, sugar, fresh basil, unsalted butter, eggs, buttermilk, buttercream, milk, cream, loose leaf, thyme, sugar, cornstarch, eggs, egg yolks, butter, mascarpone cheese, salt

Taken from food52.com/recipes/30286-tangled-up-in-blue-cake (may not work)