Spoon & Shutter

June Elderkin's blueberry cake recipe and Maine "blues"

From Susan: Maine, especially the craggy, picturesque coast, is a haven for artists. Not only are there beautiful and fascinating subjects to capture, but the natural surroundings and even the air itself inspire creativity.

One of our favorite artists is painter June Elderkin. I have known June – a Boothbay Harbor native – nearly all my life, and she was instantly welcoming to Ted when he first came to Southport just a few years ago. Her home sits at the end of the road on the Southport side of the Pratt’s Island bridge, overlooking the slip of water known locally as Joe’s Gut, which empties out at one end into the mouth of the Sheepscot River where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. At high tide, the gut is deep enough to accommodate those brave enough to leap off the bridge for a swim in the frigid water; at low tide, it’s mud. For years, June has maintained a charming studio “shack,” right next to the bridge, where she offers her stunning paintings – in oil, acrylic and pastels – prints and notecards for sale. She hasn’t actually painted there for a long time – she now works in her house or in a small outbuilding behind it – and she says this will be the last summer that the “open” flag will flutter at the bridge-side studio. So I am particularly delighted that we now own one of her original paintings, a holiday gift from Ted’s mom that we chose this summer. It depicts part of Cozy Harbor and Roscoe Rand’s boathouse – for me an iconic scene – captured by June in her characteristic bright colors.

Artist June Elderkin in her studio on Southport Island

I’m not sure when June gave me her recipe for Blueberry Cake. It was surely many years ago, perhaps way back during one of the summers when she and my mother (we were staying just across the gut on Pratt’s Island) raced as “captain” and “crew” in 9-foot Turnabouts on “ladies race days” at the Southport Yacht Club. June would bring a six-pack; my mother’s collection of silver trophies – engraved plates she now uses at parties – attests to their prowess.

The ladies races are no more, but Blueberry Cake remains a staple at lobster bakes and pot-luck suppers everywhere in Maine. This is a sturdy cake with a buttery crumb – a good “keepah” as Mainers would say. I store any remaining cake in the fridge after a couple of days.

June Elderkin’s Blueberry Cake

1/2 cup butter, melted (June’s recipe says “oleo” but I think you have to use butter!)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 tsp. lemon extract (I never have lemon extract, so I use the zest and juice of half a lemon)

Cream the above ingredients together.

Add 1/3 cup milk

Sift together (or just mix, as I do) and add:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

pinch salt.

Fold in 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (preferably the tiny wild Maine kind)

Scrape batter into a greased 8″ square pan and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

If you double the recipe – I nearly always do – it fills a 9 x 13 inch pan nicely.

Adding the fresh blueberries

Putting the batter into the pan

The finished cake