Our family went blueberry picking nearby (at Glade Link Farms north of Frederick) and came home with giant bucketful. After a week there was a substantial amount left and I wanted to come up with a way to use them. Yes I know it's summer and I'm slacking on grilling posts, but this turned out delicious so it'll be another baked good. Hopefully you'll forgive me.
I found this recipe for 'Blueberry breakfast cake,' apparently often also called a 'Blueberry buckle' and I like that name more. For myself or whoever else there's a few things I would not want to do again, namely ever use my hands in making the cake or the topping. Once again however I was reminded how important it is to have butter in its proper state, sometimes melted, sometimes softened, sometimes cold (or even frozen). It does really make a considerable difference.
Here's what you need:
Cake
- 2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg, lightly beaten (basically break the yolk)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup butter (1/2 a stick), softened at ~ room temperature
- 1 tsp grated lemon peel
- 2 cups blueberries
Topping
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tsp butter, cold or possibly frozen
Quick version:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x9 pan
2. For the cake, whisk together flour/sugar/baking powder
3. Cut soft butter into little chucks, add to dry ingredients with egg/milk/butter/lemon peel
4. Mix until just combined, can do without stand mixer (use a spatula!)
5. Mix in blueberries then spread into greased baking pan
6. For the topping, throw sugar/flour/walnuts/cinnamon into a blender or food processor
7. Cut up cold butter and add, then blend, want it to be crumbly
8. If more mixing required, put in a bowl and use a spatula, sprinkle evenly over cake
9. Bake for ~40 minutes, clean toothpick for done
10. Let cool before serving, probably a couple hours at least
Notes:
Seriously, don't forget to grease the pan. I had a few mishaps along the way this time, one of which was putting the thick batter into the dry pan. Whether or not it was the right call I pulled everything out again (as well as possible), then sprayed the pan and put it back in. Also, as I've called out already, do not mix the batter with your hands. It's ridiculously thick and sticky and the batter is better off in the pan than on your hands.
Next, frozen butter probably would've worked best for the topping. Mine ended up nowhere near crumbly and I had to spread out more sticky stuff. Using hands on this was again a mistake, so extra cold butter, blend, mix up again with spatula if needed then spread over top the cake immediately before baking. This part was a little hectic this time around, and I didn't even get a picture pre-bake, as our toddler was running out the door to play with the neighbor dog while I tried to get the cake in the oven.
Anyway even with the missteps this cake turned out to be quite wonderful. Nicely fluffy plus all the blueberries, then the crunchy cinnamon-y top. And what makes it more interesting is it could be better with improved execution. In theory the cake should be a little thicker with an evenly applied and appropriately textured topping. If you're curious it worked (why wouldn't it?) at breakfast or as an after-meal treat and lasted almost a week, out of the fridge, before becoming a little soggy.
Yum.
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