After making that fruited-cheesecake flag for the 4th of July (perhaps you saw it?), I had a ton of berries leftover, and most of them were blueberries. So I figured when life gives you blueberries, you should make some sort of blueberry baked good. Don't you agree? I flipped through several of my favorite baking books -- like Baking Illustrated, The Art and Soul of Baking, and The Modern Baker -- until I came across a recipe that would use all of my blueberries, sounded delicious, and required nothing other than what I already had in the house.
A little King Arthur Flour, a whole bunch of blueberries, and a "lotta" butter and sugar later, and I had a moist cake base topped with warm, bubbly berries and crisp golden streusel. It's a coffee cake that's decadent enough for dessert but not so over the top that you can't eat it for breakfast too!
Blueberry Crumb Cake (adapted from The Modern Baker)
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Cake
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup milk
4 cups blueberries (I didn't measure -- just used what I had)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9-by-13-inch pan and line with parchment.
Make the crumb topping: Mix flour, baking powder, sugars, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Stir in the melted butter with a fork. Use the fork to break up the larger clumps and make sure the mixture is evenly moistened. Set aside.
Make the cake batter: In bowl of electric stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping the bowl as necessary. Add in the vanilla.
Mix flour and baking powder in a small bowl. Add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the yolks and milk.
Spread batter into prepared pan, and smooth with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle blueberries on top, and then cover them with the crumb mixture.
Bake until tester inserted in cake comes out clean, cake feels firm, and crumb topping is golden brown, about 40 to 50 minutes.
Cool cake in pan, and then cut into squares, and serve!
Oh, and I bet you're wondering who won the fabulous giveaway from King Arthur Flour. Well, first, let me just say a huge THANK YOU to all of you for commenting and sharing your love for King Arthur Flour. Some of the best comments I have ever received since starting this blog are right there on that post. It's obvious that many of you have a deep love for the King Arthur Flour Company too. I'm happy that we were all able to share that with each other. I learned so much from all of you, and it sounds like you learned a lot from me too.
I used the Random Integer Generator to choose a winner from among the 54 commenters -- and the winner is... lucky number 33.
Congratulations to Shannon! Shannon, send me an email, and let me know which color shirt you like and what size you want it... and your address... all that good stuff.
Happy baking, everyone!