Blueberry Coffee Cake

 

This is the type of cake I really love (aside from a Victoria Sponge, that is.)  Simple, light, fruity and oh so tasty.  

Aside from the fact that blueberries are my favourite berries, I also enjoy coffee cakes. By that I don't mean a cake that is flavoured wih coffee, I mean a cake that is meant to be enjoyed with a hot cup of something!

 

This is the type of cake that is as equally at home on the breakfast table as it is on the teatime table.  Its a great brunch cake.

 

Its a great elevensies cake.  A GREAT COFFEE BREAK CAKE!  A great any time cake!

  

 

 It is a simple cake.  Created by using simple ingredients and methods.

Those are the kinds of recipes I love most of all. Simple ones. Unpretentious ones. Ordinary recipes that are solid and always turn out.

 

Put together in the simplest of ways  . . .  it goes together in a flash  . . .totally uncomplicated.

I did enough complicated when I worked at the Manor. A great skill stretching experience, but not exactly how I choose to live my everyday life.

 

It uses just flour, sugar, eggs, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and leavening. It is just a simple buttermilk cake batter.

 

If you know anything about baking you will know that  buttermilk creates an amazingly moist cake. I adore buttermilk cakes.

 

The batter for this cake is layered in a pan with some brown sugar. The brown sugar is laced with cinnamon.

 

I adore cinnamon.  It smells heavenly. On its own its quite unpalatable actually (have you ever tried to eat a spoonful?). But mixed with other things it becomes filled with bliss.

 

This cake is stoffed full of fresh plump blueberries.  When I first moved to the UK you could hardly find blueberries anywhere.  I really missed them.

 

They are widely available and very popular now.

 

Once you have all of this layered in the pan, you swirl through it with a knife  . . .  just a bit, not too much.

 

I use a round bladed dinner knife and do a figure eight in one direction and then another figure eight in the opposite direction. That usually works fine.

 

At the end you sprinkle the top with some flaked almonds and drizzle on some melted butter. Not a lot of butter, only a TBS.   

 

After that you pop it into the oven and then exercise some patience while it bakes.  That's the hardest part.  The waiting.

 

Forty five minutes later you are rewarded with a fabulously tasty, moist and delicious cake. 

 

A cake you will  be proud to serve to anyone.  A cake that you will be unable to resist sinking your fork into, again and again. You may even find yourself getting up in the middle of the night to enjoy a slice . . .  if it lasts that long!

 

This usually gets gobbled up with gusto.  

It is a fabulously tasty cake with a lovely thread of cinnamon sugar swirl throughout  . . .  studded with plenty of plump sweet berries.

   

I like to dust it with some icing sugar to dress it up a bit  . . .  nice, but not necessary. I just always think a light dusting of icing sugar makes any cake look prettier, don't you?

Yield: 9Author: Marie Rayner

Blueberry Coffee Cake

prep time: 10 minscook time: 45 minstotal time: 55 mins

A simple cake, not made with coffee, but meant to be enjoyed with a hot drink, bursting with blueberries and cinnamon!  Moist and delicious!

ingredients:

For the topping:

• 65g soft light brown sugar (1/3 cup)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the cake:

• 210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 130g sugar (2/3 cup)
• 120ml vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
• 2 large free range eggs, room temperature
• 180ml buttermilk (3/4 cup)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 200g fresh blueberries (2 cups)

You will also need:

• 2 TBS flaked almonds
• 1 TBS melted butter
• icing sugar to dust (optional)

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C.350*F/ gas mark 4.  Butter an 8 inch square baking tin and line with baking paper.  Set aside.
2. Whisk together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping.  Set aside.
3. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl.   Whisk together the sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs.  Add all at once to the dry ingredients and mix together just to combine.
4. Spread half the batter in the prepared baking tin.  Top with half of the blueberries and sprinkle with half the brown sugar mixture.  Repeat with the remaining batter, berries and brown sugar.  Swirl lightly with a knife.  Sprinkle the top with the flaked almonds and drizzle with the butter.
5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until risen, golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Serve warm, or at room temperature, dusting with icing sugar if desired.  Cut into squares to serve.

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

If you bake only one cake this week. . .  let it be this one.  Oh boy, but it is a fabulous cake.  You will be hard pressed to stop at just one piece.  Put the kettle on and warm up that tea pot!  A hot cuppa goes down a real treat with this! 

 

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