Blueberry Crumb Cake

One of the odder standard meals I've been known to make is macaroni and cheese paired with blueberry muffins and a salad. There have been prior entries on this blog about Martin's legendary love of macaroni and cheese, coupled with my search for a more perfect recipe. No matter how many new versions I try, it seems as though hubby most prefers the one I've been making for years, coupled with the muffins. Cindy used to laugh at the choice of blueberry muffins paired with my macaroni but, with Martin, meals are sometimes not about what is balanced nutritionally but simply what he likes.

I've wanted to make this cake for awhile and, tonight, considered pairing it with...you guessed it...my macaroni. In the end, I made a turkey breast and didn't whip up the crumb cake until after we'd eaten and were on to watching Amazing Race Season Three.

Sometimes I'm not crazy about Smitten Kitchen cakes but this one is straightforward in the preparation and lovely to eat. As Deb mentions, the batter is very stiff such that I worried the resulting cake might turn out to have a texture I wouldn't like. Nope. This cake is perfect, with that sweet crumble topping, the tang of the blueberries, and a batter I couldn't get enough of, from licking the beater all the way to wolfing down pieces of cake.

As I was preparing the crumb topping, it seemed so much wetter than similar toppings. Deb mentions this in her write up and it's absolutely true. Instead of a sandy mixture like you'd normally have, this feels like a smaller batch of batter. Once baked, however, you do get that lovely taste of sugary topping and, best of all, no worries about losing that part of the cake, due to crumbling. In other words, it's all the best of crumb without being crumbly.

A note on one of the ingredients - Deb suggests 12 to 16 ounces of the blueberries and then goes on to say she used the full 16 because she loves blueberries so much. I'm a fan myself but it just happened I could only get 12 ounces when I shopped for my blueberries. With even the smaller amount, it almost felt like there wasn't going to be enough batter to cover the fruit. Folding that many berries into such a stiff batter without breaking them and causing blue batter was quite the feat. I can't even imagine how 16 ounces would work!

And one more side note. I'm not much of a gourmet in regards to ingredients. I'll do whatever the recipe tells me to but I don't have the expertise to understand how certain components go together or what taste is likely to be created by mixing different spices. Sometimes I'll be putting a cake or some other recipe together and I'll wonder at how the original cook came to figure out what spices and ingredients she wanted, in what amounts. I am genuinely clueless as to the process and in total amazement at how separate ingredients come together to produce a pleasing taste.

As I was making the cake this evening, I almost left out the lemon zest because my iPad battery was dying so I kept switching the device off while I did one part of the recipe and then turning it back on for the next section. Kinda nutty and also kinda conducive to unintentionally skipping parts of the directions. This would be especially easy to do with about any Smitten Kitchen recipe as they all seem to be wordy, even if the actual food you're making isn't all that complicated. It's just something about the way Deb goes into such detail on every bit of the process. I love her manner of writing and explaining how a recipe comes together, EXCEPT when I'm trying to rush though preparation before my battery gives out!

Anyway, (speaking of wordy), as I was zesting my lemon I found myself wondering if it would really matter had I not remembered to include this part of the recipe. Surely no one would really notice the difference between a few lemon peel zests or not. And yet later, as I was eating that first "test" piece of the cake, I realized I could taste the subtle but very pleasing hint of lemon in the batter. Not an in your face overpowering the blueberry kind of lemon taste, but just a slight depth to the flavoring that wouldn't have been there without that tiny bit of zest. I felt ever so discerning and chef-like as I registered the taste of that small, seemingly superfluous addition to the batter.


Blueberry Crumb Cake from Smitten Kitchen.com
Adapted from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts

Topping:
5 tablespoons (40 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup, 2 ounces or 55 grams) unsalted butter, cold is fine
Pinch of salt

Cake:
2 cups minus 1 tablespoon (i.e. 1 3/4 cups + 3 tablespoons or 240 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup, 2 ounces or 55 grams) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint (2 to 2 2/3 cups, 12 to 16 ounces, or 340 to 455 grams) fresh blueberries, clean and dry
1/2 cup milk, whole is ideal, any kind should work
1/2 cup (55 grams) walnuts, chopped medium fine (optional) (I didn't put the walnuts in mine.)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Heat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9-inch round baking pan (with at least 2″ sides) and dust it lightly with flour; line it with a round of parchment paper.

Prepare the topping by mixing the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt, then cutting the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and zest together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture until just combined, followed by 1/2 the milk; repeat with remaining dry ingredients and milk, finishing with the dry mixture. The batter will be very stiff, but don’t fret. Fold blueberries into cake batter until evenly distributed.

Scoop cake batter into prepared pan and smooth so that it is flat. If using walnuts, scatter them on top. Sprinkle with prepared streusel. Bake in heated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out batter-free. You can let the cake cool complete in the pan on a rack, or just cool it in the pan for 20 minutes before flipping it out onto a cooling rack, removing the parchment paper lining, and flipping it back onto a plate. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if using.

Do ahead: Cake keeps covered with plastic or foil at room temperature for three days. If longer, it might be best to keep it in the fridge. It gets more moist each day.