Thursday, September 24, 2009

Blueberry Cake

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This wasn't what I envisioned for my blueberry cakes. When most of the berries sunk to the bottom and the cake wouldn't even support itself, I had to flip them upside down.

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These were some of the better looking ones and the sinkage might even pass as intentional for decoration purposes.

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Since I'm obsessed with texture shots, this is the best one I could get after splitting through 3 and only seeing an explosion of blueberries. Maybe I went a teeny tiny overboard with the addins.

Despite their appearance, these were amazing! I loved the tight crumb and light and fluffy texture. The blueberries added a really nice burst of flavour with each bite. I'm definitely going to give this recipe a try again as cupcakes. Blueberries add a lot of moisture and these cakes weren't soggy at all so I hope that the cake only version won't end up dry.

I used the cake part of the New York style crumb cake from CI

New York Style Crumb Cake
Cooks Illustrated

Crumb Topping

1/3 cup granulated sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
1/3 cup dark brown sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/8 teaspoon table salt 
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and still warm
1 3/4 cups cake flour (7 ounces)

Cake

1 1/4 cups cake flour (5 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
1/4 teaspoon table salt 
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 large egg 
1 large egg yolk 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/3 cup buttermilk 

Confectioners' sugar for dusting

1. FOR THE TOPPING: Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl to combine. Add flour and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.

3. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt on low speed to combine. With mixer running at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes. Add egg, yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary.

4. Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer. Following photos below, break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces and spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center. Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

36 comments:

  1. The flipping over definitely works - they look cute!

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  2. I bet they still tasted divine. I could go a blueberry muffin or cake right now.

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  3. Upside-down, and they still look good! Too bad they sank, but to me, they still look yummy!

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  4. shhhhhhhh. don't tell us. or just tell us the last part. Your photos are so beautiful that I want one (or two, or three) of these right now..I think I've only made a blueberry item once or twice without this kind of sinkage, so we just have to go with it!

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  5. I LOVE the upside-down look!! Very luscious :)

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  6. the texture is beautiful! I'm also a culprit of adding too many berries :) it's better that way!!

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  7. Oh I think we've all had this happen to us before. It still tastes good though, that's what matters.

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  8. I learned a trick for berries in cakes/cupcakes...

    Toss the berries in flour before folding into your mixture... it will help keep them from falling!

    :) I think your look scrumptious!!

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  9. Those are some sinfully decadent looking muffins!

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  10. These look delicious - all the fruit is just "icing on the cake"....... LOL What a great idea about turning them upside down - that actually seems very clever to me and would probably thought of as intentional.

    I read somewhere that coating the fruit in flour before stirring into the batter will keep them from falling to the bottom but have never tried this....

    Well done - thanks for sharing!

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  11. flipping them definitely works!! have you seen Pioneer Womans version with raspberries? beautiful sunken little treasures :)

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  12. the first image is not fair.......mmmmmmmm.

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  13. yep..reminds me of a pound cake that I put blueberries in. Every damn last one of the blueberries sunk to the bottom! Still yummy

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  14. I gotta say I'm happy to hear, I'm not the only blogger with sinking fruit issues! :)
    ~ingrid

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  15. I love the fact that you took pictures of them anyway!

    Your texture shots are awesome!

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  16. Oh! These little cakes look so delicious...great for entertaining, love the idea of serving them upside down...nice pictures!

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  17. I know that tossing chocolate chips with flour helps them not sink to the bottom in cakes. Would that work with berries?

    Even with the berries on the bottom these really do look great. Blueberries are always magic in desserts.

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  18. OMG i can't stop staring at the 3rd photo - the cupcake looks so moist and the crumb so perfect!

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  19. I was going to make a suggestion but I see Java Cupcake mentioned it - the flour thing really does work. What could possibly be bad when it's made with blueberries?

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  20. Oh my, I usually dust them in flour and usually use frozen ones. They don't sink at the bottom. They still look good.

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  21. I don't want to stir the batter round here, but I've had bad luck with the flour thing... it just doesn't work for me. You'll prob have good luck with it though :)

    Hey, nothing wrong with doing the flip overs. They look awesome busting with blue :)

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  22. Upside-down blueberry cakes. Nothing wrong with that :)

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  23. Hey, I think they look and sound fabulous!

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  24. Wow, that literally looks better than any blueberry anything that I've ever seen. Mouth is watering!

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  25. Holy blueberries!! That cake does look stunning and absolutely fabulous!!

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  26. Hee, very clever :) Do you think the tossing-berries-in-flour trick works? That's what I keep forgetting to do!

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  27. The pure blueberry colour in these cakes is Amazing!! I think they're little stunners, and they sound like they taste brilliant too :)

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  28. This cake looks great. the blueberry color looks so vibrant.

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  29. Wha?! Those things do look absolutely amazing!

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  30. They look great despite the challenges!

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  31. I had to flip over a 8" cake once because all my blueberries fell to the bottom! :) These look lovely! And the photo makes the blueberries really pop!

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  32. That muffin looks terrific to me! I love those blueberries!!

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  33. The blueberries in these cakes look really pretty!

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  34. This comment has been removed by the author.

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