Blueberry Crumb Cake

It's been a few weeks since I've posted a dessert-y sweet recipe so today I'm sharing a recipe for blueberry crumb cake. There was a container of blueberries sitting in my fridge for weeks. WEEKS. Because I'd completely forgotten about them. Thankfully, somehow, they were still edible. A few were a bit dehydrated (think blueberry raisins) but most were still amazing and plump. I don't know if I should be thanking luck or preservatives for that. I didn't want them to go to waste so I decided to bake with them. I could have made lemon blueberry bread but I had a whole pound of berries to use up so I decided to make a crumb cake. The cake portion of this is actually quite similar to the bread recipe - it's just a bit lighter and fluffier.

Ingredients:
Crumb topping
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup cold butter (COLD!)

Cake
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup room temperature butter (nice and soft!)
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 lemon - zest & juice
½ cup sour cream or buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lb blueberries (about 5 cups)

Start by making the crumb topping. Combine flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. I can't even begin to explain how much I love my heart-shaped measuring cups; I mean, would you look at those brown sugar hearts?!

Cut up some cold butter and add it to the dry ingredients. Use a pastry cutter to start mashing the ingredients together until the butter pieces are pea-sized. If you don't have a pastry cutter, you can use two knives and just slice into the mixture or you could just use a fork. Place the crumb mixture in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it.

Now, start on the cake portion. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and toss together.

In a separate bowl, combine the butter, zest, and sugar and whip until light and fluffy. Once the butter and sugar look pale and no longer gritty, incorporate the egg into the mixture.

In another bowl (yes, you will need a bunch of bowls for this recipe), mix together the sour cream and vanilla extract.

Back to the butter/sugar/zest/egg mixture. Add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients and incorporate. Then, add in 1/2 of the sour cream and vanilla and incorporate. Continue alternating until all of the ingredients are mixed in.

Now switch to a spatula and squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon and all of the blueberries. I like using a lot of lemon juice because once the cake bakes, it adds enough tartness that it makes the blueberries taste super fresh and not as baked; do you get what I'm trying to say? If you are not a huge fan of super tart foods, cut back on the lemon juice. Fold the blueberries into the batter really gently, so as not to pop them and turn the batter purple.

Grease a cake pan and pour and spread the batter evenly.

Grab the crumb topping from the refrigerator and sprinkle it evenly over the top of the cake batter. It might seem like a LOT of crumb topping, but that's a good thing. Bake the cake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Though, be warned, the toothpick might have a bit of blueberry juice on it.

The finished cake should look something like this:

Remove the collar from the springform pan (if you used one) and admire your handywork.

Cut a slice and enjoy. I love the ratio of blueberries to cake in this recipe because it's pretty much equal. It's a super fruity, really amazing cake that goes great with tea or coffee.

Look at that!

And in the blink of an eye, it's all gone.

Here's the recipe page: