Fresh blueberries held together by a sweet cake

My mom loves fresh fruit. One of her favorites is blueberries.
A neurological disorder has, sadly, robbed her of her dexterity and a basket of blueberries becomes a frustrating game of tag for her...one she chooses not to play. Rather than lose half the blueberries to her inability to control them, she prefers to have them cooked into some sort of sweets.
(I might explain that she chooses to joke about her condition rather than be brought down by it, so if I seem to be making light of her disease, it's only because she does so herself.)
While I was trying to find some sort of cake in which to encase those elusive round fruits, I came across a recipe that had been cut from a newspaper back in the 50s and stuck inside a cookbook. My mom said her mother had occasionally made that cake and that it was good.
So, for her Mothers Day gift (she doesn't like surprises, so it's OK that I put that in here), I'm planning to make her this great vintage Blueberry Coffee Cake that will satisfy both her sweet tooth and her craving for fresh fruit.
Of course, I had to make a practice cake so I could make sure it tasted as good as she remembered.
Blueberry Coffee Cake
2 cups of  flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of  butter, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoons of  baking powder
2 eggs, separated
1 cup of  milk
1 teaspoon of  vanilla
2 1/2 cups of  blueberries
  • Turn the oven on at 350 degrees.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and the sugar.
  • Cut in butter (or mix with an electric mixer on low speed)  until it's crumbly.
  • Reserve 3/4 cup of this  crumb mixture for the topping.
  • To the remaining mixture, add the baking powder, the egg yolks (set the egg whites aside in a separate bowl), the milk and the vanilla.
  • Beat the whole lot until it's combined.
  • Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold them into the batter.
  • Pour the batter into a greased 13 by 9 inch casserole dish.
  • Plop the whole bunch of bluberries on top of the batter and sprinkle the  reserved crumb mixture on top of the  blueberries.
  • Bake for 40 minutes. The cake should be lightly browned.
Vegetarian.

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