Blueberry Bonanza: Double Batch of Muffins and Cake

Our two potted blueberry bushes have given us three litres and show no sign of letting up. I looked at all those blueberries and said, Batch! I have been wanting to try Maida Heatter's Blueberry crumb cake showcased at Smitten Kitchen for a while now, and we had just finished the last blueberry muffin made from the previous harvest season. Channeling my inner blueberry counter, I concluded not only was there enough for each recipe, but both could be doubled. Since they are still coming in, I foresee blueberry jam in our near future.

The sizable amount of lemon zest along with cinnamon and a crumb topping in her recipe appealed immensely to me.

Ingredients

two 9 inch cakes or one large sheet pan cake, recipe can be halved

Adapted from Maida Heatter's recipe via Smitten Kitchen

Topping

• Flour, all purpose, 80 g (I used pastry flour which made the crumbs most uncrumblike but still fabulous)
• Sugar, granulated, 200 g
• Cinnamon, ground, 2 tsp
• Butter, sweet, 110 g
• Salt, large pinch, 2

Cake

• Flour, all purpose, 480 g
• Baking powder, 4 tsp
• Salt, table, 1 tsp
• Butter, sweet, softened, 110 g
• Sugar, granulated, 300 g (I accidentally doubled it to 600 g, and the cake was still not too sweet)
• Zest from 2 large lemons
• Eggs, large or medium, 2
• Berries, fresh, clean & dry, 680 g (though Smitten Kitchen used 910 g!)
• Milk, whole, 16 T
• Vanilla extract, 2 tsp (I subbed maple syrup)
• Icing sugar for dusting (in my case, with the double amount of sugar, there was no need)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. (If baking in two pans, then it's at 400 degrees F) Mix the topping ingredients, that is, flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Work butter into the mixture until crumbs are formed. Reserve. Line a round pan with parchment paper, greasing and flouring the paper. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until blended.  In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and zest until light and fluffy (I used a stick blender, but it can be done in a food processor/stand mixer or by hand). With a wooden spoon (if not using a stand mixer), beat in eggs and vanilla (or in my case maple syrup). Stir in one third of the dry ingredient mixture until combined followed by one half of the milk. Repeat with the next one-third of the dry ingredients and the last half of the milk. Finish with the final one-third of the dry mixture. (For a fool-proof way of preventing berries from sinking, put a 2.5 cm (an 1/2 inch) thick layer of berry-free batter in the pan before folding them into the rest of the batter and topping up the pan.)) Gently fold blueberries into batter until well distributed. Pour into prepared pan and give it a shake or two to even out the batter. Scatter the crumbs.

Bake for forty minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out dry and/or when you give a sprightly touch in the centre, the cake springs back. Cool cake at least twenty minutes before flipping it out onto a plate to remove the paper. Flip it back right side up. Dust with icing sugar if desired. The topping melted into a glaze (because I used pastry flour and soft butter instead of all purpose and cold butter) which added a nice cinnamony crunch.

Berry beautiful!

The cake is fluffy and the berries luscious.

The only change I made to the blueberry muffin recipe I have already used is to double the sugar and mash one fifth of the berries. Single batch recipe is here. I love how the muffins are well streaked with blue, and also it made the fresh fruitiness even more so.

Portioned up into single servings and popped in the freezer, the cake and muffins will be ready whenever we are to partake in their deliciousness.

À la prochaine!