Until this week, I’ve spent my life thinking that I didn’t like the taste of highbush blueberries.
My family have always picked wild blueberries. It’s sort of that old story, ‘why do you take the end off the ham. I’ve seen highbush blueberries at the super market but always snubbed my nose at them as an inferior berry. HA – Was I wrong!
Saturday night, while visiting my aunt and uncle, my aunt told me about a local pesticide free highbush blueberry grower in Oak Point. I revealed that I’d never tasted a highbush blueberry but, was fairly sure that I wouldn’t like them. She smiled and said she’d pick me a pint to try. Sure enough, the next evening she dropped off a box of the most picture perfect blueberries I’d ever seen. Tentatively, I popped one in my mouth. The berry exploded a flavour completely unexpected. It was like a wild blueberry to the tenth power. The next afternoon I picked five pounds.
Highbush Blueberry Coffee Cake
Preheat oven 350*F
Butter and flour a 9-inch round spring form pan.
For the streusel:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 pound butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
Combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.
Cut in the butter – set aside
For the cake:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh highbush blueberries
Cream the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and the sour cream to the batter until just combined. Fold in the blueberries and stir with a spatula – pour batter into prepared baking pan
Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
Lemon Drizzle
1 cup icing sugar
Enough lemon juice to make a medium thick icing.
While cake is still slightly warm, drizzle over cake.
THE LOVE: Save a tablespoon of the flour to dust over the blueberries before you fold them into the the batter. It helps to suspend the berries in the cake instead of having them sink to the bottom.
Thanks for reading.
