August 21, 2010

Blueberry Breakfast Cake: blueberry mania and I miss you bloggers!



Finally! The weekend is here! This last week of summer school seemed endless. We have placed an offer on the house we saw last weekend and it was accepted so now we are super busy between inspections, appraisals, mortgage approvals etc. "I did not bake for 5 days! 5 days! I repeat myself: 5 days! I'm in shock. I'm baking deprived! I'm getting depressed! I need to bake!" That was me on a Friday afternoon. I was really down. For how depressing I might have sound, there is also a positive side of the story. I did realize how much I do like baking; how much I do need baking. I always say that baking is party of my personality but somehow this week I had a more tangible proof. And these are always good reminders :)

There is actually another positive side of the story. I did realize how much I care about this blog and the blog community. It was very hard to keep up with answering comments on my blog, checking the hundreds of blog I usually follow and discover new cool ones, leaving meaningful comments to amazing blog posts....I really was not able to keep up. But again, in part this is good because it made me realize how much I miss all the bloggers' stories that I usually follow.

So, it's Saturday. I'm not much more free than during the week because we are still dealing with the house and we have to catch up with lots of stuff but at least....I got to bake! Aaaaand I'm baking A LOT. The thing is: I have some very yummy blueberry in the fridge and I have all intentions of using them all. I'm making a bunch of different recipes with them and the first one is this Blueberry Breakfast Cake.

The recipe comes from Cookie Madness. I made only few changes but they were enough to make the cake look very different from the one I saw on Cookie Madness post. I don't know how it was supposed to taste but Wally and I liked this version. I could not call it coffee cake because the texture is very different from a coffee cake. It was soft and moist and very airy. Just perfect for a glass of milk or coffee. Definitely a keeper!

Blueberry Breakfast Cake
Ingredients

Filling and topping*
55 gr (2 oz or 1/4 cup) brown sugar
30 gr (2 tbps) cinnamon
230 gr (8 oz or 1 cup) blueberries

*you should use any combination of the three according to your tastes

Cake
55 gr (2 oz or 4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened 
100 gr (3.55 oz or 1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1 pinch (1/4 tsp) salt
5 gr (1 tsp) vanilla extract
115 gr (4.1 oz or 1/2 cup) sour cream
1 large egg 
110 gr (little less than 1 cup cup or 4 oz) unbleached all purpose flour
3 gr (1/2 tsp) baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare an 8" baking pan with parchment paper. 
Mix together the brown sugar and the cinnamon and set aside.
In a large bowl using beat together the butter and the sugar until you obtain a smooth cream. Beat in the salt and the vanilla extract and then add the sour cream and the egg.  Mix the ingredients until well incorporated and finally add the baking soda and the flour.
Pour half the batter in the pan. Sprinkle a bit more than half of the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture and a few blueberries (I would say not more than 1/4 cup because in any case the ones that will go on top will sink down!). Spread the remaining batter (you need to be a bit careful in doing this but with some patience you can spread it pretty homogeneously).
Sprinkle the top of the batter with the rest of the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture and then the rest of the blueberries (the final brown color of the cake depends on how much brown sugar & cinnamon mixture you spread on top. If you don't spread it at all on top and instead use it all as filling you get a cake that is more white in color).
Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack and only then lift it from  the pan. Enjoy it cold with a glass of milk or coffee (or anything you like!)
Have a sweet day!
Adapted from Cookie Madness

Blueberry Breakfast Cake on Foodista

16 comments:

  1. Wow, you are one busy lady...glad you found a bit of time to fulfill your baking passion :) The breakfast cake looks scrumptious!

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  2. This looks so good to me right now! I have a cup of hot coffee beside me and these bars would be the perfect thing to go with it. Yum!

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  3. Congratulations on the house!!! Always and exciting busy time. I hope you found one with a gigantic kitchen, 4 ovens, masses of counter space and a double wide fridge. Well... even if you get a portion of that it will be fantastic.
    Love the breakfast cake, we are starting school Monday, so I'm on the lookout for new and fun things for mornings and lunches.
    I'm quickly realizing how addicted I am to reading and writing in the blog world as well. :)

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  4. Yum! That looks awesome! Hope it absolved some of the baking withdrawals. Congrats on the house!

    I totally understand the connection to the blog community. I'm still so new and yet reading comments and posting on other blogs just lifts my spirits all day. Guess I'm an addict too ;)

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  5. This breakfast cake looks wonderful, missed ya too:) Congrats on the house, the house buying process is such a busy process, glad you found time to get your bake on!

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  6. The topping on this looks wonderful! YUM!

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  7. @Magic of spice: yes, unfortunately lately I have been more busy than usual...i don't like not having time for baking so I'm doing a full immersion during the weekend :)
    @scrambledhenfruit: yup, that's how we finished the whole cake in one breakfast....I did not eat any sweets all week so I think I have compensated for that in one day!
    @Kim: the new kitchen (if we really buy this house!) is not at all huge or fancy but definitely better than the one I have now (tiny is not enough to describe it!)
    @Amanda: i still consider myself new to the blogsphere but yes, it's very easy to get attached to all the amazing food bloggers out there
    @CC Recipe: buying a house is muuuch more complex than I've ever expected and I had no idea of how the whole process works in the US so I am trying to learn fast. I really hope all goes well
    @Mackenzie: when I prepared the filling for the recipe I realized it was way too much to put it all inside the cake so I improvised and sprinkled it on top...after all who does not love sugar and cinnamon as topping. It was a great improvised idea! The taste is great but also it's so good to have a crunchy top contrasting the super moist of the cake

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  8. I'm glad you're back to baking, especially recipes like this one. I love the topping on this cake.

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  9. @Cookin' Canuck: I think the topping (and the blueberries) was really the best part of this cake :) thanks for stopping by!

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  10. This is a great cake to wake up to :) Congrats on the house! I remember the madness after our offer was accepted...it's an exciting business though!

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  11. Hey Sara, congratulations on the house. I knowhow stressful it is to make such a big decision and also to co ordinate everything and still keep sane! Either way it will all turn out for the best. Glad you are bak baking.... This post looks DELICIOUS! Yummy!

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  12. Ok, between Sommer's blueberry lavender sauce and this I think I'm going to use up the last of the 10lb box of blueberries :-) Congrats on the new house! kateiscooking

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  13. Oh wow that looks wonderful. I only have a few blueberries left though and the little lady is eating by the handful. Yum!

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  14. I like this one too, I made your sugared doughnut muffins the other day and we loved them! I'm going to have to try this one too! I know hard it is to keep up, hope all goes well!
    -Gina-

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  15. Oh man this looks delicious! And your photographs are beautiful! Everything here looks great!
    I recently launched my own blog, I'd love for you to check it out and let me know what you think! :) Thanks!
    www.prettygoodfood.com

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