Oh boy. Another goodie! Success after too many sweets that were failures…so happy this is good enough to write about. So – a blueberry cake with a hint of lemon followed by streusel and then a zingy lemon syrup. Yum. How could it not be? This is great for afternoon tea of morning brunch treat. Or a late night snack! Or dessert. Sylvie loved this too – and unfortunately no one else was able to sample since I was baking for MSP. Oh well…maybe for the senior breakfast this week!
Enjoy –
lemon blueberry buckle (from Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson):
crumb topping-
1/2 cup all purpose flour (2 1/2 ounces)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup (2 ounces) unsalted butter, room temp
cake –
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (8 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (or from your spice rack if you must :))
6 tablespoons (3 oz) unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup sugar
zest of a lemon
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen, if frozen, do not thaw)
lemon syrup–
1/3 cup sugar
juice of 2 lemons
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch square pan. I used an 8 inch pan and made two muffins on the side.
For the crumb topping, mix the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest together. Add the butter and use your fingers or a fork to cut in the butter. Keep mixing and squishing until the butter is the size of peas. Place in the freezer until you are ready to use.
For the cake, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.
With the paddle attachment of your mixer (or with hand held beaters) cream the butter and sugar and zest together until lighter and fluffy. This should take 5 min or so on medium high.
Add the eggs, one at at time, and scrape down the bowl and mix again.
On the lowest speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk. Repeat, alternating and ending with flour. Mix until just combined.
Remove, and fold by hand to make sure all incorporated.
Gently fold in one cup of the blueberries, spread the batter onto the prepped pan, then top with the other cup of blueberries making sure to reach every corner.
Sprinkle the chilled crumb topping over the berries.
Bake for 45 to 50 m – or until lightly golden and firm on top.
While cooking, make the glaze. Combine the sugar and lemon juice and a pinch of kosher salt in a saucepan. Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally for about 8-10 m – or until the glaze is syrupy. The glaze will bubble while cooking.
Poor the glaze on the cake while hot out of the oven. If the glaze is too thick to poor (if it cooled) just re-heat.
Enjoy –
