Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This lovely cake would be perfect for brunch on Mother's Day, and if you are a mother cooking for your mother, know that she will love it and appreciate your efforts. The recipe comes from Bon Appetit magazine and it is almost perfect. I do have a couple of thoughts to share with those of you who are tempted to try it, however. If you have a standard oven, this cake will need more time to bake than suggested in the recipe below. Mine took almost 1-1/2 hours for the center of the cake to properly set. I suspect the time discrepancy can be attributed to the type of oven used to test the original recipe. I'm guessing it was tested using a convection rather than a standard oven. Based on the comments that accompanied the recipe, it is clear that others also needed extra time for baking. I also think you'll have better results with this recipe if you use fresh, rather than frozen, blueberries. Thawed berries are fragile and they will bleed into the cake, adding additional moisture that you don't want here. If you watch the time and use fresh berries, you'll have a really special cake to show for your efforts. The cake keeps well for a day, so there is no last minute effort required to serve something special to your guest of honor. I do hope you'll give this recipe a try. You won't be sorry. Here is how the cake is made.


Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Bon Appetit magazine

Ingredients:
Crumb Topping
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup pecans, toasted, chopped
3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
Cake
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh (or frozen, thawed) blueberries (about 10 ounces)
1 tablespoon panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

Directions:
1) To make crumb topping: Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in nuts. Add butter; using your fingertips, work butter into dry ingredients until large, moist crumbs begin to form. Set topping aside. The streusel topping can be made 5 days ahead of time if refrigerated.
2) To make cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8 x 8-inch square pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom with parchment paper. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat 3/4 cup sugar and butter in a medium bowl until light and fluffy, about 3–4 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, until mixture is pale and fluffy, 3–4 minutes longer.
With mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients to bowl in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Pour half of batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Whisk remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over batter in pan. Spoon remaining batter over it, smoothing top. Toss blueberries with panko in a small bowl, then scatter evenly over batter. Sprinkle crumb topping over blueberries. Bake cake until top is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 55–65 minutes. Let cool completely in pan. Cake can be made a day before serving if stored airtight at room temperature. Yield: 10 servings.

                    

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