Blueberry Coffee Cake

Blueberry coffee cake without nuts

Growing up on the edge of town, where it almost seemed country, we were blessed with woods and fields and even a swamp to explore. We climbed trees, wandered through trails in the woods, picked pussy willows and made tee pees and forts. Wild berries grew nearby including blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and even some strawberries -- although I have to wonder if any of those were planted by others who might have lived in the area long before my family did. Wild blueberries are plentiful in New England but these berries were bigger than the small wild ones.

I remember summer morns where us kids would pick berries while mom prepared pancake batter and we would have fresh blueberry pancakes. When we picked lots of berries, mom would make blueberry dumplings for dessert. I'll have to make some soon so I can take a photo of blueberry dumplings.

Quite simply you simmer blueberries with some sugar until a liquid forms and the mixture is bubbling. You don't want to over boil it or the blueberries will lose their texture. Mix a little water and corn starch, add to the blueberries and continue simmering until the mixture thickens some. Any simple dumpling recipe will do. I'll add a complete recipe with photos soon. Once mixed, drop spoonfuls of dumpling dough into the simmering berries until the dumplings are cooked, about ten minutes. Dumplings are great warm or chilled and are great with vanilla ice cream. I've digressed here but couldn't help but think about this childhood dessert. Now to the blueberry coffee cake as I had intended.

I would like to take the credit for this recipe but it comes from the August 1989 issue of Yankee Magazine where Yankee did a section on recipes using blueberries. Yankee calls this recipe Blueberry Pecan Kuchen.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Pecan Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup chopped pecans

Blueberry Cake:
2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup yogurt or buttermilk (I've used sour cream)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups blueberries

For Topping:
Blend sugar, flour, and cinnamon in medium blow. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in chopped pecans.

For Cake:

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Grease 9" x 13" non-active baking dish or pan.
2. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Set aside. 
3. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar using electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in yogurt or buttermilk (or sour cream), lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients mixing only until batter is completely moistened. Fold in 1 cup of blueberries. 
4. Smooth batter into prepared pan. Top with 2 cups of blueberries, sprinkle with pecan mixture. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 10 servings. 

Not everyone in our house is a nut lover so instead of mixing the pecans in with the topping mixture, I only used 1/2 cup chopped pecans and sprinkled them on half of the cake pan.                                  

Blueberry coffee cake with nuts