Blueberry Crumb Cake

In Virginia, I ate incredible blueberries from both my aunt's blueberry bushes and the farmer's market. It made me sad about the lack of flavorful, fresh blueberries I was finding in my farmer's market in Texas. Low and behold, within a week, I discovered Central Market had Texas grown blueberries. I bought a pint, a little scared to hope for too much. They were incredible!! Two days later, I was back, buying two more pints and Curtis was dreaming of a blueberry crumb cake for breakfast.

I discovered just the recipe to try--Dorie Greenspan came through for me again! The cake was wonderful. Hopefully, the store will have Texas blueberries again so I can make this again this summer. I am also looking forward to making it again in the winter with frozen blueberries when I need a reminder of summer and sunshine. Do I need to say how we all loved it? Well, mostly. M only wanted to eat the streusel off the top, but that suited me fine. The streusel was my least favorite part.

This makes approximately 8 servings, depending on how big the pieces are.

Blueberry Crumb Cake
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

For the streusel:
5 T butter, at room temperature
1/4 c sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 c pecans, chopped (optional)

For the cake:
1 pint (2 c) blueberries (fresh or frozen, unthawed)
2 c plus 2 t flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
2/3 c sugar
1/2 lemon, grated zest only
6 T butter, at room temperature
2 lg eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 c buttermilk

For the streusel: Put butter, sugar, light brown sugar, flour, and salt in the food processor. Pulse until mixtures forms clumps and holds together when pressed. Stir in nuts, if using. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

For the cake: Toss the blueberries with 2 t flour (this prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the cake). Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 c flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a mixing bowl, rub the sugar and zest together until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add butter, and beat in an electric mixture at medium speed until mixture is light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Gently stir in berries with a rubber spatula. Put the cake in a buttered 9" diameter springform pan or an 8" square pan. Top with streusel mixture, breaking up mixture into pieces as you scatter the top. Press them down slightly into the batter. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 45 - 50 minutes for a 9" round pan or 55 - 65 minutes for an 8" square pan, or until top is golden and a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack to cool, removing the sides (if using a springform pan).