Berry-filled coffee cake is great way to say hello
I inherited five tall blueberry bushes when we moved to the country years ago.
If pruned properly, they are prolific and produce gallons of sweet, tart berries. They ripen in late June, before the mosquitoes are too vicious.
I love to go out early in the morning to pick. The birds sing, it’s not too hot, and our chickens ramble about my feet, eagerly awaiting any dropped bounty.
We eat an enormous amount fresh and freeze a few gallons for future smoothies, yogurt and baking.
They are delicious in salads with beets and fresh cheese, I’ve made them into colonial ketchup and the deepestcolored jam.
But blueberries are by far my favorite baking berry. Cooking concentrates their mild flavor, deepens the color and adds fresh, juicy pops of flavor to pancakes, muffins and quickbreads.
Here is my favorite coffee cake recipe. I make it for weekend breakfasts, baby showers and daytime potlucks. It is a simple cake with a streusel topping, and making it in a springform pan gives it more height and presence.
I got this recipe years ago from a woman I took a botany class with at UW-Madison. We hit it off, hung out a few times and exchanged a few recipes. We’ve since lost touch, but I’ve never forgotten her or this recipe.
While you could certainly swap in other seasonal fruits (peaches, apples, rhubarb), berries are my favorite. This recipe calls for a lot of fruit, which I love. There isn’t just a smattering of berries in each slice — it is packed with juicy, warm fruit from top to bottom.
This is a perfect cake to make to drop off for a new neighbor or use it as an excuse to invite over an old friend for coffee. Cake may not be the most nutritious thing to eat, but it can help reconnect and build community, which is nourishing to the soul.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Make cake: Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat in one at a time. Stir in almond extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
Alternate adding a third of the flour mixture and half of the buttermilk to the butter/sugar mixture, stirring gently between each addition. Begin and end with flour.
Fold in blueberries. Scrape batter into a greased 9” springform pan. (If you don’t have a springform pan, you could use 2 round cake pans, 8 or 9 inch and bake for 20-30 minutes instead.)
Make topping: Whisk together sugar, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in cold butter until the size of small peas. Sprinkle over cake batter.
Bake for 50-65 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and top is golden. After 30 minutes, cover with aluminum foil to keep the top from getting too dark.