Fabulous Friday

I love me some Friday mornings. It's just me, this little guy, a tandem bike ride to the store where he's throwing out prom queen waves to everyone we pass, and then back home for some cake making.

I went for an old favorite this week: Sour Cream Blueberry Crumble Cake from Tish Boyle's phenomenal The Cake Book. I have made this for Easter many times, but missed it this year when I took the easy route and asked begged family members to bring dishes after a long week of travel. This time, I did what I've been doing a lot of lately and that's cutting sugar quantities in half on baked goods. The taste difference is only slight and so I've got no good reason to stop.





Sour Cream-Blueberry Crumb Cake

The Topping
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar (orig. calls for 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (orig. calls for 1/3 cup)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt (or a pinch)
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

The Cake
1 -1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 -1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
1 cup sour cream
1 -1/2 tsp vanilla extract
10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar (orig. calls for 1 cup)
2 large eggs

Instructions for topping
In a medium bowl, stir the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until the butter is absorbed and the dry ingredients are uniformly moistened. Set aside.

Instructions for cake
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well blended.
In a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tbsp of the flour mixture until the blueberries are coated; set aside. In a small bowl whisk together the sour cream and vanilla extract; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scrapping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. At low speed, beat in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating it with the sour cream in two additions. Using a rubber spatula, fold in blueberries. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the batter, breaking un any large lumps with your fingers.

Bake cake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Place the cake in the pan on a wire rack and let cool completely.

Cut the cake into squares and serve from the pan.