Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake.

I’ve had a craving for cinnamon and fruit, especially citrus fruits lately. In fact, I’ve wanted to eat lemons. But I don’t because I’m afraid I’ll end up liking it, therefore being one of those crazy pregnant women who craved eating odd things. I mean, lemons aren’t as bad as say, pickles and ice cream, but it’s still weird.

Anyway….this recipe is fantastic. 2 cups of fresh blueberries and lemon zest in a coffee cake. It looks like the cake I made last year, the blueberry buckle. I’m not sure what makes a buckle a buckle, and a coffeecake a coffeecake. The only differences I noticed were the quantities of ingredients used in each recipe. The buckle used twice as much flour, but the same amount of blueberries as the coffeecake (2 cups, or 1 pint). The buckle distributed the blueberries evenly throughout the cake, while the coffeecake just layered them on top of the batter. I could go on, but I don’t really care and I hope you don’t either.

What sets this apart from the traditional coffeecakes is the lemon zest. It adds that hint of citrus that you didn’t expect as you bite into a slice. If you don’t have any lemon zest, don’t worry about it. But I really insist that you try it with lemon.

 

Blueberry Lemon Coffeecake

Crumb Topping Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Cake Batter Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.) room temperature butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 cups (1 pint) fresh blueberries

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) In a small bowl, combine ingredients for crumb topping, cutting in the butter with a fork until it looks like crumbs. Set aside.

3) In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

4) In another large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Using a hand held mixer, blend until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and lemon zest, blend until well combined. Add flour and milk alternately and beat until combined.

5) Spread batter on a greased 8 x 8 inch cake pan. Top with blueberries then sprinkle crumb topping. Bake for 40 minutes, then test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center. If it does not come out clean, give the cake another 5 to 10 minutes to bake. Serve warm or at room temp.