Blueberry Crumble Cake

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

In the Isle of Wight Steve and I found this little eating place by the crazy golf in the Rylstone Gardens. They had loads of lovely looking cakes and we tried a Cherry Crumble Cake the first time we went there. It was so nice that we went back and tried the Apple Crumble Cake, which was just as nice. I said I would try and recreate something similar when we got home.

 

I found a recipe in my BBC Good Food 101 Cakes and Bakes book for Blackcurrant Crumble Squares and I’ve adapted it.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

Instead of blackcurrants I used blueberries as we had a lot in the fridge to use up, but I only used half the amount the original recipe stated. I used a 10 inch round silicone tin instead of a 12 x 7 inch oblong tin.

 

For the crumble topping I reduced the amount of plain flour and added some ground almonds and omitted the lemon zest as I didn’t have any. I also reduced the amount of sugar in both the cake and the crumble topping.

 

TASTE TEST:

Everyone loved this cake! Even Steve’s Mum loved it even though she’s not a fan of crumble. The cake was lovely and soft and moist and the crunchy crumble topping made a great contrasting texture.

 

This cake was a lot thicker than the slices we ate in the IOW, but it was still really good.

 

 

• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Oven shelf: middle
• You will need: 12 x 7 inch oblong tin or 10 inch round tin or 9 inch square tin, lined and greased if not using silicone

 

Ingredients:

for the cake:

• 115g softened butter (I used Stork Margarine in the tub)
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 280g self raising flour
• 125ml milk
• 100g blueberries

 

for the crumble:

• 100g caster sugar
• 70g plain flour
• 15g ground almonds
• 50g butter (I used Anchor)

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon (or electric hand whisk) until pale and fluffy, then whisk in the egg and beat until incorporated.
3. Sift the flour into the bowl and pour in the milk, then carefully fold them into the mixture until fully combined but do not overmix.
4. Spoon into the prepared tin and spread evenly, then sprinkle the blueberries on top.
5. Mix together the sugar, flour and ground almonds. Rub in the butter until the mixture is crumbly, then sprinkle on top of the blueberries.
6. Bake for 45 minutes until the topping is golden and crunchy.
7. Leave to cool in the tin.

Blueberry and Lemon Friands

 

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

I found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website about a year ago and printed it off, but I’ve only just got around to making them as I just happened to have all the ingredients in the house. It’s a shame I never tried the recipe earlier as they are absolutely delicious. The cake is extremely light and moist and the fresh tang of lemon zest and the blueberries gives them a ‘Summer’s here!’ taste.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I used 3 large egg whites instead of medium because we only use large eggs. They had been frozen and I defrosted them overnight in the fridge, then I left them at room temperature for about an hour before using.

 

Instead of using non-stick friand or muffin tins, I used my new silicone cake cases that Steve’s Mum bought me from Wilkinsons. They worked really well as they held their shape when I put the cake mixture in and so I just put them on a baking tray to make it easier to get them in/out of the oven. Once baked, the cakes were easy to pop out of the silicone cases, but I did think that they retained the steam as the cakes were cooling and this made the bottoms of the cake slightly soggy.

 

The silicone cases are the size of fairy cakes cases, so I managed to make 7 cakes instead of 6. I have tried making these in paper fairy cases and I managed to make 12, but they were very thin/shallow and not as good as when I used the silicone cases.

 

TASTE TEST:

Well these went down a complete storm! Steve’s Dad doesn’t like almonds, so I warned him before he tried them that they were made of mainly ground almonds, but he tried them anyway and he said they were probably the best cakes I’ve made!

 

I will definitely make these again, but they will be considered a once-in-a-while treat as I think they’re expensive to make because they’re made of ground almonds and blueberries aren’t cheap either. Plus they’re just over 300 calories each!

 

• 100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 125g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 25g plain flour
• 85g ground almonds
• 3 medium/large egg whites
• 1 unwaxed lemon, grated rind only
• 85g blueberries

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to fan 180C/conventional 200C/gas 6. Generously butter six non-stick friand or muffin tins. Melt the butter and set aside to cool (nuke in the microwave for 35-40 seconds).
2. Sift the icing sugar and flour into a bowl, add the almonds and stir together.
3. Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until they form a light, floppy foam. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, tip in the egg whites and lemon rind, then lightly stir in the butter to form a soft batter.
4. Divide the batter among the tins (using a jug was the easiest way). Sprinkle a handful of blueberries over each cake and bake for 15-20 minutes (mine took 20 minutes) until just firm to the touch and golden brown.
5. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar.

Mixed Berry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

I had some leftover sour cream from making Beef Stroganoff, so I found a cake recipe in my BBC Good Food 101 Cake Bakes book that had sour cream as one of the ingredients. The original recipe was Blueberry Soured Cream Cake, but I didn’t have any blueberries, so I used a pack of frozen Black Forest Fruits from Tesco. The pack contains 4 different fruits, but I only used the blackberries and blackcurrants and not the cherries and red grapes because I didn’t think they would work very well in the cake.

For the frosting I used a recipe by Leila Lindholm from her basic cupcake recipe. The frosting was yellow because of the butter and I didn’t like the way it looked. I didn’t want to add food colouring to change the colour. Then I remembered I’d left the unused cherries and grapes in the fridge and they’d defrosted and left a lovely pool of juice. So I added about a Tablespoon of the juice to the frosting and it turned it a lovely pink colour and added a great fruity flavour to it as well. The recipe for the frosting makes quite a lot, I only used about half of it and have kept the rest in the fridge. I guess I will just have to make some cupcakes to use it up!

I’m really pleased how the cake turned out as I’d never made it before and the frosting was a bit of a gamble (the last time I made a cream cheese frosting was for Rachel Allen’s Carrot Cake and it wasn’t all that well received!).

Unfortunately the fruit did sink to the bottom of the cake, even though I’d tossed it in some flour before mixing it in. I think it’s because the fruit was frozen and also because the cake batter is quite a runny consistency, so it didn’t have the body to suspend the fruit. It still tasted delicious though, as the cake is really moist from the sour cream. The fruit is lovely as it is slightly tangy and is offset by the sweet frosting.

It was lovely to come back from a walk down the park with Steve and eat this cake with a nice cup of tea!

• Serves: 10
• You will need: a 9 inch (22cm) round cake tin
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C

Ingredients:

• 175g soft butter
• 175g soft brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 225g self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 Tablespoons soured cream
• Blackberries and Blackcurrants taken from a frozen 350g pack of Tesco Black Forest Fruits

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

• 60g butter, softened
• 100g cream cheese (I used Tesco Value)
• 300g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• approx. 1 Tablespoon of juice from leftover defrosted fruits

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C and butter and line the base of your round cake tin with non-stick baking paper or reusable Magic Non-Stick Liner.
2. Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla extract into a food processor and whizz for 2-3 minutes until lighter in colour and well combined. Fold in the soured cream and the blackberries and blackcurrants.
3. Tip the mixture into the tin and spread it level. Bake for 50-55 minutes until it is risen, feels firm to the touch and springs back when lightly pressed.
4. Cool for 10 minutes, then take out of the tin and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.
5. To make the frosting: in a large bowl beat the butter, cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla sugar and lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Add the fruit juice and mix in well. Spread over the top of the cooled cake (don't be impatient as the frosting will melt if the cake is too warm).

COOK’S NOTES:

• Can be frozen un-iced.
• The cake will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. Bring it to room temperature for about an hour before serving.

Blueberry Crumble Cake

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

Sadly the blueberries used for this cake weren’t from our blueberry bush, which we’ve had for about 3 years and it’s never given us a single berry! I keep reading that we need at least 2 different plants so they can pollinate each other, so it looks like we’ll need to get a little friend for our sad little blueberry bush.

Anyway, I love cakes with a crunchy topping, so I used a basic cake recipe and then topped it with a nutty crumble topping – it went down a treat! It would be great served as a pudding with cream or custard too!
I used fresh blueberries but I’m sure you could use frozen ones, especially as they’re only £1 at Tesco’s at the moment!

• Makes: 16 squares
• You will need: an 8 or 9 inch square tin, lined with greaseproof paper
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Cooking time: 40-50 minutes 

Ingredients:
FOR THE TOPPING

• 15g (2 Tablespoons) plain flour
• 35g (3 Tablespoons) soft brown sugar
• 50g (3 Tablespoons) butter/Stork
• 50g rolled porridge oats
• 40g mixed nuts, chopped

FOR THE CAKE

• 175g butter
• 150g light muscavado sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 175g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 200g (1 box) blueberries, washed and dried 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. First make the topping: by putting all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until you have a lumpy crumble. Set aside.
3. Then make the cake: by putting the butter and sugar into the food processor and whizzing until creamy and it is light in colour. Then add the eggs, flour and baking powder and whizz until well combined.
4. Spread the cake mixture into your tin, then scatter the blueberries on top. Top with the crumble then press down slightly.
5. Bake in the middle of the oven for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
6. Cool in the tin and then cut into 16 squares.

Blueberry Pear Crumble Topped Tart

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

This is a hybrid of three different recipes as I didn’t have enough ground almonds to make the original recipe I wanted to make. So I had to be creative and I’m pleased to say it was a great success!

I made the sweet pastry from scratch using Rachel Allen’s recipe (click here for a link) and for my first time making pastry I’m really pleased that it came out lovely and crisp. It was really easy to make in the food processor.

• Oven temperature: Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C
• Oven shelf: middle
• You will need: an 8-inch tart tin

Ingredients:
FOR THE PASTRY

• You will need 1 portion of Rachel Allen’s sweet pastry, or roughly 250 g of shop bought sweet pastry, baked blind.

FOR THE FILLING

• 225 g (8 oz) blueberries, washed
• 50 g (1.75 oz) caster sugar
• 1 large ripe pear, cut into thin slices (I used Comice)

FOR THE CRUMBLE TOPPING

• 25 g (1 oz) ground almonds
• 50 g (1.75 oz) self-raising flour
• 25 g (1 oz) caster sugar
• 50 g (1.75 oz) butter
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C.
2. Mix the blueberries with the sugar and set to one side.
3. Place all the crumble ingredients into a food processor and whizz up until you have a soft crumble.
4. Spread the blueberries out onto the cooked pastry base, then arrange the slices of pear on top.
5. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the fruit.
6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the crumble is golden brown.

Blueberry Sponge Cake

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

Steve's mum bought a punnet of blueberries and they were going bad so I cooked this cake to use them up. The blueberries make this sponge lovely and moist and surely this counts as 1 portion of your 5-a-day fruit & veg!

This is so quick and easy to make, especially if you use a food processor to mix.

This is lovely served when it's still slightly warm with a nice cup of tea!

• Makes: One 8-inch cake
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Oven shelf: Middle shelf
• You will need: an 8-inch x 1½ inches deep, non-stick loose bottomed sandwich tin, greased (or silicone pan works well as no need to grease)

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (110g/4oz) soft butter
• 1/2 cup (110g/4oz) caster sugar
• 1¼ cups (150g/50z) self-raising flour
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1½ cups (225g/8oz) fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until pale in colour, then gradually mix in the eggs, adding a tablespoon of flour to stop the mixture splitting. Then add the rest of the flour followed by the milk.
   * Alternatively put all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Spread the mixture into the tin.
3. Gently fold in the blueberries until evenly distributed.
4. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-45 minutes, until golden brown all over (Use the shorter time if using fresh fruit and longer time if using frozen).
5. Leave the cake to cool in the tin, then turn out and dredge with icing sugar.

Blueberry cupcakes with orange sugar drizzle

MUNCH RATING: 3 OUT OF 5

I had some blueberries to use up (not from our plant unfortunately) so I found this cupcake recipe. The texture of the cakes are between a fairy cake and a muffin, but the drizzle makes them very moist. The recipe for the drizzle says to use caster sugar, but the drizzle didn't go crunchy, so after some Internet research I'm going to try granulated sugar next time. I will definitely make these again and try them with raspberries which is what the original recipe used.

• Makes: 12 cupcakes
• Oven shelf position: middle
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Baking time: 30-35 minutes (Original recipe said 20-25 mins)
• You will need: 12-hole muffin tin (or normal cake tin is fine) with paper muffin cases

Cupcakes – Ingredients:

• 200g Self-raising flour
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 200g Unsalted butter, softened
• 4 large Eggs
• 200g Caster sugar
• 3 tbsp Milk
• 50g Ground almonds
• Zest of 1medium Orange
• 150g punnet Blueberries/Raspberries, washed then lightly crushed

Sugar drizzle – Ingredients:

• Juice of 1 medium Orange
• 4 tbsp Caster or Granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven and line muffin tin with paper muffin cases.
2. Tip the first 8 ingredients into a large bowl and beat with electric whisk until smooth.
3. Fold the crushed fruit through the batter.
4. Divide the batter between the cases - there is a lot of mixture so they will be almost full to the top.
5. Gently tap the tray on your work surface to even out the mixture and knock out any excess air which could cause the cakes to sink.
6. Bake for 30-35 mins or until golden and just firm.
7. To make the Sugar drizzle: mix together the orange juice and sugar until well blended.
8. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool a little but the cakes should still be hot when you drizzle each with the orange and sugar mix.

Blueberry (& Raspberry) Crunch Cake

I have halved the quantities in this recipe by Sue Lawrence, as her original quantities makes a huge cake and since this is quite a rich and filling cake, a small piece is quite sufficient!

The polenta gives the cake a lovely crunchy topping and quite a unique flavour.

I have only ever tried this recipe with fresh berries but I'm sure frozen ones would work just as well. The combination of blueberries and raspberries is excellent, but when I recently made this I didn't have any raspberries because they were too expensive, so I substituted them for 1 gala apple cut into small dice and it gave a good result.
This is great served with the blueberry syrup (see pancakes).

• Oven shelf position: upper-middle
• Oven temperature: pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C/Gas mark 4
• Baking time: 50 minutes to 1 hour
  
• You will also need a 20cm/8in springform cake tin, lightly buttered

Ingredients
100g Polenta - plus 1 teaspoon
250g Self raising flour, sifted
160g Golden caster sugar
Grated zest 1 unwaxed lemon (optional)
160g Cold unsalted butter, diced
1 Large free-range egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
125g Blueberries
125g Raspberries
12g Demerara sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4
2. Place the 100g of polenta, the flour and sugar in a large food processor and process for a few seconds. Add the lemon zest and butter and process again until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs (alternatively rub the butter into the dry ingredients by hand as if making a crumble mixture)
3. Add the beaten egg and lemon juice then process using the pulse button, or mix, very briefly, until just combined.
   
4. Tip about two-thirds of the mixture into the prepared tin, pressing down all over.
5. Sprinkle the teaspoon of polenta over the base, then scatter over the blueberries and raspberries (or whatever fruit you're using)
6. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top, then crumble the remaining cake mixture over to cover. Press down very lightly, then bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
7. Cool on a wire rack, then remove from the tin.
   

Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

My friend Lindsey told me about these Buttermilk Pancakes by Martha Stewart and they are really light and fluffy and very easy to make. I've halved her recipe as it makes 9 huge pancakes!
I suggested she serve them with the Blueberry Syrup by Nigella Lawson and she said it was really good so I decided to try it out myself and they are an excellent combination!

BUTTERMILK PANCAKES:

The key to fluffy pancakes is not to overmix the batter; it should not be beaten smooth.

Makes 4-5 6-inch pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup (125g/4.oz) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1.5 cups (350ml/12 fl.oz) buttermilk (look in the cream section in the supermarket or make your own - see below)
2 tablespoons unsalted melted butter, plus 1/2 teaspoon for griddle/frying pan

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl.
   
2. In a separate bowl combine the eggs, buttermilk, and the 2 tablespoons of butter.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir gently to combine. Do not overmix, the batter should have small to medium lumps.
   
4. Let the mixture rest for about 10 minutes, this will result in lighter, fluffier pancakes (use this time to make the Blueberry syrup!)
   
5. Heat your griddle or frying pan to medium-low and test by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Using a pastry brush/piece of kitchen towel, brush remaining 1/2 teaspoon of butter onto griddle. Wipe off excess.
6. Using a 4-ounce ladle (about 1/2 cup) pour in pancake batter, in pools 2 inches away from one other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2.5 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
7. Repeat with remaining batter and serve warm.

BLUEBERRY SYRUP:

Put 1 cup (about 150g/5oz) washed Blueberries and 125ml (about 8 Tbsp) Maple Syrup in a small saucepan and simmer for about 5 mins until blueberries have softened and you have a nice syrupy consistency.

No Maple Syrup?! Don't worry, you can still make this delicious syrup by simmering 1 cup water and 1/2 cup white sugar in a small pan for a couple of minutes until you have got a slight syrup. Then add your cup of Blueberries and simmer gently as above.

TIPS AND TRICKS:
No Buttermilk?! Then you can make your own with normal milk and lemon juice. Just mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and let sit for 10 minutes. The resulting mixture won't be as thick as buttermilk so you will only need 1 cup.

No Lemon?! Then use 1 cup normal milk (preferably whole/full fat), omit the baking soda (as there is no acid for it to react to) and increase the amount of baking powder to 1.5 teaspoons.

Alternatively, make my Cheat's American Pancakes which are equally delicious!