Blueberry Boy Bait Cake (Gone Bakin’)
After being on a roll for a couple of weeks I found myself with blogger’s block. I perused magazines, poured over cookbooks and surfed food blogs looking for inspiration. Nothing, zippo, nada, zilch, appealed..how could that be? I usually have more than a few recipes tucked away in the back of my mind that I want to try and then share with you. Maybe I needed a vacation from food. (wow, did I just write that?)
Luckily a favorite blog lifted me out of my food doldrums. I came home from the farmer’s market with a basket of beautiful fresh blueberries and just one pie cookie from 2nd Story Bake House (I am on a self-imposed limit). I plopped down in my favorite spot (the kitchen island) and woke up my laptop to continue my search for inspiration. A post from Smitten Kitchen popped up on my Facebook page that immediately caught my eye. An absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS looking cake called Blueberry Boy Bait.
BOOM!
Search over. The recipe came from a little cooking contest you might have heard of, Pillsbury Bake-Off. Created by a teenage contestant way back in the 1950’s and touted as being so delicious it would land you a young man, it garnered her a second place finish.
Years later the recipe received a “facelift” by Cook’s Country magazine. Shortening replaced by butter, berries were doubled, and brown sugar replaced granulated sugar. This elevated the cake to a whole new level of deliciousness. I started writing this post while the cake was baking, the aroma of butter, sugar, cinnamon and blueberries filled my kitchen and wafted upstairs to my kid’s room. That elicited a “what are you baking, is it ready? and when can I have some?”.
This truly is a get up off the couch now, run to the store, get some blueberries and BAKE THIS CAKE folks. It’s that yummy.
Spread the batter into a 9×13 pan, then top with the remaining blueberries. Finish by sprinkling the cake with a generous amount of cinnamon sugar for a sweet crunchy bite. You can use buttermilk instead of whole milk and substitute raspberries or a mix of fresh berries for the blueberries.
Baking time was a bit shorter than suggested (I baked it for about 35 minutes) so start checking the cake at 30 minutes. Enjoy!
Blueberry Boy Bait Cake
Ingredients
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Cook's County
Dry ingredients
- 2 cups plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour 250 grams (not including 1 teaspoon)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon table salt
Wet Ingredients:
- 16 tablespoons softened unsalted butter (2 sticks) 8 ounces or 225 grams,
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 145 grams
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk or buttermilk 235 ml
- 1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, do not defrost first as it tends to muddle in the batter) about 85 grams
Topping
- 1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost) about 85 grams
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar 50 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Substitute raspberries or mixed berries for blueberries
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
For cake:
- Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Set aside.
- In mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and scraping down bowl.
- Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.
For topping:
- Scatter blueberries over top of batter.
- Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter.
- Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.
- Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up).
- Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)