These last couple of weeks have been very trying for not only my family and my community but for the entire world. With the world dealing with the Coronavirus it has been quite challenging to do the everyday things that we have come so accustomed to doing. Even just going to the grocery store has become a difficult task.
With the kids being home from school for the past two weeks they definitely have been getting a little stir crazy but we are all doing our best to social distance ourselves and do our part to try to end this pandemic.
Having to stay at home, it was time to go through the old recipe box to get some ideas. You know that box with all those scraps of paper that you jotted down recipes on, except there are no pictures so you are not quite sure how they are suppose to look. Going through my box I found coffee cake recipes and I found lemon blueberry cake recipes so why not put the two together, a lemon blueberry cake with a coffee crumb topping.
Have to say. It was a huge success.
How To Make Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake:
First and foremost if your stuck in the house and can’t leave you should check to make sure you will have all the ingredients you need to complete any recipe. You don’t want to be have way through the recipe and realize you ran out of an ingredient.
Preheat oven to 350º.
Place all your dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
In a bowl of a stand mixer or if you like you can use a hand mixer, place 1/2 cup of sugar, almond paste and two tablespoons of butter and blend until completely combined.
I happen to really like the SOLO brand of almond paste. I have used other brands but this one works best for me.
To the almond paste mixture you will add one egg and lemon juice, beating well. One thing I always try to do when using eggs in recipes is to crack the eggs one at a time into a small bowl. By doing this it will be easier to see if any shell has broken off, it also is a way of checking that every egg you put into your recipe is fresh before you add it.
Now you will want to add your flour mixture and milk alternatively to your almond paste mixture beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
At this point you will want to fold in your blueberries and lemon rind. I would love to have used fresh blueberries for this recipe but like I said before, I used what I had available to me at home. The frozen berries worked fine.
As for the lemon zest I would say the best way to zest a lemon, orange or any citrus fruit would be to get yourself a micro plane. They work great. They are also great for grating garlic or whole spices like nutmeg. It’s a kitchen must have in my book.
Spoon your batter into a small baking dish. I chose a 9” x 7” casserole dish but a 9” square baking pan will work as well.
To prepare the best part, the crumb topping, combine the 1/4 cup of light brown sugar, sliced almonds, melted butter and ground cinnamon in a small bowl and mix well. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter. Place in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let cool before serving. This was a great cake to make under such pressing times. They were ingredients that I always have in the house. It was supper easy to make and delicious as well.
Almond Blueberry Coffee Cake:
Ingredients:
Cake:
- L1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour.
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder.
- 1/4 Teaspoon baking soda.
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt.
- 1/2 Cup sugar.
- 1/3 Cup almond paste.
- 2 Tablespoons butter cut into small pieces.
- 1 Egg.
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice.
- 3/4 Cup low fat milk.
- 1 1/2 Cups blueberries.
- 2 Teaspoons lemon zest.
- Cooking spray.
Topping:
- 1/4 Cup light brown sugar.
- 3 Tablespoons Sliced almonds.
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons melted butter.
- 1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon.
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- For cake, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Whisk and set aside..
- In the bowl of a stand mixer place 1/2 cup sugar, almond paste, and the two tablespoons of butter, and mix at high speed until well blended. Add egg and lemon juice beating well after each.
- Add the flour mixture and the milk alternately to the almond paste mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Fold in the blueberries and lemon zest.
- Coat a 9” baking dish with cooking spray and spoon batter into dish.
- For the topping, combine the 1/4 cup of brown sugar, sliced almonds, butter and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over the top of batter.
- Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool before serving.
