Ann's November Cake: Sour Cream-Blueberry Crumb Cake

This cake was completely intended to be an extra cake for the month, even though I hadn't really decided on my "official cake". But then in the end, I didn't have time to make another one. You know when you're making tons of cakes and you feel like you haven't really explored sides that you needed to, and you realize you've failed at doing what you set out to do that year and you hate yourself? Okay, maybe only Listle understands this, but she probably feels like she got everything done that she wanted to, so it's just me! Anyway, I chose this cake only because I had a bunch of leftover sour cream in the fridge and some frozen blueberries, and I was (typically) struggling to fit stuff into my space in the fridge (side note - it's really hard to have three people share a fridge). After a quick search for "sour cream" in The Cake Book (by the frosting-lite Tish Boyle), I came up with this perfect recipe. But in the end, I realized I hadn't yet made a crumb cake, so I did do something I needed to explore! Hooray!!!!

The thing that really surprised me about this cake is that it ended up being the most popular of the year with my roommates (who have been trying them since August). I thought it was super good, but it wasn't difficult at all to make and, as I said before, was just there to get rid of some ingredients, so their reaction was refreshing and made me feel better at the time about calling it the official cake of the month. The cake itself was really moist (again, sorry Mrs. H-B) and flavorful because of the sour cream, and I added the frozen blueberries at the last minute so they didn't bleed too much color in the surrounding batter. The crumbs got all buttery and caramel-y as the brown sugar melted....num num nummy! My only complaint was that I didn't have the requisite 9-inch square pan (I had an 8-inch), so the cake was thicker than intended and there were tons of crumbs on each piece. You're probably thinking that sounds awesome, but when you're on a diet, it means that you get a tiny tiny piece of cake covered with crumbs, and you just want more cake.


The other problem is that it took a lot longer to bake than it said in the recipe because of the smaller pan, so Ol' Blue Eyes fell asleep while he was waiting.


Good thing cake is the best wake-up.


Sour Cream-Blueberry Crumb Cake
from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Crumb topping:
1 cup flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (I used light brown)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cake:
1 ½ cups flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or unthawed frozen blueberries (I used frozen)
1 cup sour cream
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

1.) In a medium bowl, stir the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt until well blended. Add the melted butter and mix with a fork, stirring until the butter is absorbed and the dry ingredients are uniformly moistened. Set aside.

2.) Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan.

3.) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well blended.

4.) In a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture until the berries are coated; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and vanilla extract; set aside.

5.) In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat together the butter and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 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 the blueberries. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the batter, breaking up any large clumps with your fingers.

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

7.) Cut the cake into squares and serve from the pan.