Lemony Blueberry Buckle

Generous with blueberries, this cake is doused with a lemon syrup.

I first baked blueberry buckle when we lived in western Michigan, where blueberries are a significant presence in the local economy. With such berried abundance, I could afford to over-stuff cakes with what many of us believe are the best blueberries to be found anywhere in the world.

Our dear house rabbit Chloe loved blueberries and we dutifully purchased them year-round. The ones from South America were not up to par. Florida’s were OK, but mostly a herald that Michigan berries would be along in a few months.

This summer, we were able to get our hands on about 30 pounds of Michigan blueberries, thanks to a Michigan native-turned-Iowan who ships them in from his kinfolk. We stocked up. Baking a blueberry buckle was an ode to one of several places I call home.

While my go-to recipe has always been from King Arthur (with trusty and reliable results), I stumbled on this version at David Lebovitz’s blog. (The original source is the cookbook Rustic Fruit Desserts.)

This is for those moments when you want to gild the lily. When a buttery cake abundant with fruit and topped with streusel isn’t enough. There should be lots of lemon zest in the batter and you must liberally douse the cake with a warm lemon syrup.

And if you do all these things, you will be glad you did. I baked this cake at least five times this summer—yesterday most recently.

Something else I like about this cake is the soft layer of warmth from nutmeg. There’s just enough to fill in the blanks without overpowering.

I admit to my own lily-gilding by adding chopped pecans to the streusel. Pecans go well with berries and butter and lemons. Pecans are optional, but do not use walnuts for they are too strong.

You can bake this using frozen berries—just keep them in the freezer until ready to fold in the batter, or else thawed berries will get drippy and stain the cake.

Happy baking!

 

Blueberry Buckle

Adapted from Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson
and from David Lebovitz

Note: I’ve played around with this recipe a bit, adjusting type and amounts of sugar. I found the cake did not need the full one cup of sugar and can be reduced by one-third. On occasion, I used half organic granulated sugar and half organic coconut sugar. I also adapted this recipe for a fresh peach cake, minus lemon syrup, here.

Streusel Topping
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup organic granulated sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Batter
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 to 1 cup sugar
zest from 2 lemons (save the lemons for the syrup below)
1 1/2 cups+2 tablespoons white spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground if you can
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 to 3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Lemon Syrup
1/3 cup organic granulated sugar
Juice from 2 lemons, about 6 tablespoons

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch square cake pan.

Prepare streusel. Place all ingredients in a small food processor and pulse until the butter is in small pieces and the ingredients are evenly distributed. Remove and put in the refrigerator to stay cold. 

Prepare the cake. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add half the flour mixture to the batter and beat gently. Then add half the buttermilk and beat gently. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk.

Pour batter into the prepared cake pan. Sprinkle the streusel evenly on top. Place in oven and bake for about 45 minutes, until it is nicely browned on top and springs back when you touch it.

Shortly before the cake is done, prepare the lemon syrup. Put sugar and juice in a small, heavy saucepan and cook on medium high heat until the liquid thickens a bit. Set aside.

Remove cake from oven and spoon over the warm lemon syrup.

Fresh Peach Cake

Fresh, juicy peaches top this simple butter cake.

Last Friday afternoon, I set out to bake one chocolate sheet cake for a weekend dinner party. Baking centers and calms my mind during times when I feel the need to do something or shut off the noise in my head. It had been a tough week and, by the time I emerged from the kitchen, there were three cakes, not one.

There was a chocolate sheet cake, a blueberry buckle and this simple peach-topped butter cake. It was a last-minute inspiration but I liked it so much — as did my friends — that I wanted to share with you. What I like about the cake is that it’s moist and sturdy. It slices easily and holds its shape — the kind of dessert one could eat out of hand, as some of my new co-workers did when I shared leftovers.

The recipe is based on a blueberry buckle that David Lebovitz adapted from the cookbook Rustic Fruit Desserts. Because I’d just slid his blueberry version in the oven (minus the streusel topping and lemon syrup), the recipe was fresh in my mind and I decided to take advantage of the remaining room-temperature butter I had on the counter.

For the peach version, I made a few adaptations: reducing the sugar by one-third, omitting cinnamon and lemon zest, adding vanilla and almond extract. Rather than folding in the chopped peaches, I arranged the slices on top in a circular pattern.

This little inspiration was a winner and I’ll be baking it again now that peaches are in season. Hope you give it a try and enjoy it, too.

Fresh Peach Cake

adapted from David Lebovitz and Rustic Fruit Desserts

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar (I used 1/3 cup organic granulated sugar and 1/3 cup organic coconut sugar)
1 1/2 cups+2 tablespoons white spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 to 3 big peaches, sliced vertically into 1/2 in. wedges

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 inch round or an  8-inch square cake pan.

With a hand mixer or in a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add half the flour mixture to the batter and beat gently. Then add half the buttermilk and beat gently. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk. Then add vanilla and almond extracts. Beat gently to incorporate.

Pour batter into the prepare cake pan. Arrange sliced peaches on top of the cake.

Place in oven and bake for about 45 minutes, until the cake is browned on top and springs back when you touch it. 

Remove and let cool a little bit. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream for dessert, or plain with afternoon tea, or for breakfast with your coffee.

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies for Tuesdays with Dorie

Mocha Chip Cookies

A friend and I recently discussed whether she needed a big standing mixer. It’s eye candy for sure, and manages to launch all manner of baking daydreams.

For a long time, I had only a hand mixer, which I hesitated to use because it was stuck in a box in the corner on a very high shelf in the kitchen. A lot of work to take down and put away. So I mixed a lot of cakes by hand, which I rather enjoyed, because I could get in touch with the pioneer within and I could feel smart that I wasn’t using any electricity.

You can make cookies by hand, too, but sometimes a stiff cookie dough can benefit from a little horsepower. Especially the kind that operates on your kitchen counter while you stand back and watch. Take these Mocha Chocolate Chip cookies, for instance. The all-butter dough stayed thick in my chilly kitchen and would have been a beast to mix by hand. I was glad to let the mixer do the heavy lifting.

These cookies feature a coffee-flavored dough absolutely laden with bittersweet chocolate chips. Laden as in a full one pound of chocolate for 2 cups of flour. (Not complaining.) The coffee is not prominent for those who think they don’t like coffee. Rather, it serves as a layer to enhance the chocolate.

The recipe calls for dried apricots, which are optional and which I forgot anyway. I had an issue with the first batch because they turned out too thin for my liking. This is because the large organic eggs I used should have been marked as jumbo. I added about 1/3 cup more flour to the remaining dough and the rest turned out just right.

If you would like to try these cookies, the recipe is being hosted at Galettista. Stroll over to the Tuesdays with Dorie website where you’ll find links to all the participating bloggers.

Croissants for Tuesdays with Dorie

Croissants made from a recipe in Baking with Julia.

The first time I ever baked croissants created a bit of giddy delight, not unlike when you meet someone famous and you realize this famous person looks in real life just as he or she does on TV or in photographs. And even though the encounter is very real, you still can’t believe the two of you are standing there.

To think I’d made a pastry that seemed so elusive and unattainable was immensely satisfying. I had the same feeling this time round as I baked croissants for Tuesdays with Dorie.

I used two rolling pins for this project.

I wouldn’t call the recipe particularly complicated. It just involves some time and planning — the repeated rolling and folding over several installments. I prepared the dough on Friday afternoon, resumed Saturday night and finished on Sunday. If you’ve ever made puff pastry from scratch, the process of turning and folding and rolling will be familiar. There’s no other way to create those butter laden layers of goodness.

Croissants also require elbow grease and I have great admiration for professional bakers who make them by hand every single day. Rolling the dough took effort, and I was a bit sore in my trapezius muscles. But that’s OK, because any calories burned in preparing croissants will quickly be erased when eating them.

A little word on rolling pins: I love my wooden French style pin because it’s lightweight and simple. It was perfect for whacking the dough in stage one, when the slab of butter is first enclosed with dough and you need to flatten the package. For rolling, however, German engineering wins every time. My stainless steel pin is heavy and, because it’s stainless steel, remains a bit on the cool side. The heft is what you need for extending an 8 x 14 piece of dough into 14 x 24 dimensions. And you need some patience to realize that if you keep working at it, the dough will indeed submit.

Croissants ready for baking.

If you have always wanted to bake something as ambitious as croissants, do give it a try. Whatever it is, don’t be intimidated. Grab your rolling pin, follow the directions and you’ll be rewarded.

I’m one of many bloggers who are cooking their way through Baking with Julia as part of Tuesdays with Dorie. Get today’s croissant recipe at Amanda’s blog, Girl+Food=Love. Visit the TWD site to see links to the other participating bloggers.

Recipe for Almond Angel Food Cake with Blackberry Curd for #BakeTogether

Almond  Angel Food Cake with Blackberry Curd

April has been a busy month. I started a new job after more than a year of the housewife life. I enjoyed my little break but it was time to get back into the working world.

It’s a writing post in the fundraising world, something I can feel good about every day. What I did not anticipate was the actual adjustment the job would require. Deciding who would get up first (I do, at 5:30 am, which is drastic to friends who know me well), making sure the rabbit’s morning routine is disrupted as little as possible (he has adjusted beautifully), remembering to pack a lunch.

Where, when and how to fit in exercise (right now it’s after work). And how to sit down to a healthy supper before 8 pm. I haven’t yet figured that out.

I’m trying to carve a sweet and balanced life for my family.  I’ve slowed a bit in posting here, but hope to resume a more regular schedule once I’ve figured out a new rhythm.

Coincidentally, April is the one year anniversary for Dust with Flour. Thank you, dear readers, for visiting and leaving such kind comments along the way. I’d wanted to start a blog for many years but the workaday life was a hurdle. I was definitely baking, but it didn’t get beyond that.