Blueberry Crumb Cake

Recipe: Chilmark Blueberry Crumb Cake

Yield: 1 10″ cake

# of Servings: 10

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 ½ cups (12.85 oz / 364 g) blueberries¹, cleaned, washed, and dried on paper towel.
• ½ tsp lemon zest (save lemon for lemon juice below)

• 2 cups (9.3 oz / 264 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (7.1 oz / 201 g) sugar
• ¾ cup (6 oz / 170 g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

• ¼ cup (1.15 oz / 33 g) flour
• 1 tsp (.2 oz / 5g) baking soda
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup (4.2 oz / 119 g) plain low-fat yogurt (additional as needed)
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Yogurt Cream

1 ½ cup heavy cream, chilled

3 tbl (1.4 oz / 40 g) sugar

½ cup (4.2 oz / 119 g) plain low-fat yogurt

Special tools and equipment needed:

• 1 10″ springform pan
• Cookie sheet, at least 11 ½” wide
• Four mixing bowls: Bowl 1 (medium), bowl 2 (large), bowl 3 (small), bowl 4 (small).
• Pastry blender
• 10″ parchment paper circle and parchment strips for sides of springform (optional)

Pre-recipe preparations:

• Preheat oven to 400°F
• Butter the springform pan, place parchment circle on bottom, line sides with parchment, and lightly butter the parchment on the bottom and sides^2.

Directions:
Cake:

1. In bowl 1 (medium), toss the blueberries with the lemon zest. Remove 1 cup which will be mixed into the batter, leaving 1½ cups in the bowl, which become part of the topping.
2. In bowl 2 (large), combine the 2 cups of flour and the sugar. Cut in the butter until pieces are no larger than a pea. Part of this flour/butter mixture will become the cake batter and part will become the crumb topping. Set aside 1 ½ cup (8.55 oz / 242 g) for the crumb topping, and the remainder in the bowl will become the batter.
3. In bowl 3 (small), combine the ¼ cup flour and baking soda. Add to the flour/butter mixture in large bowl, mix well.
4. In bowl 4 (small), whisk the egg. Mix in the yogurt and lemon juice. Add to the flour/butter mixture and gently stir with a plastic spatula or wooden spoon, until partially blended.
5. Add 1 cup of the blueberries and continue mixing just until fully blended and all the flour is moistened. Add another tablespoon or two of yogurt if necessary to moisten all the flour. The mixture should be the consistency of a thick biscuit dough.
6. Using a small offset spatula, or the back of a spoon, spread the batter into the bottom of the springform pan.
7. Scatter the remaining 1½ cups of blueberries over the batter, and top with the reserved crumb topping.
8. Place on the cookie sheet, and bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until the crumb topping is light-golden brown, and an inserted paring knife comes out clean, with no wet batter.
9. Remove pan from oven and set on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove the sides of the springform pan and leave on cooling rack.
10. Best served warm or at room temperature, with a bowl of the yogurt cream.
11. Cake may be served directly from the bottom of the springform. It is delicate, but may be removed to a serving dish by using the thin metal bottom from a round 9″ or 10″ tart shell. Gently slide the tart shell bottom under the cake, and slide onto a serving platter.

Yogurt cream:

1. Using a chilled bowl and chilled whisk, beat all ingredients until just firm. Do not overbeat.
2. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Notes:

1. 2 ½ cups of cleaned blueberries requires more than 1 pint of purchased blueberries.
2. Any blueberries in the batter touching the springform will tend to stick to the sides. Because of this, I prefer to use parchment. If not using parchment, butter very well.

Baking tips:

a) The cake can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days, although I have never had it last that long. It may also be frozen for up to 1 month.
b) Suggestions for things to do the day before:

• Cut parchment paper for pan bottom and sides. If room in refrigerator, butter the pan and parchment, cover, place in refrigerator.
• Pick through blueberries, rinse in cold water, and place on paper towels or a clean dish cloth to dry. Refrigerate overnight.
• Measure out the 2 cup, and ¼ cup of flour into bowls. Mix sugar into the 2-cup bowl. Cover both with foil or plastic wrap.