Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Tags

blueberry, buttermilk, cake, lemon, muffins

Breakfast. Cake. Could life be any better? 🙂 This is the best excuse ever to eat cake for breakfast! I mean, it’s all right there in the title… If it makes you feel any better, it’s like eating a blueberry muffin. It’s just cut into squares like cake. And has a tender crumb, like cake. But it’s not overly sweet like cake, so therefore it’s a perfect breakfast cake or snack cake. Sorry, I just said cake so many times! This is really delicious, though. Plump blueberries bursting in every bite, with a slight tang from the lemon and buttermilk. So good, and such a pretty breakfast cake. 🙂 Hurry and take advantage while blueberries are still in season!

One Year Ago: Skillet Lasagna and Garlic Rice Pilaf

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

½ cup butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons lemon zest
¾ cup + 1 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×9-inch pan with cooking spray; set aside. Toss the blueberries with ¼ cup flour; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter, lemon zest and ¾ cup sugar together; beat until creamy and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat just until combined. Slowly add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix until just combined, then gently fold in the blueberries and any loose flour. Batter will be thick.

Spread batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly over the top of batter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

Source: Slightly adapted from Life as a Lofthouse

 

Blueberry and Cream Cheese Filled King Cake

Tags

blueberry, cake, Carnival, cream cheese, King Cake, Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras!

In celebration of Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), I made a King Cake! It’s flavor is hard to describe, though wikipedia describes it as a sort of danish. It’s a yeast bread, filled, made into a ring, and covered with a glaze and colored sugars. Being a yeast bread and kind of like a danish makes it a suitable breakfast or dessert in my books! 🙂 Mine didn’t come out as pretty as I hoped, but at least it tasted awesome! For those of you who don’t know, King Cake is part of the tradition of Mardi Gras and Carnival. A fun and festive cake for a fun and festive celebration! In New Orleans, Mardi Gras is full of floats, parades, masquerades, drunken celebration, beads, and coins. Fat Tuesdays refers to the last day before Ash Wednesday and before lent begins, when you can indulge yourself to your hearts content!I’ve been to Mardi Gras once, and I was definitely too young to appreciate it. As in, it actually kind of scared me! I wasn’t a huge fan of crowds, fireworks, loud noises… totally not a good thing in New Orleans around Mardi Gras. My family and I were in town for a family wedding, so might as well celebrate while we’re there, right? So many colors, beads, floats, and people! I at least enjoyed collecting beads from each float. I would love to go back now that I’m older, and can actually drink now (and my childhood fears have gone away)!

Ever since we went, we started ordering a King Cake each year at Mardi Gras. Per our own family tradition, we would order the cream cheese-blueberry filled. It was beautiful, huge, and so delicious! Unfortunately, they started getting to expensive to ship from Louisiana out to California, so we started going without our annual King Cake. Once I went to college, I really started getting into baking and decided to try making a King Cake for the first time. It turned out great, and the shape and everything about it was just perfect.

My very first homemade King Cake, from the college days!

But stupid me… I didn’t save the recipe and the site has long since disappeared. The recipe below is the one I’ve used twice now. The flavor tastes just like I remember, and though I kind of make a mess with the blueberry filling, each year it seems to come out better. This year, it rose a lot and blobbed out, so I decided that next year I’ll make the cake rolls more narrow and longer, which I reflected in the recipe. So, sorry this post was longer than usual, but I hope you have a wonderful Mardi Gras! Throw me some beads, mister! 🙂

Blueberry and Cream Cheese Filled King Cake

Cake:
1 (16-ounce) container sour cream
⅓ cup sugar
¼ cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 (¼-ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
½ cup warm water (100° to 110°)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 to 6½ cups all-purpose flour

Fillings:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon milk
1 cup blueberry pie filling, slightly mashed

Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Colored Sugar Topping:
1½ cups granulated sugar, divided
Food coloring (red, blue, green, yellow)

To make the cake: In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine sour cream, ⅓ cup sugar, butter, and salt. Cook until butter melts, stirring often. Set aside, and cool mixture to 100-110 degrees F.

In a 1-cup measuring cup, stir together yeast, warm water, and 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand 5 minutes.

In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sour cream mixture, yeast mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour at medium speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add 4 to 4½ cups flour until a soft dough forms. Change to the dough hook and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Form dough into a ball and place in a well greased bowl, turning the dough to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 1 hour or until dough is doubled in bulk.

To make cream cheese filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar, flour, vanilla, and milk and beat until creamy and smooth; set aside.

To make the glaze: In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, lemon juice, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons milk. Stir until smooth, adding additional milk 1 teaspoon at a time, until pouring consistency.

To make the colored sugars: Pour ½ cup sugar into 3 separate sealable sandwich bags. Add 3 to 5 drops of food coloring to separate bags, adding red and blue to the same bag to make purple. Seal the bags and shake to distribute the color, using your fingers to break up any colored clumps of sugar; set aside.

To assemble: Punch down dough, and divide in half. Roll each portion into a 30 x 9-inch rectangle. On one rectangle, spread the cream cheese filling, leaving a 1-inch border. One the other rectangle, spread the blueberry filling, leaving a 1-inch border. Roll up each dough rectangle, jelly-roll fashion, starting at 1 long side. Place dough rolls, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends of both rolls together, and twist the two rolls to form a spiral. Shape the spiral into an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden. Slightly cool cake on the pan on a wire rack, about 10 minutes. Drizzle glaze evenly over warm cake; sprinkle with colored sugars, alternating colors and forming bands. Let cool completely before serving.

Source: Cake adapted from Southern Living, everything else from a source long since lost and forgotten!

Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake

Tags

breakfast, cake, cinnamon, coffee cake, Pumpkin, streusel

I lied about not posting sweet stuff, and for that I apologize. But this was just too good to not post sooner versus later. Besides, it’s breakfast not dessert, so that makes it a little better, right? 😉I’m a fan of pumpkin all year long. I love the color it adds to food, and of course the flavor! As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. And I have a few cans of pumpkin I stashed away that are just waiting to be used in something tasty! Unfortuntaely, the post mentioned that this was a very good coffee cake, but it wasn’t big on the pumpkin flavor. Thankfully, that was easy enough to remedy by replacing the sour cream with more pumpkin! This coffee cake is delicate and pumpkiny with a delicious layer of streusel on the top and in the middle of the cake. It was a huge hit with my little nephews, too, which is always a plus! 🙂 If you’re a year-round pumpkin lover looking for a delicious breakfast treat, this coffee cake is perfect for you!Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake

Streusel:
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup old-fashioned oats
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Cake:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup pumpkin puree

Glaze:
½ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon whipping cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the streusel: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add the butter, and use a pastry cutter to work it into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside while you make the batter.

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt together. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the pumpkin puree and beat until incorporated. Gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing at a low speed just until combined.

Spread half of the batter in an even layer in the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel mixture over the batter. Dollop the remaining batter over the streusel and use a spatula to spread it as best you can. Top with the remaining streusel.

Bake the cake for about 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes then remove the sides of the pan and let the cake cool completely.

To make the glaze: Whisk the confectioners’ sugar, cream, and vanilla in a small bowl until the consistency is thick, but pourable; add more cream if a thinner consistency is needed. Drizzle over the top of the cake. Let the glaze set before serving.

Source: Adapted from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures

Strawberry Summer Cake

Tags

cake, lemon, strawberry

I look around on other food blogs a lot. And I mean a lot. My husband looks over his shoulder at what I’m doing and kind of laughs at me as he sees me looking at different sites and bookmarking new recipes constantly. But what can I say… I love my food! And it’s not like he complains when he gets to try new things! When I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, I knew it was something I had to make, as soon as possible. And with the next carton of strawberries I bought.Strawberries mean summer, and it is definitely summer. Temps have been in the 100’s for a while here now, and it is HOT. So what could be better than a nice, cool dessert with some strawberries? Nothing! This is a light cake with a slight lemon kick to it. The berries are soft and almost jam-like from the long cooking time, and they pair perfectly with some lightly whipped cream. You could probably use any berries of your choice for this as well, and it would come out deliciously no matter what. As an extra bonus, it’s an incredibly easy recipe and you should have everything on hand, except for maybe the strawberries…. Maybe. 🙂Strawberry Summer Cake

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons lemon zest
1 large egg
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 10-inch pie pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan, or a 9-inch or 10-inch springform or cake pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large mixing bowl, work the lemon zest into 1 cup of the sugar, using your fingers to mash the zest and sugar together. Add the butter and beat until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.

Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer, but overlapping if needed. Try to keep strawberries away the touching the edge of the pan to minimize sticking. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream or dusted with powdered sugar.

Cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days, loosely covered.

Source: Adapted from Smitten Kitchen