I really love blueberries, and I had a recipe for a coffee cake that I wanted to try, so I decided to combine both. Admittedly, I tried to cut back on the amount of butter and sugar in the cake recipe. The recipe, as written, seemed to provide a serious sugar and fat overload, and I didn't want to overwhelm the flavor of the blueberries. Quite frankly, even cutting back on the sugar, the cake was quite sweet--definitely a dessert, not a breakfast treat unless you like to start the day with a sugar high. The modified cake was nicely moist, bursting with little pockets of moist blueberries, and filled with a ripple of cinnamon sugar. A crunchy, nutty topping crowned the cake. As a measure of how good the cake was, my son, who says he doesn't eat cake, had a large piece and then took half of the remaining cake home with him. The cake is fantastic warm with a scoop of low-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt alongside, dolloped with whipped cream, or served at room temperature the next day (if you have any left). Want to serve the cake for a 4th of July celebration? Serve it with vanilla ice cream and a scattering of fresh strawberries or raspberries. Your family and guests will love your red, white, and blue "comfort dessert"!
Blueberry Coffee Cake -- Serves 10-12
Cake
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 cup of low-fat sour cream or plain yogurt
3/4 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
1 cup of white whole-wheat flour
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries
Filling
2 tablespoons of melted butter
2/3 cup of dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
Topping
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/4 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 cup of sliced almonds
2 tablespoons of flour
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and coat a 9-inch spring-form pan with non-stick cooking spray. Line the spring-form pan with parchment paper and spray the paper, for easier release. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sour cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and almond extract until well combined. In another bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and then add them to the wet ingredients, beating just until blended and no streaks of flour remain. Fold in the blueberries gently. Pour half of the cake batter into the pan. In the bowl you used for whisking the flours, add the filling ingredients and mix them well. Sprinkle the mixture over the batter in the pan. Pour the remaining cake batter over the filling. Add the topping ingredients to the bowl you used for the filling. Mix the topping ingredients well. The topping should be loose and crumbly. Sprinkle it evenly over the top of the cake batter. Bake the cake for 35-45 minutes (or 45-55, if you used frozen blueberries) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with only a few crumbs attached. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove the outer ring of the spring-form pan. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.
