Blueberry Boy Bait
Sunday, October 4th, 2009 08:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forchancookieIn my America's Test Kitchen Newsletter, they had a really tasty sounding recipe for a New York Crumb Cake and I wanted to make it, but I don't have buttermilk and I can't be arsed to go out and get it. =P But I ended up on a recipe for something else and the name just boggled me. Blueberry Boy Bait. *blinks* It had a cutesy little story attached:
In 1954, a 15-year-old girl won second prize in the junior division of a Pillsbury baking contest with a moist and tender blueberry cake that was named after the effect it had on teenage boys--one bite and they were hooked. Topped with cinnamon-sugar and loaded with blueberries, it straddled the divide between coffee cake and dessert cake.
Ok, sounds tasty and I have all the ingredients, so I made it.
Blueberry Boy Bait
Serves 12
If using frozen blueberries, do not let them thaw, as they will turn the batter a blue-green color.
Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup blueberries , fresh or frozen, (see note above)
Topping
1/2 cup blueberries , fresh or frozen (see note above)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
2. Whisk 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining 1 teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. For the topping: Scatter blue-berries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up). Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)
~*~
Cookie's Notes:
- The batter was ridiculously fluffy! It was hard to spread it was so fluffy!
- I was wary of the lack of flavoring in the batter. No vanilla, no cinnamon, just sugar, butter and blueberries. The blueberries are obviously supposed to be the star, but a mere cup of them just isn't enough. There are too many gaps inthe cake not filled by blueberries for the flavor to really stand out. It could use more, another half cup at the very least.
- The little bit of cinnamon sugar on the top of the cake doesn't carry through to the whole thing. I feel like it could benefit from a nice cinnamon streusel topping more than just a dinky sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.
- It also reminds me a lot of a corn muffin, but I'm missing the texture of corn meal.
- Ultimately, it's ok. It's not great. It needs more blueberries and more cinnamon, possibly some streusel and it would be a whole lot better. I probably wont' bother making it again, but the recipe is here for posterity =P
So the answer the the question that I'm sure you're all asking, "Will Blueberry Boy Bait bring all the boys to the yard?" is disappointingly "No." It's lacking too many things that would make it truly enjoyable. Right now it's just palatable as far as I'm concerned. I'm not looking forward to polishing this thing off. =/
In 1954, a 15-year-old girl won second prize in the junior division of a Pillsbury baking contest with a moist and tender blueberry cake that was named after the effect it had on teenage boys--one bite and they were hooked. Topped with cinnamon-sugar and loaded with blueberries, it straddled the divide between coffee cake and dessert cake.
Ok, sounds tasty and I have all the ingredients, so I made it.
Blueberry Boy Bait
Serves 12
If using frozen blueberries, do not let them thaw, as they will turn the batter a blue-green color.
Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup blueberries , fresh or frozen, (see note above)
Topping
1/2 cup blueberries , fresh or frozen (see note above)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
2. Whisk 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining 1 teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. For the topping: Scatter blue-berries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up). Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)
~*~
Cookie's Notes:
- The batter was ridiculously fluffy! It was hard to spread it was so fluffy!
- I was wary of the lack of flavoring in the batter. No vanilla, no cinnamon, just sugar, butter and blueberries. The blueberries are obviously supposed to be the star, but a mere cup of them just isn't enough. There are too many gaps inthe cake not filled by blueberries for the flavor to really stand out. It could use more, another half cup at the very least.
- The little bit of cinnamon sugar on the top of the cake doesn't carry through to the whole thing. I feel like it could benefit from a nice cinnamon streusel topping more than just a dinky sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.
- It also reminds me a lot of a corn muffin, but I'm missing the texture of corn meal.
- Ultimately, it's ok. It's not great. It needs more blueberries and more cinnamon, possibly some streusel and it would be a whole lot better. I probably wont' bother making it again, but the recipe is here for posterity =P
So the answer the the question that I'm sure you're all asking, "Will Blueberry Boy Bait bring all the boys to the yard?" is disappointingly "No." It's lacking too many things that would make it truly enjoyable. Right now it's just palatable as far as I'm concerned. I'm not looking forward to polishing this thing off. =/
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-04 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-04 02:54 pm (UTC)Anyway, I did question the recipe was I made it, but decided to give it a try instead of tweaking it. I really should listen to my inner skeptic.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-05 05:19 pm (UTC)I guess it just proves that boys in 1954 (like my Dad) had very low standards and horrible tastebuds. How else can you explain my Dad's love of Spam sandwiches? (If I was in a snarky mood, I would add the fact that he likes my mother's cooking too, but I'm feeling oddly content today. I'm sure after this weekend [Thanksgiving] I'll be much more inclined to bash my mom's cooking.)