Fresh Blueberry Coffee Cake

When I go on vacations, I will usually end up in a bookstore at some point during my travels. I’m a librarian so I just seem to be drawn to books! Despite the fact that I have a cookbook collection that is more than sufficient, I usually wind up look in the cookbook section. Occasionally I will find local cookbooks, and I try to pick those up when I see them (if they have good recipes). This cookbook is the ultimate country sort of cookbook, titled Coffee Cakes: 105 Wonderful Recipes. It’s published by a company out of Bend, Oregon and I picked this up quite a few years ago when I was on a trip with my family to central Oregon.

My mom called me the other day and wanted to know if I needed any fresh berries. There were going to purchase berries at the local farmers market and would have extra to share. They live right in the heart of a berry growing area and their farmers market is really wonderful. I can always use berries in my baking and I can freeze any extras. My parents stopped by and brought me an entire half flat of blueberries, so I had to think of something to make. I’d recently made blueberry muffins, so I knew that there would be a great blueberry coffee cake in this cookbook.

I really like to bake using a Bundt pan, so I picked this coffee cake. I didn’t really change very much about the recipe, but I didn’t read the instructions very well! The recipe states that you should bake the cake in a tube pan, but in the photo the cake was clearly made using a Bundt pan. You are supposed to layer the cake batter, then half the blueberries, the remaining cake batter, and the last of the blueberries. You are supposed to swirl all of those layers together. I opted for the simple route and put all the blueberries in the center of the cake. This is a very good cake, nice and simple. I liked the addition of the almond extract, and I think this would be good with the addition of some sliced or slivered almonds to top the cake.

Filling
1-1/4 cups blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
8 ounces sour cream

Glaze
¾ powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch tube or Bundt pan and set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, and flour. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. It will look like nothing is happening, but at the very end of the cooking time the mixture will come together as a cohesive filling. Set aside to cool slightly while making the cake. The filling can be made in advance and refrigerated, if desired.

To make the cake, cream together the butter and the sugar in a large mixer bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan, top with the blueberry filling and top with the remaining batter. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, water and extract. Stir until the glaze is smooth. Drizzle over the coffee cake.

Recipe from Coffee Cakes: 105 Wonderful Recipes by Lauri Bonn