Thursday, February 10, 2005

Blueberry Muffin Cake

Also known as "How not to bake a cake".
Wanting to use my adorable new 6 inch round cake pan, I decided to christen it with a cake. Nothing heavy (since I know that I am planning something chocolatey for Valentine's Day).
I ended up with two cakes - one that was essentially a blueberry frittata and one that was a muffin.
For the first cake, I halved a simple yogurt cake recipe. No problems? Well, in my brilliance this evening I decided that half of three eggs was two eggs. And I had jumbo eggs, no less. The upshot of all this was that my "cake" looked remarkably like a frittata.
Smelled like eggs. Looked like blueberry cake. Tasted like a heavy vanilla sponge.

I'm so sorry, Clotilde. I'll have another go sometime soon and do your cake justice!

The muffin one tasted fine, but I wasn't expecting it to taste like a muffin. I used the recipe for Mixed Berry Coffeecake, from my local newspaper, and when I think about a coffee cake... well, let's just say that I don't expect it to taste like a muffin. I liked it, though.
Here's the original recipe (for an 8" round pan):

Mixed Berry (Muffin) Coffeecake - pictured above

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup mixed berries, such as blueberries, raspberries and blackberries
1/4 cup low-fat granola, slightly crushed
Spray a round pan, 8x1 1/2 inches, with cooking spray.
Mix brown sugar, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and egg in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt just until moistened. Gently fold in 1/2 of berries. Spoon into pan. Sprinkle top with remaining berries and granola.
Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven 28 to 33 minutes or until golden brown and top springs back when touched in center. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Serve warm. Makes 8 servings
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER SERVING: 150 calories; 5 grams fat (1 gram saturated); 25 milligrams cholesterol; 150 milligrams sodium; 25 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams protein.

Notes: I omitted the granola and used only blueberries, all of which I folded into the batter.