Blueberry cake

I went to a Labor Day cookout today. My weekend thus far has been full of boating, hiking, cooking, and napping. So yesterday when I confirmed the invitation, I asked my dad what I should bring. He said “how bout dessert? For 72” and I said “really?” I was pretty sure that he was joking about the 72 part but I knew he was not joking about bringing dessert.

So last night I started fretting. I didn’t want to take an 8pm trip to the grocery store, and I didn’t know what I was going to make anyway. When I woke up this morning, dessert was one of the first things on my mind. I still didn’t want to take a trip to the grocery store because that means I would need to make myself look semi-presentable. I racked my brain until I realized that I had half a bag of frozen blueberries and everything I needed for a cake.

When I started reading food blogs, smitten kitchen was an immediate fave. I might even say that Deb’s recipes taught me how to cook. This recipe is always a hit and actually super easy to make. It is normally called Blueberry Boy Bait but today we will call it Blueberry Person Bait to be sensitive to the times.

Blueberry Person Bait (from smitten kitchen)

2 cups (250 grams) plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
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 (235 ml) whole milk (I actually used full fat coconut milk, we will see how it goes)
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (don’t thaw if frozen)

Topping
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl.

With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and scraping down bowl.

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 one teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.

For the topping:
Scatter blueberries 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.)

This cake was very well received. Actually, it is gone. 72/10 would recommend!