Blueberry Almond Cake

Oh, blueberries.

I am almost as obsessed with blueberries as I am with sugar and Sauvignon Blanc. (As separate obsessions- not sugar mixed into the wine, duh. Although that does give me an idea for a dessert, not a lot unlike the Icewine Sabayon I made a while ago, but I digress. I am supposed to be talking about blueberries, not sugared-up booze.)

A coworker gave me a big bag of Michigan blueberries that his wife gave to him, because he doesn’t really like blueberries. (You might find that odd, and I’d have to agree with you. Be suspicious of anyone that doesn’t like blueberries. Or the combination of chocolate and mint.) And since I already had six pints of blueberries in the fridge (I’m not exaggerating), I knew I had to bake the berries into something in order to a) get rid of them, and b) satisfy my irrationally regular urge to bake, even when I get home late on a weeknight.

What to make, what to make with a shitload of blueberries? I love the Blueberries & Cream Pound Cake, but I’m sort of in a “been there done that” standoff with that recipe right now. (I took that relationship to the next level in my brilliantly named entry called “The Toast Post”, which you really must check out.) I was thinking of something easy (surprise, surprise), so a Blueberry Buckle sounded pretty cool (and sloth-like), but I didn’t have oats. The internet beckoned. The lure of something new and exciting… an online promise of fruit-filled dessert heaven awaited me. And after succumbing to the time-sucking vortex of about seventy five sites and clicks and links, I think I found the inspiration for blueberry nirvana. This cake is a special one, friends. (I know I say that about almost all of my desserts, but this cake, well. It’s moist, it’s almondy, it’s special. You’ll see.)

Adapted from the About.com recipe…

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups fresh blueberries, washed and stemmed

2/3 cup almonds, lightly toasted (ideally the sliced kind)
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a foil-lined 13 x 9″ baking pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar for 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating for another 2 minutes. Mix in flour, salt and almond extract. Fold in blueberries and almonds until well combined.
3. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake 45-50 minutes or until a cake tester pulls out clean. Cool on a wire rack then cut into bars. Serve warm or cold.
Tips:
- Toasting the almonds is kind of key. You could skip it, but why be a slacker when you could just toast them while the oven is preheating? Really, it’s too easy to not do.
- Want less blueberries, and more cake? Cut the berries back to 1 3/4 cups. It’s that easy.
- Don’t skip the almond extract! And use the real kind, not imitation.
- No almonds? Use pecans if you want, just finely chop them up. Or hazelnuts. Or walnuts- but they might be strong.
- Still want more blueberry inspiration? Try the Bluenana Muffins. Or the Hazelnut Meringue Puffs with Whipped Cream and Fresh Fruit, where you can dump all the blueberries you’d like over top. (No hazelnuts? Who cares. Use any other nut or no nuts at all. Just make it!)
- Dress these up by sprinkling confectioners’ sugar over top, then the almonds. Ice cream would be a good call, too. Deep breaths.
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August 21st, 2013 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: Cakes, Fruit