Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake hot from the oven. If this brings back memories of a coffee cake your mother, aunt, or neighbor baked, this might be the time to reintroduce it to your family.
A recent post from a 75-year-old cookbook put me to thinking about coffee cake. The humble fare has as many variations as there are kitchens The one I remember best was the old King Arthur Flour recipe for Blueberry Buckle, that has a few cups of fruit added to the batter.
To bake or not to bake, that is the question.
I looked at several recipes on the Internet for comparison. Most of them called for more sugar then my old faithful. Sweeter versions came from cookbook gurus Ina Garten, Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart. Let’s face it, coffee cake will never be diet food, but, at least, the fruit and reduced sugar soothe the conscience of the baker.
Cook This Sometime Now!
I was about to put my recipe back in the “Cook-This-Sometime” file, when it occurred to me that I hadn’t made a coffee cake in years. As I scanned the ingredients—flour, butter, sugar, eggs, milk—I had them all. Hmm. . . maybe I was a bit scant on the blueberries. I also noted some pencil marks on the recipe, showing that I’d increased the milk to 3/4 cup and added 3/4 cup of pecans to the topping mix.
I could make this cake without a trip to the store. The recipe said 20 minutes prep time, plus cooking. I started flinging flour, measuring sugar, cracking eggs, and in no time I had the batter ready for the oven.
Topping ingredients for the coffee cake can be mixed, using knives or a pastry blender. Or just crumbled together with your hands.
Spread coffee cake batter into an 8″ or 9″ pan, sprinkle on the topping and bake for about 45 minutes.
Slice the cake, make coffee, call a neighbor or friend.
