Going, going... blueberry breakfast cake

Fall approaches, ragazzi.  One sign of it, is when the blueberries become scarce at the farmers' market, and that is in fact what is going, going  here.  Annalena did not buy blueberries on Saturday since she KNEW one of her favorite vendors would be there on Monday, selling the babes.

Well, they weren't.  Other farms have "shot their loads" so to speak.  If you have been a good ant  (you know the tale of the grasshopper and the ant, don't you?  Look it up if you don't), you have some frozen away, in case you can't get anymore.  But if you don't.... well, this is a recipe which Annalena chose to follow up on her "tag, you're it" substitution remarks last time around.

Many people claim they do not bake because it is too precise:  more a science than an art, and they HATE science.  Well, to a certain extent, baking IS precise.  If you put too much, or too little, or the wrong thing in your recipe, your baked goods will not form, or will taste terrible.

Someone tell  Annalena how that is different from any other form of cooking?  Sounds similar to her.  So, NONE of you have an excuse not to bake.  Even if you don't have blueberries because, as la strega is about to show you, there are multitudes of variations on a recipe like this.  It is, however, really, REALLY good in its original form.  Even Annalena liked it, and she is not a big fan of cakes.

Here we go.  This is a cake that features not one, but TWO different "layers" but baked in the cake at the same time.  So this is how we go.  To make the first "filling,"  mix together 3 tablespoons of white sugar, and a tablespoon of cinnamon.  Now, here's where you can make your first substitution.  Let us assume that you do not have cinnamon in house (HUH???).  OR, let us assume, more accurately, one would hope, you are looking for something a bit more dramatic than the standard cinnamon streussel kind of coffee cake.   Well, change to ground nutmeg.  Or chinese five spice powder.  Or ginger.  Or whatever you like.  BUT.... and this is probably where people get off the baking horse:  many of these spices are stronger than cinnamon.  So cut back the quantity.  A tablespoon is a LOT of spice (don't eyeball:  measure. You will be SHOCKED).  You can probably keep the quantity of dried ginger the same, but it's a close call. Other spices should be cut back.

Anyway, put this aside, while we make streussel. 

Oh, is this easy.  And fun.  You need to put half a cup of unbleached white flour in a bowl, with 1/4 cup of brown sugar.  The recipe called for dark.  You can use light.  You can use demarara or turbinado.  You can use anything you like.    Then add a half teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 cup of toasted chopped nuts.  Or not.  Annalena used pecans.  Use walnuts if you like. Or pistachios.  Or, if you are allergic or adverse to nuts, leave them out.  Finally, 3 tablespoons of cold, unsalted butter cut up into small cubes (you can even use salted butter.  Then, however, leave the salt out).  Put all of this in a bowl, and use the tips of your fingers to "cut" the butter into the dry ingredients, until you have an uneven set of crumbs.  You do not want uniformity here.  Just get it put together.  And put that bowl aside, and wash your hands.

Get your oven going to 350, while we mix up the batter.  You need 1.5 cups of flour, and if you have it a tablespoon of corn meal (gives a nice mouthfeel to the cake, but not required).  Then, use a half teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda.  Purists will raise their eyelids when Annalena writes this, but if you only have one of these, use a teaspoon of it.  It's going to be fine.    Mix this together, with 3/4 cup of sugar.  And again, put this aside.

Now, you need soft butter.  6 tablespoons, please (so you've used a total of one stick plus a tablespoon from that chunk in your butter dish that just isn't being used).  Again, unsalted is called for, but if you only have salted, leave the salt out of the flour and use what you have.  Mix this in a bowl with half a teaspoon of vanilla extract (or more.  Or almond.  Or lemon.  Or orange.  Or whatever you like), and 2 large eggs.  You can use a mixer, but truth to be told, if your butter is nice and soft, you will have a good deal of satisfaction from working this until it achieves a "whipped" look. 

Now, we get to the buttermilk.  DOn't have buttermilk?  Well, you can make it by adding a teaspoon or up to a tablespoon of white vinegar, or lemon juice, to a cup of plain whole milk and letting it sit for 15 minutes or so (this is what we call "clabbered" milk.  NOT "clobbered milk, as Annalena's cousin used to call it).  But if you don't have that, or you happen to be awash in yogurt, as Annalena usually is, use that.  The new Greek yogurts are thick enough that you can use nonfat yogurt.  She does recommend, however, that you thin it a bit with some milk, or even water if you have nothing else around.  If you have no milk or yogurt in the house, you could go to mascarpone, or creme fraiche.     Keep this aside.

My, my my.  We have lots of stuff at the side, don't we?  Well, here's the final one:  2 cups of blueberries.  Fresh if you have them, frozen if you don't (the original recipe said if you had frozen, you should thaw them. DON'T DO THIS UNLESS YOU LIKE UGLY CAKE).    If you don't have blue, use black.  Or rasp. Or straw.  Or huckle.  Or boysen.  And so on, and so forth.  You could probably even use cut up sour cherries (no pits, puleeeeeze).

Let's make our cake.  Get that butter egg mixture, and tart adding the flour and dairy, alternately.  Recipes like this always tell you to start with the flour and end with it too.  Well, ok, if you're careful enough to keep back enough to make it work.  Annalena never is.  You're supposed to do three portions of dry, which would mean dry/wet/dry/wet/dry.  Annalena usually winds up doing dry/wet/dry.  It doesn't seem to make a difference. 

Get a baking pan.  8 inches.  Or 9.  Round.  Or square.  Grease it.  Grease it well.

Now, spread half of your cake batter in the pan.  Get a spatula to smooth it as well as possible, but again, no need to be surgical.  Get that sugar spice and everything nice mix you made, and sprinkle that over the first half of the batter.  Now, the second half of the batter please, and again, no need to be psychotic about smoothing it out.   Toss the berries over the cake batter.  And now cover them with the streussel.

Put this all in the oven for about an hour.  Start checking after 45 minutes because sometimes these cakes go faster than you expect, but be prepared to go for as long as an hour and a quarter, because sometimes, they go slow. 

And it's beautiful when it comes out of the oven.  No need to refrigerate it if you're going to finish it all in 2-3 days.  You will.  Eat it for breakfast with coffee. Or at lunch, with milk.  Or at dinner, with espresso.  Or sweet wine.

See, ragazzi, the possibilities are endless.    As Madonna says "use your imagination that's what it's for."