Sour Cream-Blueberry Crumb Cake

When we had our housewarming party a few weeks ago a couple of our friends gave us a coupon for a Costco membership. Before we bought the new house we simply didn't have room for bulk items that we would be buying at Costco, but in the new house we had plenty of room. We had talked off and on about getting a card for ourselves, but kept putting it off since with just the two of us in the house it seemed kind of pointless and we always had something better to spend $50 on. But since the membership was a gift it was perfect. Something we kind of wanted, but didn't want to spring for ourselves.

Of course once we got sucked into the world of Costco we quickly found things to spend all sorts of money on. One thing that jumped out at me of course was berries. The only big problem was the size of the packages. I love to eat blueberries, but that container still contains a whole lot of blueberries for one girl to try to eat in a week. Luckily, that what baking books are for. :)

Even though I had a ton of blueberries to use up, I didn't want to make a recipe that called for more than a cup or so since I actually wanted to eat most of them as a snack at work. So I hit the books and came up with this recipe from my Tish Boyle cake book. The only difference I made was to add pecans to the crumb topping -- really, a crumb topping without nuts of some sort? Not for me. So I added 2/3 of a cup -- why such an odd measurement? Because that's what was left in the bottom of the open bag I had.

I had a piece of this cake and I have to say it was quite good. Sweet and moist with tart bursts of berries and a nice crunchy spicy crumb topping. Chris brought it to his office to share with his coworkers and he said it was met with universal approval.

I have to admit though, that despite the fact that I faithfully wrote out the directions as they were written in the cake, when I made it I took a few shortcuts -- mainly because I didn't want to wash so many dishes. Instead of mixing the flour and dry ingredients in one bowl and the sour cream and vanilla in yet another bowl then alternating them into the creamed sugar and egg mixture --I added the vanilla to the creamed mixture, then dumped the dry ingredients into the bowl. Finally I started the mixer on low and threw the sour cream mix in as it started. Lazy I know, but it seemed to work.

Ingredients:

Crumb Topping:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

7 tablespoons butter, melted

2/3 cup (or more) nuts of your choice (not in the original recipe, but essential as far as I'm concerned)

Sour Cream Blueberry Cake

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsps baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup fresh or unthawed frozen blueberries

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

10 tbsps unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

Make the Topping: In a medium bowl, stir the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt until well blended. Add the nuts if you are using them. Add the melted butter and mix with a fork, stirring until the butter is absorbed and the dry ingredients are uniformly moistened. Set aside.

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well blended.

In a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture until the berries are coated; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and vanilla extract, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. At low speed, beat in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating it with the sour cream in two additions. Using a rubber spatula fold in the blueberries. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the batter, breaking up any large lumps with your fingers.

Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. place the pan on a cooling rack and let cool completely. Serve from the pan.