My dear baking friends, I’m hoping you were intrigued and excited by the word “simple” in the title of this recipe. I can’t express to you how pleased I am to have this recipe in my arsenal. It is such a perfect way to make use of summer fruit that I know it will make many repeat appearances on my table for many summers to come.
I initially found a discussion about this recipe while browsing at Chowhound. Sadly, I neglected to bookmark the thread, but I did manage to save the recipe which is a variation of a recipe from Martha Stewart.
I made a few changes, like replacing some of the sugar with brown sugar. I also sprinkled a little sanding sugar on top, because we all know how I love the way it dresses up simple desserts. The cake is just the right amount of sweet, a bit delicate, and just lovely.
While I made this with blueberries, you can certainly use your favorite fruit or a combination of fruits. You don’t have to limit your choices to berries. I imagine this would be fabulous with cherries or peaches or plums or just about any fruit. Use as little or as much as you want. Frozen fruit should work, too, if you have a hankering for this cake once summer has moved along.
Ingredients
- 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2-1 cup blueberries
- 1-2 tablespoons sanding sugar (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°. Generously grease a 9-inch round cake pan.
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well.
Add flour mixture in 3 portions, alternating with the milk. Mix just until combined.
Transfer batter to prepared pan. Scatter blueberries over the top of the batter and lightly press them into the batter. Sprinkle top with sanding sugar.
Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and firm.
Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cake. Transfer cake to wire rack to cool completely. (You'll need to flip the cake twice so it can cool right side up.)
Notes
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.
August 6th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
bookmarked-the word ‘simple’ suits me (no-my baking!)
August 6th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Gorgeous! I am definitely picking up some blueberries to make this right away…yum!!
August 6th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
I love simple recipes. This one is begging to be made.
August 6th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Yumm!!! It’s definitely good to have a simple cake recipe like that in one’s repertoir…so versatile!!
August 6th, 2012 at 2:49 pm
simply the best!it looks great!
August 7th, 2012 at 1:33 am
wow, simply delicious
There I met with the review of Manfrotto
I will follow with great pleasure
August 7th, 2012 at 2:07 am
this cake looks stunning! I love fresh fruit in cakes. All I want is a slice of this with a cup of tea!
August 7th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Simple enough that I can make this fresh in the morning while drinking my coffee… and hopefully not muffle it up!!! By the time Goalie wakes up to warm deliciousness I will be out of my fog and look like a hero!!!
August 8th, 2012 at 8:05 am
We have a family gathering in September and this will be on the breakfast table for sure! My hubby doesn’t care for sour cream and so many of these little cakes include that- so glad this one doesn’t and I don’t have to scramble for substitutions! Whatever berries are in the farmers market I will use for this! Thanks for simplifying my family weekend a bit.
August 9th, 2012 at 9:21 am
I made this cake last night with fresh blueberries from my yard and added raspberries. It was a hit with the family. Would be delicious with some homemade icecream.
August 12th, 2012 at 3:12 pm
I made this cake today and since i had so much sour cream in the fridge i used it instead of butter, using the same proportions : it was soooo good ! Thanks for sharing this recipe !
January 26th, 2013 at 12:06 pm
I have just made this cake – I struggled with measuring the tablespoons of butter as I don’t know if US tablespoons are the same size as English so I used about 90-100 ml of butter. Here we tend to use scales for measuring rather than cups but I managed fine. The cake is absolutely delic. I cooked it with a fan setting of 170C then turned down to 160C but only cooked it for 45 minutes altogether. I reckon this would be good with gooseberries or rhubarb mixed in. Thank you for a lovely recipe.
February 5th, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Made this last night and it was delicious! The batter was quite thick when everything was mixed so I added milk so it would pour more easily into my cake pan. I used closer to a cup of milk than a half cup. But it turned out great! I will definitely be making it again.