COVID19: More Fanciness

I made another one of those not fancy pies the other night, but I got a little fancy with it. As I prepped  the apples and put handfuls of slices in the bowl, they arranged themselves kind of like this, and I was inspired to try something a different. Maybe there's a technical term for this arrangment. I don't know. I'm calling it a basketweave and delicious! 

The apples are Granny Smiths we got in a 3 pound bag from WalMart for less than four dollars. They're small, firm, and, like the pie - not fancy at all - but they know how to put on a good show when you ask them nicely and give them some fresh, loud cinnamon to call their own. 

COVID 19: BerryBerry Crumble Cake

Week before last, I found a recipe for berry crumb cake that sounded so good, I made one. 

Even though blueberries are in season and available locally, I used frozen ones. We always have plenty on-hand, and since Jack and I are isolating and avoiding all non-essential contact, we didn't risk the trip out to the u-pick place and have no idea whether or not our regular source of fresh blueberries even has them available this year. 

I cannot imagine this would've been any better with fresh berries. The baking time was a little longer than what the recipe said, and I assume it's because I used the frozen. 

The cake was not only delicious; it was also beautiful with gooey purple pools of blueberries peeking through the dome of buttery-golden streusel. We could hardly wait for it to cool enough to cut, and once we did - whoa!

Jack says it was maybe the best coffee cake he's ever had, and after we shared a chunk of it with Mom and Dad, they agreed that it was pretty darn good.

That first one - yes, first - disappeared quickly. A slice here and a bite or two there, and we were looking at an empty cake plate. 

I thought about it and thought about it some more, and considering how quickly and easily it came together, I decided to do another one and use both blueberries and strawberries. I can't imagine a combination of berries that wouldn't work in this crumb cake. 

Monday night, Jack threw what little bit of buttermilk custard ice cream batter we had left over from the weekend into our little freezer, and we had a couple of scoops to go with our delicious crumb cake. 

Here's the recipe:

Berry Crumb Cake

Struesel Topping

40 g all purpose flour (5 T)

150 g sugar (½ cup)

1 t cinnamon or pie mix (like Penzeys Pie Spice)

55 g butter (½ stick) cut into slices and warmed to around 60 degrees F

Cake

240 g all purpose flour (1 cup)

2 t baking powder

½ t salt 

55 g butter (½ stick) cut into slices and warmed to around 60 degrees F

150 g sugar (¾ cup)

Zest of 1 lemon

455 g blueberries or mixed berries (2 ½ cups or so - I use 3 or 4 handfuls)

½ cup milk or buttermilk

Heat oven to 375 with rack in the center of the oven. Butter a 9” round (2” deep) cake pan and dust with flour. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment.

Make the topping by mixing the dry streusel ingredients together with a whisk then cutting in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

Prepare the cake by creaming together the butter, sugar, and zest with a mixer on medium to high speed until light and creamy. Add one beaten egg. Sometimes I add a splash of vanilla and sometimes I don’t. Mix until everything is nice and fluffy - 2 or 3 more minutes. 

Beat in ⅓ dry ingredients followed by half the milk. Add another third and beat then add the rest of the milk - mix mix - add the rest of the dry and beat some more. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix until you have a thick batter with everything well-incorporated.

Fold fruit into batter gently until it’s evenly distributed. This batter is going to be stiffer than a lot of cake batters, so don’t worry that it’s so dense and heavy-seeming. Move it into your cake pan without sliding the parchment lining around too much then flatten the top. I generally use a big, firm spatula with a long handle and a butter knife or spoon to get the batter moved into the pan and flattened on top. 

Sprinkle evenly with streusel topping. 

Bake for 40 minutes before checking for doneness with a toothpick, which will come out clean when the cake is done. If frozen berries are used, the cake will take up to 10 minutes longer to bake.