My blueberry dream

For me, blueberry is quintessential American. I don't know why and it's probably a personal bias. My first time of tasting blueberry was when I was in the States. When it's in season, not only is it deliciously sweet, but also it gives off its distinctively floral undertone. Very elegant. Many blueberry containing baked goods on the market contain additional blueberry flavoring. I am not evangelical about using flavoring. When a good quality of flavoring is used in moderation, it definitely enhances the final products. Unfortunately, most blueberry items I taste out there usually have so much flavoring added (to disguise the lower quality of blueberries especially when out of season) that the delicate blueberry taste is lost.

During the past five years, I can spot fresh blueberries more and more frequently in UK supermarkets. Depending on the time of the year, it can come from Eastern Europe or Southern Europe. And to my delight, its quality is really good. I have several varieties available to me, ranging from broad bean size to pearl size, all delicious nonetheless. One of my favorite ways to enjoy blueberry is blueberry cake (hubby calls it Big Blueberry Muffin as it is the only way to eat blueberries. Bless him). I think I have come up with a keeper recipe. One thing I learned from baking blueberry cake in its all incarnations, as much as I adore blueberry, it's not a good idea to pack a whole load into baking goods. This is because the extra moisture held by the berries inevitably turn the baking goods into a sorry soggy state. And nobody likes a soggy cake. Therefore, I only use blueberries in moderation (isn't it true for anything in life) in this recipe and enjoy the balance and contrast taste between juicy berries and tender cake crumb in every bite. I especially like the extra crunch from the demerara sugar and almond flakes. As with almost all baking goods, tasting it slightly warm with a cup of tea is heaven to me.

My blueberry cake, adapted from Dan Lepard's all-purpose butter cake

- 125 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 4 eggs
- 250 g sour cream
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- 25 g ground almond / jumbo oats (optional)
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 100 g fresh blueberries
- 1-2 tbsp demerara sugar
- almond flakes

Preheat the oven to 200C.

In a large bow, beat the butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract and salt until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Mix in sour cream.

Sift in flour, oat and baking powder into the butter mixture. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet mixture with the lowest possible number of strokes.

Pour half of the batter into a lined cake tin. Mix in the blueberries with the remaining half of the batter. Pour all into the cake tin. Sprinkle the demerara sugar on top of the batter and decorate with the almond flakes.

Bake in the oven at 200C for 50 minutes. Test the cake with a toothpick in the end. If the toothpick comes out with wet batter on, increase the baking time by 5 minutes as a block, until the inserted toothpick comes out clean.