The recipe is based on Heidi from 101cookbooks Maple and Huckleberry Cake, how amazing does that sound? I had a stash of blackberries and blueberries that I wanted to use for Clémentine's cake because this kid LOVES berries and the ratio of berries to batter is pretty much on par...it is littered with berries, which in turn keeps the cake moist for days. I would recommend storing the cake in the fridge if the weather is quite warm as ours looked a little past it after day 3 left at room temperature.
I replaced the sugar in the cake with maple and agave syrup and used brown sugar for the crumble topping, maple sugar is suggested which sounds AMAZING so I think coconut, rapadura or panela sugar would work well too. I also added cinnamon in the crumble mixture and used rolled oats instead of nuts. I used an 18cm round cake pan as I wanted to transport it in my little retro cake tin and this cake pan fits snug inside, it was still warm when I popped it in the basket under the pram! Heidi uses a loaf pan but as mentioned above this cake is very moist so I think the next time I bake it I will use a square tin so it isn't as high, more like a slab coffee cake.
Whatever shape you bake it in this is a great cake for a picnic, especially a birthday picnic! Clémentine kept eating chunks of the crumble mixture and of course picked out the berries first so I ended up eating a lot of her cakey dregs which kept me going all day. We had a wonderful time at the zoo and Clémentine continues to talk about all the animals we saw....especially the dolphins and whales....hmmmm for some reason I don't recall seeing these animals?
Maple Berry Crumble Cake
recipe adapted from here
1 cup + 2 teaspoons whole wheat spelt flour
3 tablespoons rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
scant 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup maple syrup, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk*
1 1/3 cups fresh berries
Crumble Topping:
1/2 cup whole wheat spelt flour
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/3 cup maple sugar (or brown sugar)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup rolled oats
*to make buttermilk add 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice to 1/4 cup of milk
Preheat the oven to 180C degrees
Butter and flour an 18cm round cake pan or loaf pan. Line bottom with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup of flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and set aside.
In a large bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Drizzle in the maple syrup and beat until well combined scraping down the sides if need be.
Beat in the egg, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, scraping the sides again.
Add half of the flour and stir till just combined.
Add half of the buttermilk and stir again.
Alternate by adding the rest of the flour and then buttermilk and stir until just combined.
Gently toss the berries in the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour and add to mixture.
Fold 1 cup of the berries into the batter carefully so you don't muddle them too much.
Scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pan and set aside.
Crumble topping-
Place the flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon and oats in a food processor and pulse 20-30 times or until the topping is a bit beyond sandy/crumbly...more like lumpy heading towards dough texture.
Crumble 2/3 of it over the cake batter, sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup berries on top of that, and then add the last of the crumble. Barely pat in place with your fingertips.
Place the coffee cake in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden and a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool for five minutes and then remove it from the pan to cool on a rack.
If you are leaving the cake in the pan to transport, leave it somewhere drafty like a windowsill so it cools quickly.
Serves 10 - 12 or in our case three rounds of afternoon tea!
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