Lemon Blueberry Streusel Cake

New baking supplies arrived today in the form of a new half sheet pan, yay!
I was at the budget store and was randomly looking for things to buy, as usual. You can’t go to a budget store and NOT buy something that wasn’t on your food list. I am always on the look out for new things to add to my kitchen especially since we have moved in to the new place and we have a much better kitchen.

I know I am probably making excuses, but hey, for €5 that tray was in my basket faster than you can say, “should I buy that?”.

For a while now I have been meaning to make more tray-bakes because they look like fun and easy to dress up with toppings. I think I am over the cupcake craze for the time being. My cupcakes never come out nice and domed anyway. They always manage to have that awful pointy top which I hate.

This lemon blueberry cake is a variation of my previous recipe – Lemon Blueberry Muffins – with added crunch from the help of a streusel topping. This added an interesting dimension to the cake, it’s like having regular cake + crumble. Such a winning combo. Instead of using 100% plain flour I added almond meel to the mix. Once baked you get a subtle nutty flavour coming through the crumble which I felt complimented the cake beautifully. I have also made crumbles using smashed cookies and rolled oats, so try to experiment and see what takes your fancy.

This cake also contains a generous lashing of vanilla bean yoghurt. I have recently fallen in love with the blended yoghurt variety at our local supermarket and it is so tasty I have started using it in my baking. They come in a wide variety of flavours and I can say my favs so far are the Valencia Orange and this Vanilla Bean one. Yoghurts really inject a lot of creaminess and moisture into my cakes and I am planning on using them a lot in all my future baking.

 

 

LEMON BLUEBERRY STREUSEL CAKE with WHITE CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

 

 

• Ingredients:

150 g unsalted butter, melted

180 g sugar

3 whole eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

150 g thick vanilla yoghurt

60 mls milk

zest of 2 lemons

juice of ½ lemon

 

300 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

blueberries, fresh or frozen

 

 

• Streusel Topping:80 g plain flour

  80 g almond meel

  60 g demerara sugar

  50 g butter

  1 – 2 tsps cold milk

  50 g white chocolate, melted.

 

This recipe was really easy to make and the best part is you don’t even need a cake mixer any electric appliance to put it all together. All you need is a wire whisk and a large bowl.

Start by melting the butter and the sugar together. About 30 secs to 1 minute in the microwave. Try not to boil the butter coz you don’t want to separate the fat from the dairy. Stir with a wire whisk to incorporate everything. The mix should only be slightly warmer than warm, if you get what I mean.

Dump in the vanilla bean yoghurt and stir everything again.

Add vanilla extract, milk and all three eggs, along with a pinch of salt. Whisk.

Add the lemon zest and juice. Whisk. If you leave this wet mixture aside it will thicken into a gloriously smooth yellow curd. Almost need to dive into it and do the back-stroke.

For the dry ingredients just sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a separate bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients in with the wet and give everything a whisk to incorporate. Once you get rid of all the floury bits add the other half and whisk again until you get a smooth batter. Don’t worry too much if you have a few lumpy bits, just don’t over whisk the batter.

Lightly coat the blueberries in flour and add them to the batter. If you are using frozen blueberries do not defrost them prior; just add them directly to the mix or they will bleed out and you will end up with PURPLE cake.

Line a half-sheet pan with baking paper and pour the batter in. Spread neatly to the sides and corners. Tap the tin sharply a few times on the table to dispel any air bubbles. Dot the top with a few more blueberries.

For the streusel topping, it is pretty straight forward. Place everything into a bowl and smooosh together until you get something that resembles dry-ish cookie dough. If the mix is too dry and crumbly you can remedy this by adding a tiny amount of cold milk. I know I stated in the recipe that you can use up to 2 teaspoons of milk but really I don’t think you will need all that much.

Leave large clumps intact and then crumble the mixture directly over the wet batter of cake.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170ºC oven, middle rack, for 40 – 50 mins.

I don’t bake this cake on a higher temp because I don’t want to overly colour the crumble, therefore I favor a longer and slower cooking time. Remember the crumble has ground almonds in it – I don’t want the nutty flavour ending up with an overly roasted flavour.

Test the done-ness by sticking a wooden skewer into the center of the cake. You may get a bit of gooey blueberry but so long as you don’t get wet cake batter, you’re good to go. At this point your kitchen and possibly your entire house is going to smell so gosh darn good. Resist the temptation to eat this cake immediately. I know I said before that I like to eat my cakes while still warm, but seriously, let this one cool to room temp first.

Melt white chocolate on low heat for about a minute in the microwave. Using a paper cone drizzle the white chocolatey goodness all over the streusel top. This adds yet another flavour dimension and also creates a very nice and interesting design. Slice into bars and serve with a dallop of cream if you like.

So that’s it. The boyfriend took this cake to the office and it got demolished by lunchtime. A very happy and most welcome ending to a beautiful cake.

~ Enjoy! ~