Blueberry Crumble Cake

blueberry crumble cake

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the kind of food I like to cook the most. A big hunk of meat, slow roasted until it’s falling off the bone, or a sauce simmered for hours to adorn some homemade pasta. But when it comes to sweets, my favourite desserts always seem to revolve around seasonal fruits. While I love cooking with chocolate, there’s something magical about fruity desserts. In summer it’s all about cherries, peaches and plums, and in winter quinces and pears appear regularly in my kitchen.

Crumble is one of my favourite desserts to make, because it’s so easily adaptable to include whatever fruit you find at the market, or combination thereof, and they’re quick and easy to prepare. There’s truly not much better than a warm crumble with a big scoop of ice cream, no matter what time of year. Right now, blueberries are coming into season, they’re one of my favourite berries and I love baking with them.

When I saw this amazing blueberry crumble cake on the lovely blog Sweetcakes Bakeshop, I knew I had to make it. I think it was a great way to combine a fruit crumble with a buttery cake, a match made in heaven. I love the combination of textures – from the jam-like blueberries, to the buttery crunch of the crumble. It’s an easy, homely dessert, a lovely alternative to an afternoon tea cake or the perfect little sweet thing to take on a spring picnic.

I added some ground cinnamon to the cake itself, as well as a good splash of homemade vanilla extract. I think this cake would also be lovely with other fruit instead of blueberries, maybe thinly sliced peaches, raspberries, cherries or figs, or you could try adding oats, nuts or other spices to the crumble for something different.

Blueberry Crumble Cake
Adapted from Swetcakes Bakeshop
Serves 6-8

• ¾ cup sugar
• 55g butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup pouring cream
• 1 ½ cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Crumble
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 55g butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 20 x 20cm (8 x 8 inch) pan. Cream together the sugar, butter, egg and vanilla extract.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl or jug, combine milk and cream. Add flour mixture to the butter in thirds, alternating with milk, starting and ending with flour. Pour batter into the pan. Top with blueberries.

To make the crumble topping, combine the sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter. Rub butter into the mixture with your fingertips. Sprinkle over cake batter. Bake for 30-40 minutes until crumble is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

5 Comments on “Blueberry Crumble Cake”

  1. What a wonderful adaptable recipe! My favourite kind of cake, I love the mixture of textures and levels of sweetness, definitely one for printing out and glueing into the kitchen scrapbook to eventually be splattered with butter and sugary crumbs!

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