blueberry coffee cake

The last time Davis was at my house he commented on the copious amounts of frozen blueberries I had in my freezer. So yesterday, in an attempt to put a dent in my blueberry stock, I whipped up this coffee cake. I winged the recipe, but it ended up being really moist and tasty.

streusel topping

5 tbsp salted butter

1/4 C sugar

1/3 C brown sugar

1/3 C flour

1/2 C quick cook oats

1. Using a food processor, combine all of the ingredients and pulse until it forms crumbs and holds together when pressed. Refrigerate until ready to use.

cake

1 1/4 C frozen blueberries

2 C flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2/3 C sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 stick salted butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 C milk

1/4 C sour cream

1. Butter an 8-inch round baking tin.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda and baking powder.

3. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, lemon zest and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each, until combined. Add vanilla and combine again.

4. With the mixer on low add the 1/3 of the flour mixture, then the milk, another 1/3 of flour mixture, then sour cream, then the last 1/3 of flour. Mix until just combined.

5. Gently fold in the blueberries using a spatula. Scrape batter into the prepared pan. Top with streusel topping. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

carrot cake

For some reason I've been having this weird craving for carrot cake. Carrot cake with copious amounts of cream cheese frosting. Because there's carrots in it means this cake is healthy right? Right.

This recipe makes 2 cakes. I froze one (unfrosted). Halve the amount of frosting if you're saving one for later.

cake:

2 C sugar

1 1/3 C vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 C + 1 tbsp flour, divided

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 C raisins

1 C chopped walnuts

3 C grated carrots

frosting:

2 pkgs cream cheese, room temperature

2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 lb icing sugar, sifted

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment. Butter and flour the parchment.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, eggs and oil until light. Add the vanilla and mix.

3. In another bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Mix. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Toss the raisins and walnuts with 1 tbsp of flour then add the carrots and toss again. Add to the batter and mix until combined (but don't over mix!)

4. Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool completely in the pans on a wire rack before frosting.

For frosting:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until no lumps remain. Add the butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and icing sugar and mix again.

lemon lemon loaf + happy holidays

I love the Baked cookbook. Definitely one the most used on my bookshelf. I'm hoping to grab the new cookbook from the Brooklyn bakery after Christmas, but in the meantime I made their super-lemony loaf to snack on during the holidays. My mom and bro will be here so there'll be a lot of eating and cooking going on. I'll be back posting sometime next week! Happy holidays!

* fyi: my loaf is minus the glaze

almond olive oil cake

The sounds of this cake may not seem that exciting and maybe even weird (olive oil in cake?), but rest assured it's one tasty cake. I decided to make it because I noticed that I had a whole jar of almond meal in my pantry, and I wanted to put some of the amazing olive oil that I brought back from Italy to good use. The original recipe has a brown butter glaze that I'm sure is delicious, but I was out of butter at the time so I served it on its own. This cake is not too sweet, but really flavourful. The almond meal gives it a great texture and the olive oil keeps the cake really moist.

the sweet and salty cake

For Adam's birthday I made him my version of Baked's sweet and salty cake: a moist cake filled with salted caramel and topped with whipped caramel-chocolate ganache and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. The original recipe calls for chocolate cake, but Adam requested vanilla. So I used their Whiteout cake as the base instead. Happy birthday Adam!