So for the longest time, I thought “coffee cake” contained coffee… until I came across this recipe. Apparently, “coffee cake” got its name from:

1. being served alongside with coffee as a gesture of hospitality when you have guests over, or
2. eaten during a coffee break

Ha! Silly me. I guess you learn something new everyday.

In my defense, every time I see a cake in the form of “coffee cake”, the name only calls it “blah blah blah cake“. Not “blah blah blah coffee cake“.

Since we’ve been on a “healthy diet” for the past two weeks, I only found it fair to reward ourselves with something sweet and healthy at the same time – blueberries are good for you even in dessert, right? Anyway… this coffee cake is delicious and it’s really simple to make.  I didn’t even bother using my KitchenAid mixer for it because it really didn’t require a whole lot of mixing. There are a few steps that you need to do before assembling the whole cake together, but trust me, it’s totally worth it (not to mention how amazing your house smells while it’s baking!).

Ingredients:

• For the struesel:
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• For the cake:
  • 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1.5 cups frozen blueberries

Directions:

• Preheat oven at 375 degrees
• Grease and flour a cake pan or loaf pan – I used a 5 x 9″ loaf pan

• Combine the ingredients for the streusel topping until crumbly, set aside – some people prefer to mash the butter up with a fork.. I find it way easier to crumble and mix everything up with my hands. Don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty!

• In a small saucepan on medium heat, combine 1 cup of the frozen blueberries with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Stir constantly while mashing up the blueberries with a spoon to release all the juice. Heat until the liquid has thickened. Remove from heat. Once cooled, strain the blueberry syrup mixture into a bowl so you’re only left with the syrup. This may take some patience since the syrup is slightly thicker and may take some time to get through the strainer. You should end up with a couple tablespoons of liquid.

• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, add the sugar to the beaten egg, then add the melted butter. Add milk and vanilla. Then mix in the flour mixture.
• Pour about half the batter into the greased and floured pan. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries, then top with half of the streusel.

• Top with remaining batter and drizzle the strained blueberry syrup over the top. Swirl with a toothpick to mix in the syrup with the batter. Top with remaining streusel.

• Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool on wire rack. Serve and enjoy!

My husband was too eager to cut into the cake and try some, so I wasn’t able to get a picture of the finished product. Just an excuse to make it again in the future! Here is, however, a picture of my clean plate!

Our house smelled just like a Cinnabon factory. I can’t wait to make this in the summer time with all the windows open, just to see how many people I can get to gather outside our house! Ha! :)

Recipe adapted from Just A Pinch Recipes

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