Blueberry Crumb Cake

I had never baked this particular recipe before, but found it to be a wonderful, tender cake topped with a thinner than usual, but no less flavorful, roof of buttery crumbs. The amount of blueberries was perfect, though I may up the lemon zest and cinnamon next time.

Blueberry Crumb Cake
Adapted from the recipe in Dorrie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.

Create the crumbs: Dump 5 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, and 1/4 tsp. salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture clumps and holds together when pressed. Dump into a small bowl, gently mix in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, then press plastic wrap against the surface of the crumb mixture and pop in the refridgerator until the batter is ready.
Note: If you do not have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender or two knifes to cut the butter into the rest of the ingredients.

And now, the cake: Measure out 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp. nutmeg. You can dump all the dry ingredients into another small bowl and whisk, or, (what I prefer) dump all onto a large piece of parchment paper and mix with your hands—it's fun and makes adding the dry ingredients in parts a snap.

Next, grab a large bowl and rub the zest of 1/2 a lemon into 2/3 cup sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant. With an electric mixer or strong forearms, beat 6 tbsp. unsalted room temperature butter with the sugar until light (a few minutes). Add 2 room temperature eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute after each egg, then beat in 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

Measure out 1/2 cup sour cream (or buttermilk, as the original recipe calls for) and alternate adding the flour mixture and the sour cream to the sugar-butter-egg mixture beginning and ending with the dry.

Take one pint (aprox. 2 cups) fresh or frozen (not thawed) blueberries and toss with 2 tbsp. flour, then fold the coated berries into the thick batter. Spoon into the prepared pan.

Remove the crumb mixture from the fridge and separate into small pieces that you'll scatter on top of the cake batter, pressing in gently.

Bake for 55-65 (Mine was in the oven almost 70 min.) until everything is golden and lovely and a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let it cool until you can't stand it anymore, than cut yourself a big slice and enjoy.