Blueberry Breakfast Cake with Lemon-Mascarpone Cream

Who wants cake for breakfast?? ME!  I confess….I actually made this for dessert the night before.  It was tasty, but was meant for breakfast, or actually, brunch, in my opinion.  This would be the perfect, beautiful addition to your brunch menu.  Imagine how impressed your family and/or guests will be when they see that you baked a cake for brunch!  It’s really just one large blueberry muffin.  It’s genius, actually. 

I’ve made blueberry cakes with frozen blueberries, when the original recipe calls for fresh blueberries, and the cook time increases by over triple the time, in some cases.  The moisture from the frozen blueberries throws off the balance of ingredients.  Even though this recipe calls for frozen blueberries, it’s really important to allow them to thaw and allow some of the water to escape from the berry itself. 

This recipe is unique, in that you don’t ever fold the blueberries into the batter.  Pretty smart, actually, because frozen and thawed blueberries become quite mushy and if you did mix them into your batter, it might just turn the cake purple.  Which may not be a horrible thing. 

Any liquid you see within the blueberries is actually lemon juice.  I let these blueberries drain long enough that they didn’t have excess liquid to release.  It’s an important step in this recipe to rinse the berries before you let them drain.  This will help the thawing process and they won’t all clump together.

The batter for this cake is pretty thick.  Once you pour it into your pan, you will need to help smooth it out.  It almost has a cookie-like texture to it.

Even though the majority of the blueberries stayed on the top of the cake, enough sunk down to help even things out. 

This cake is easy and pairs really well with a nice cup of coffee or tea.  I hope that you make this and that you enjoy it as much as we did!

Enjoy!

Blueberry Breakfast Cake with Lemon-Mascarpone Cream

Sarah Nolan

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Equipment

• 9 inch Sprinform pan

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter Salted or unsalted will work,
• 1 cup granulated (white) sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups frozen blueberries, rinsed and drained
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• icing (or powdered) sugar for dusting (optional)

Lemon-Mascarpone Cream

• 1 cup 1 cup mascarpone, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, at room temperature
• 3 teaspoons honey I will add more honey the next time I make this.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla Original recipe calls for 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped. Use this if you have any on hand.
• Zest of 1 lemon

Instructions

 

Blueberry Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter your pan and dust with flour.
• Whisk 1 cup of the flour with the baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
• Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla.
• Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture, beating until smooth.
• Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula.
• In a bowl, combine the berries with the remaining 1 teaspoon flour and the lemon juice, lemon zest and cinnamon; spoon over the batter.
  
• Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
  
• Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully slide a thin knife around the edges of the cake to release it from the pan.
• Transfer the cake to a platter, berry-side up, and dust lightly with confectioners' sugar.
  

Lemon-Mascarpone Cream

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the mascarpone and whipping cream until just combined. Fold in the honey, vanilla, and lemon zest.
• To serve, spoon a dollop of the lemon-mascarpone cream on top of a slice of blueberry cake.