blueberry lemon coffee cake with almond streusel

I really wanted to make it to a u-pick blueberry farm this summer. I signed up to get email updates from a farm 45 minutes outside Minneapolis, and every time they announced their upcoming hours, I was hopeful I could work it into my day. I'd leave the city early and spend an hour in a field with the simple task of plucking ripe berries. I wanted to do this for the escape, the peace, the mental break; I also wanted my summer coffee cake to have freshly picked berries, because that's so much more aesthetic than grabbing a Driscoll's clamshell container from the grocery store down the block.

Alas, I never made it happen. Maybe next year. While store-bought berries lack the charm of hand-picked, they got along just fine with my tangy lemon batter and buttery almond streusel.

We can't all gather berries in the cool morning light, but I'll be damned if I can't manage to fix a cake for breakfast.

Streusel

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup gf all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Pinch kosher salt

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut up

Cake

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

2 eggs

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (gluten-free or wheat—I did 1 c. gf all-purpose and 1/3 c. millet flour)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 c plain greek yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup milk or cream

8 oz blueberries (about 1 1/2 cups)

Directions

1. Zest the lemon; set aside 1/2 tsp for the streusel.

2. Prepare the streusel: throw everything together in a bowl and combine with a pastry cutter or your fingers. The mixture will look sandy, but the butter should be worked in enough that you can squeeze a handful of it and it will stick together. Pop the mixed streusel into the refrigerator while you mix up the cake batter.

3. Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a bowl, rubbing the zest into the sugar with your fingers until the sugar takes on a yellow hue.

4. Add the softened butter to the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

5. Beat in the eggs. Then add the oil and extracts and beat until combined.

6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour(s), baking powder, and salt.

7. Add half the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat just until incorporated. Then add a quarter cup of the milk/yogurt mix and beat just until incorporated. Repeat with the last half of the dry mixture and quarter cup of the milk/yogurt.

8. Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.

9. Use the butter wrapper to grease an 8- or 9-inch cake pan. Then sprinkle some flour over the greased pan and tap the pan to distribute the flour into a thin layer over the butter. Pour the cake batter into the pan and smooth it out.

10. Take the streusel out of the refrigerator and sprinkle it over the cake.

11. Bake the cake at 325°F for 45 minutes. Let it cool before serving.

Watch the video!