By Clare de BoerThe New York Times
Summer berries make us all look like great bakers. Their acidity effortlessly balances sweet cake and muffin batters, their juices saturate cobbler tops and trifles, and they willingly reduce into chewy jam at the edge of crisps and crumbles.
I have half a mind to stop writing there, and to just let you follow any good recipe to bliss out on berries. But it’s worth understanding a few things to best unlock their delights and to not lose out if you make any substitutions. When baking calls for the same few ingredients — butter, flour, sugar, fruit — and spins out such varied treats, alchemy is in the details.
To begin, match your berry to the baked good.Strawberries are fragile and extroverted, ready to fall apart without much cooking. Smothered in batter or baked whole, they tend to become flabby and insipid, but, cut into smaller pieces and given passage to reduce, they become syrupy and intense.
Raspberries are relatively dry and hold their own: They favor being scattered on top of and baked inside desserts, instead of being stewed in cobblers and crisps that want to be saucy. (Small summer blackberries also cook like raspberries.)
Blueberries are the most reserved of the bunch. Sprinkled into muffins and pound cakes, they keep to themselves, retaining their shape and producing sliceable, portable sweets. They need longer cooking to break their inky skins and integrate themselves into batters.
Choose your flour with your fruit and its juices in mind. An all-purpose white flour is most absorbent, good for bakes that need to hold their shape (pound cakes, muffins). Less absorbent flours, like whole wheat, almond meal or cornmeal, leave more fruit juices in circulation.
This cornmeal cake lets the brightness of blueberries lead and encourages the fruit to surrender its juices. It calls for precooking the berries, then pouring them over a cornmeal batter. As it bakes, some blueberries sink and form a stewy bottom, while others bubble into chewy jam. The result looks like an upside-down cobbler or a muffin without its middle. It isn’t too sweet, and what it lacks in structure, it makes up for with its juiciness — so much that it must be spooned.
Blueberry Spoon Cake
This recipe for a simple summer spoon cake draws the juices out of blueberries then pours them on top of a gluten-free cornmeal batter. As the cake bakes, some blueberries sink and form a stewy bottom, others bubble into chewy jam. The result looks like an upside down cobbler, or a muffin without its middle. It isn’t too sweet, and what it lacks in slice-ability and portability, it makes up for with tenderness and juiciness. Make sure to bake it on a tray to catch any batter or berries that rise over the rim — these are the cook’s midbake treat.
Makes one 9-inch cake (6 to 8 servings)
INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons/58 grams unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the dish
14 ounces/397 grams fresh blueberries (about 2 1/2 cups)
3/4 cup/150 grams sugar, plus more for sprinkling
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 tablespoon juice)
1 large egg
1/2 cup/113 grams sour cream, plus more for serving
1/2 cup/76 grams yellow cornmeal (preferably fine grind)
3/4 cup/63 grams almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) or 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
Vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1: Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch glass pie dish.
2: Put the blueberries, 1/4 cup/50 grams sugar and the lemon zest and juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring here and there for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved and the berries are glossy. Turn off the heat and set aside.
3: In a medium bowl, cream the butter and remaining 1/2 cup/100 grams sugar together until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the egg and stir to incorporate fully before adding the sour cream. Stir to combine and set aside.
4: In another medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, almond meal, baking powder and salt, and whisk. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk to form a smooth batter, then pour into the greased pie dish, leveling the batter with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
5: Spoon over the blueberries with their juices somewhat evenly distributing them and leaving some batter uncovered. Sprinkle with sugar to evenly cover the surface. Set the pie plate on a baking sheet to catch drips.
6: Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the cake has taken on a deep nutty color around its edge, and a blueberry-less area of sponge springs back when you press with a finger. The jammy areas will feel underbaked and that is good.
7: Leave to cool a little before serving warm with sour cream or vanilla ice cream, or both.
Recipe byClare de Boer.
De Boer is a James Beard Award-nominated chef and a freelance writer.
