It is true that our eyes love to eat pretty things but sometimes, the most simple appearance can deliver an explosion of flavors and textures. This is one of our family's comfort cakes. It is the perfect cake for tea time or breakfast although girls would even eat it as a snack. With very simple ingredients that you most likely have in your pantry, you can create a cake with layers of flavor and texture that promise to please even a picky palate (and we have plenty of those in our household). I've been tweaking and working on this recipe for quite a long time. One of the first times I made this cake was for one of my dearest friends of many years who moved to Seattle. I went to visit her for a short weekend and as the old times, we talked and cooked non stop; it was one of the most perfect and comforting weekends I ever had. Instead of making one big cakes, we made small individual cakes for each of us and topped them with home made vanilla heavy cream.
With my new dietary restrictions, I've modified the recipe but you can always stick to the original one and keep the dairy and gluten ingredients if your body tolerates them. One trick that I've learned over the years, is that if you don't have buttermilk (in my case I don't eat dairy), then measure the same amount of milk (or almond, coconut, other non dairy milk) and add 1 tbsp. white vinegar, stir and let it set for about 15 minutes; you will have buttermilk!. The cake is perfect year round, if you can't find fresh berries, you can certainly replace them with frozen ones. I always use organic ingredients with my recipes.
Provecho!
Ingredients:
FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING:
½ cup gluten free flour
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
Pinch of salt
½ cup toasted nuts (pecans go lovely with this recipe, if you have nut allergies, omit)
½ cup gluten free granola
3 tbsp. "butter" coconut oil
CAKE:
1 ½ cups of gluten free flour
1 tbsp. polenta
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup of sugar
6 tbsp. "butter" coconut oil
½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh blueberries
Instructions:
- To make the crumb, mix all ingredients and keep it chilled (freezer preferably)
- Preheat the oven at 350F
- Whisk all dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, polenta, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate bowl, beat the butter with ¾ of the sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add the vanilla and eggs, one at the time until well incorporated.
- Begin to add the dry mixed ingredients and the buttermilk to the egg mixture, alternate. Continue to beat at medium speed until batter is fluffy and fully incorporated.
- In a springform mold previously greased, add half of the batter. In a small bowl mix the remaining sugar and the cinnamon. Sprinkle the mix evenly on top of the batter. Pour the rest of the batter on top.
- Put the fresh berries on top of the cake and top with the crumb.
- Bake for about an hour. Cool completely before removing from mold.
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