Blueberry Cornmeal Cake

I had very strange eating habits as a child. I wasn’t a huge fan of chocolate, and I always picked the blueberries out of my blueberry muffins. Not that muffins were a large part of my diet by any means – if we had muffins a few times a year, that was a real treat. For some reason though, I specifically remember plucking out all the blueberries whenever we had them.

My girls love fruit – I mean love it. Berries are their favorite. They could probably eat a pound of berries a day if I let them. Most of the time I can’t even think about baking with berries, because they don’t stay in our house long enough – but – I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit and I had to try it. I love corn muffins and blueberry muffins (now I actually eat the blueberries) and this looked like a combination of both. So – I decided to sneak to the grocery store while they were still at school to grab a couple of pints – and while I was making dinner and they were watching a show – I was able to whip this together. By the time they came into the kitchen, the blueberries were already in the oven. Score!

It turns out that they loved this cake – we all did. It was so moist and delicious – and if you sprinkle some cinnamon on top, you could call it a coffee cake and eat it for breakfast.

This recipe was printed in Bon Appetit, but came from the Huckleberry Bakery and Cafe, Santa Monica, CA

Ingredients

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon honey
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup plain yogurt
3 cups fresh blueberries

Special Equipment

10-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray 10-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Whisk flour and next 3 ingredients in medium bowl. Whisk oil, eggs, vanilla, and honey in another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter, 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl until creamy. With mixer running on medium speed, gradually add egg mixture; beat to blend. Beat in flour mixture just to blend. Add ricotta and yogurt; beat on low speed just to blend. Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Scatter 1 1/2 cups blueberries over. Spoon remaining batter over in dollops, then spread to cover blueberries. Scatter remaining blueberries over. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over.

Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack.

Serves 12