Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

It's so easy to use up summertime blueberries ~ eaten out of hand, or in granola parfaits or salads, any time they can be enjoyed for their own tart and sweet selves. But save a few of the tart and sweet treats for this blueberry coffee cake.

This buttermilk coffee cake is delicious on its own, and downright delightful with the addition of blueberries. It's really just a loose scone dough, spread into a square pan and baked. The recipe is adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, "Treasured Recipes of the Charleston Cake Lady" by Teresa Pregnall (Hearst Books, 1996). Mrs. Pregnall was a retired secretary in Charleston when she decided to turn her hobby of baking cakes into a business. Through the Charleston Cake Lady business, she shipped more than 20,000 cakes all over the country. Her cookbook is a winner, too, with recipes just right for home bakers.


Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried

1. Heat oven to 375. Grease an 8-inch square pan.

2. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon, and the salt into a large mixing bowl. Cut in the butter with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to remaining crumb mixture. Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk and add to the crumb mixture, stirring until the dry ingredients are well moistened. Add the vanilla extract.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. scatter blueberries across the batter and press in. Sprinkle with the reserved crumb mixture. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the cake is lightly browned on top.

4. Cool the cake in the pan. Cut it into squares when the cake is completely cool.

Adapted from Treasured Recipes from the Charleston Cake Lady by Teresa Pregnall 

(Hearst Books, 1996)