Another Yummy Failure

The nice thing about cooking is that a failure can be just as yummy as a success.

In this case, it's one more Yummy Crummy Coffee Cake. Blueberries have been on sale, so I'm trying to come up with a beautiful, blueberry-studded golden coffee cake, like one I remember that was baked in an iron skillet. I have a clear image of a perfect yellow cake, polka-dotted throughout with plump blueberries and topped with a sugary crunch topping. You know, the kind shown on boxes of cake mix. Except that I'm determined to produce one from scratch, without all the mysteriously dubious chemicals involved in a mix.

One problem has to do with the odd tendency of blueberries to turn cake batter green. It's a chemical thing that has nothing to do with artificial ingredients. Blueberries naturally have anthocyanin pigments under their skin, and when that touches baking soda (which is alkaline sodium bicarbonate) the result is green batter. It doesn't affect the taste, but the appearance is not appetizing. I want a nice yellow cake with blue spots, not green smears. The solution is to combine the dry ingredients separately, so the baking powder (which contains soda) is thoroughly mixed with the flour before added to the butter and eggs.

A second problem is keeping the blueberries suspended throughout the cake. Their natural tendency is to sink to the bottom, which would be fine if I wanted a blueberry upside down cake. But I want those pretty blueberries floating throughout the batter. One trick I learned with chocolate chips and nuts is to dust them with flour, which for some unknown reason prevents sinking. It works with chips and nuts, but so far the blueberries continue to dive straight for the bottom of the pan.

While producing one failure after another, this particular cake stands out as worth keeping. It calls for both cornmeal and ground almonds, which are usually available at stores that sell trail mix and natural baking stuff from bins.  It baked nicely in my iron skillet, with the edges that rose and turned inward before the center of the cake was set. Instead of those uncooperative blueberries, I'll use orange zest, and post the Yummy Crummy Coffee Cake for your approval.

And if you happen to know how to get those blueberries to behave, let me know in the comments, okay?

Recipe: Yummy Crummy Coffee Cake

This cake bakes well in a 10" cast iron skillet (#7,) or use a 9" square cake pan.
Serve directly from the iron skillet. 

1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp. vanilla extract)
1 c. sugar (fine raw sugar is perfect)
3/4 c. butter
3 eggs
1/2 c. ground almonds
1/2 c. yellow cornmeal
3 Tbs. orange juice
1 Tbs. orange zest
1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. (a pinch) salt
2 Tbs. cornstarch

Crummy Topping
1/2 c. oats
1/2 c. ground almonds
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 Tbs. butter

Grease baking pan or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

If using vanilla bean, chop it into small pieces and process in blender or food processor with sugar. Pour vanilla sugar through a mesh sieve to remove any remaining bits of the bean. Otherwise, add the vanilla extract to batter with the orange juice.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
Stir in ground almonds, cornmeal, orange juice and zest.
Combine dry ingredients and fold into mixture.
Turn into greased pan.
Combine topping ingredients, crumble over batter.
Press topping down into batter in several places.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Cool at least half an hour before cutting.