Blueberry Crumb Cake

Cakes do not have to be something fanciful in order to taste good. In fact, it's my opinion that the fancy decorated cakes more often than not are only average in taste, but almost outright "yuck." Okay, so that makes me a snob...so be it. This simple recipe will be sure to wow your family and friends, and it takes just minutes to prepare. It is excellent paired with coffee, and if desired, you can serve it warm from the oven with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt instead of serving it completely cooled, as the recipe suggests. Since there is no nutritional value to sour cream (which was listed in the original recipe), I used Greek yogurt instead - you get a boost of lean, healthful protein, the very slight tang, and of course, the moistness. If you want to cut down on the fat and cholesterol content a little, you can use egg substitute with no loss of texture or flavor. I also reduced the sugar a little by substituting Truvia for some of the refined sugar in both the streusel and cake.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Cake:

6 tbsp. unsalted butter

½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup Truvia (6 packets)

2 extra large eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ tsp. grated lemon zest

2/3 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt

1¼ cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. kosher salt

1 cup fresh blueberries

Confectioners sugar, for sprinkling

Streusel:

¼ cup Truvia (6 packets)

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 1/3 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9" round baking pan.

To make the streusel, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside. The mixture will be very crumbly; this is normal. The crumbles shouldn't be overly large, but should not be too fine, either.

To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar on high speed for 4 - 5 in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment - just until it's light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla, lemon zest and Greek yogurt. 

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Dredge the blueberries with a little flour to make sure that they don't sink to the bottom of the pan. Fold in the blueberries by hand with a spatula, stirring gently until the batter is completely mixed.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a knife or thin spatula. Using your fingers, crumble the streusel evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. If baking with convection, start checking the cake at around 25 - 30 minutes.  When the cake is done, cool it completely in the pan. When ready to serve, sprinkle confectioners sugar over the top, then slice and eat.

Serves 6 - 8