TWD: Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake

Shortly after we’d moved into our first home, I suggested to Shane that we should clean out our gutters before the first storm arrived and dumped a ton of heavy snow on the roof.  The ground in front of our house is uneven, and there’s a rock formation in one area that made it difficult to safely set up a ladder to climb up to the gutters.  It was such a comedy of errors that our mailman stopped his truck to get out and help us.  We’d barely exchanged hellos to that point, maybe just a wave here or there, but that day marked the beginning of our friendship with Louis.  Now it’s not uncommon for me to share baked goods with him or for us to chat about what’s going on in our lives.

Last week as I was in the middle of making this cake, Louis knocked on the door to deliver a package I’d been eagerly awaiting.  I already had the batter together, and was just getting ready to fold in the blueberries.  Louis was particularly chatty that day and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I needed to get back in and tend to my cake.  Twenty minutes later I finally spread the batter in the pan, popped it into the oven and hoped for the best.  The good news?  No ill effects, proof this recipe is quite forgiving.

As the name suggests, this is a really simple cake – no streusel or frosting, just a moist, fluffy cake packed with blueberries.  I didn’t have the 11×7 pan Dorie suggested so I baked my cake in a 9×9 pan instead, the baking time stayed the same.  Even though I tossed the blueberries with flour before adding them, they still sank to the bottom of the cake.  I shared most of the cake with my stepfather, and later heard that he’d eaten almost all of it within the first two days, so I guess he liked it :)  I did try a piece and thought it was good, maybe just a tad too basic for me.  I’d probably choose to spend calories on something slightly more decadent, but I think the simplicity of the cake makes it easy to justify as a breakfast treat.

Many thanks to Cindy of Everyday Insanity for hosting this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie. The recipe for the blueberry-brown sugar plain cake can be found on her blog or on page 36 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.