Guest Blog Post: Blueberry Homecoming Cake

*This is my mom’s post, her recipe and her photography. Thanks for sharing, mom!

Well I knew you were coming so I baked a cake, baked a cake, baked a cake…

Baby Maeve was born on a Sunday and due to come home from hospital a few days later… what to do for such a great occasion? The baby wouldn’t notice much except maybe a different bed and quieter surroundings, but Mummy and Daddy would notice – as they were ever aware since Maeve’s birth – of the many changes in their lives. What could Nana do to make this a special homecoming?

In Ireland for just a bit better than a week before the baby came, I was still trying to familiarize myself with the many differences between living here and in Canada. Things like time zone changes, money, and driving on the left side of the road I found were not as worrisome as remembering to turn the switch to ‘on’ before my shower or figuring out how to use the oven and baking with metric temperatures. But I had been well taught by the lady of the house so all that really remained was for me to get up the nerve and make something.

At home in Cape Breton at this time of year most of the hay has been made and maybe put away, people are enjoying beach weather and the last few days of summer vacation, reaping the tasty benefits of their small outdoor garden’s crop of green and yellow beans and tomatoes, AND… the wild blueberries that grow there in abundance are ripe for the picking.

Blueberries… to think of them brings back many, many memories of the children growing up and picking them (not always willingly), and then Grandma baking with what was left of them (strangely, some buckets would arrive home empty) and creating such delights as blueberry pie (mmmm, that would be a good recipe to post), or muffins, or blueberry grunt, a traditional Nova Scotia dish that deserves  a dog-eared place in everyone’s recipe file. And it was then I knew what I would make …

Blueberry Cake! What better way to welcome a Cape Breton girl and her husband home to their new life with baby?

This cake is not the typical Cape Breton blueberry cake, but a type of coffee cake that was often baked at the Herring Choker Deli, a local bakery in Nyanza, CB. It’s delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, but just as yummy the next day (if you have any left) served with a cold glass of milk.

Nana’s Blueberry Homecoming Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 cups blueberries

2 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp grated lemon or orange rind

For the topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

pinch of cinnamon

Directions:

• Blend flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Cream sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla; add milk and mix.
• Add dry ingredients all at once, stirring only until flour is moistened.
• Spread half of the batter in the bottom of greased and lined 9 inch spring form pan.
• Spoon blueberries over the top; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar and orange or lemon rind.
• Spread remaining batter over, sprinkle topping.
• Bake 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Maple, Blueberry & Lemon Scones

I’m always on the lookout for a good scone. When I say scone, I mean the type of scone you get in Canada – large, triangular, sweet, biscuit-style pastries laden with berries and flavourings, then sprinkled with sugar before baking or a glaze after. The perfect scone is crumbly, sweet (but not too sweet) and stodgy. It goes well with a hot cup of tea and, if un-glazed, sliced in half with a smear of fresh butter.

In Ireland I’ve already gotten into trouble with my food terminology. A biscuit is not a cookie; a scone is not a biscuit. Biscuits, to me, are similar to scones but much less sweet and not as large. A scone may be prepared in a similar way, but it involves an egg (something I’d never put in a biscuit), a bit more sugar and berries or sweet flavourings (cranberry scones with almond are a lovely flavour combination; if you’re ever in Cape Breton you can get them at The Dancing Goat in Margaree).

Biscuits are something we eat with seafood chowder or baked beans back home. Biscuits here, of course, are cookies (but not all cookies – for example, a chocolate chip cookie would not be considered a biscuit here, according to my in-laws).

Can you sense my confusion? Don’t even get me started on poitín and poutine.

Anyway, yesterday I had a craving for a really good scone to have with tea after dinner. I had some blueberries so decided to make lemon-blueberry scones with a maple glaze. I made these scones a bit smaller than I normally would, just for portion control purposes (it’s only me and Patrick eating them – my Mom comes next week so we’ll at least have some help then). This recipe makes a moist, crumbly, sweet scone. You can drizzle them with the glaze or leave it out entirely – they are sweet enough on their own.

This recipe will make 8 large scones or 16 small.

Maple, Blueberry & Lemon Scones

Ingredients:

2 cups AP Flour

3 Tbsp white sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold, cubed butter

Zest of one lemon

1 cup fresh blueberries

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp room temperature butter

1-2 Tbsp milk

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (200 degrees Celsius, no fan). Line a baking tray with parchment.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add the cubed, cold butter and rub into the flour mixture until the butter is fully incorporated and the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add the blueberries and lemon zest to the bowl. Mix briefly to combine. Make a well in the centre of the flour/butter/blueberry mixture.
• In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk the egg and buttermilk together until combined. Pour into the flour/butter/blueberry mixture and mix with a wooden spoon/spatula until just combined (do not over mix!).
• Pour contents of the bowl onto a well floured surface and knead a few times (the dough will be sticky so keeping your surface well-floured is essential). Shape the dough into a rectangle, making sure the dough is rolled out to about 1 1/2 inch thickness.
• With a floured knife, cut the rectangle in half, then cut each piece in half again. Cut the four pieces on the diagonal to create 8 triangular scones. Transfer the scones to the lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes until the scones are golden brown (if you’re not using glaze, lightly brush with milk or cream and lightly sprinkle with sugar before baking).
• Make the glaze: combine the confectioner’s sugar, butter and maple syrup until well mixed. While mixing with a hand blender, slowly drizzle the milk until your desired consistency is reached. When the scones have cooled, drizzle the tops with the maple glaze.