Blueberry Boy Bait

For those of you who like old school, country style simple desserts, you are going to love this one. I first had it at my friend’s farm house in PA. When his mom said it was called “Blueberry Boy Bait”, my first reaction was “blueberry boy what?” But essentially, the story was that if you bake this blueberry cake, the boys will come running. Now, we live in modern times so I’m not sure if this is really as potent for boy baiting purposes as it once was in Amish country but it’s certainly a crowd pleaser. The cake is moist and rich and a cross between a coffee cake and a dessert cake. My friend’s mom said she didn’t understand how to email her recipe, so I used a recipe that I found off of cookscountry.com and then just tweaked it to my desires (more blueberries, coffee cake topping). I haven’t actually baked this with the coffee crumb topping (I stuck closely to the recipe the first time) but I’m assuming these proportions will work.

Blueberry Boy Bait

Serves 12 with small pieces

Cake
2	cups all-purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon
1	tablespoon baking powder
1	teaspoon table salt
16	tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4	cup packed light brown sugar
1/2	cup granulated sugar
3	large eggs
1	cup whole milk
1/2	heaping cup blueberries , must be fresh
Topping
3/4	cup blueberries , must be fresh
1/4	cup granulated sugar
1/2	teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4	cup flour
1/3	cup butter

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

2. Whisk 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining 1 teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.

3. For the topping: Scatter blueberries over top of batter. Combine sugar, cinnamon, flour, and butter in a small bowl and blend with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle crumb mixture over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes (depending on your oven’s strength). Cool in pan 20-30 minutes, then cut and serve. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)