Blueberry Crumb Cake

This Blueberry Crumb Cake has a thick layer of pecan crumble atop a flavorful cake that is bursting with fresh blueberries! This cake is perfect dusted with powdered sugar or served with a bit of whipped cream.

This blueberry crumb cake was inspired by a candle. An amazingly delicious smelling, super cheap candle from Walmart. It’s one of the candles from their basic line, and I think the three wick was something like $4. The scent is called Blueberry Pancakes, but it always reminds me a freshly baked blueberry muffin.

If you’ve made blueberry muffins at home, you know the scent. The one that hits your nose right when you open the oven door to pull them out, or when you tear into one when it’s still warm. It’s the scent of bursted blueberries and a sweet, sugary crumb. The candle smells pretty spot on, if not a little bit artificial.

I first got it in the middle of last year, and I sort of hoarded it, burning it a little bit at a time. I was nervous it was going to run out. When it finally did…I just went back to the store and dug through the shelves to find another one. For some reason though, it got put into the back of a drawer and I haven’t looked at it since, like I was saving it for a special occasion or something.

I pulled it out last week and placed it on my desk. It’s on of those candles you can smell even when it’s just near you and it’s been making me dream of all things blueberry. It needed to be something warm, cinnamon-y, and bursting with blueberries. T-Sugars US recently sent me some of their gourmet Belgian sugars to try, and their cassonade sugar sounded like it would be the perfect ingredient to pair with blueberries and cinnamon in a swoon-worthy baked good.

Cassonade sugar, if you’ve never heard of it, is similar to brown sugar but it’s some how deeper, richer, and more caramel-like. When I tasted it, I described it to my roommate as tasting like caramel sauce but before you add the butter and cream – it tastes like that browned, caramelized sugar but in crystallized form. I’m sort of in love (pssst…those of you in the US can find T-Sugars products at Rouses, Albertsons, Heb, Fred Meyer and Bi-Mart).

I used cassonade sugar in both the cake and the crumb to give each a bit of that caramel flavor. Paired with the loads of cinnamon, the fresh blueberries, and toasty pecans, this becomes some serious comfort food that makes your house smell like a version of my candle that’s 10x better.

I don’t mess around with crumble. It’s my favorite part and I can often be caught picking it off the top of crumb cakes whenever I made them. As such, this cake has a really darn thick crumb layer – we’re talking at least an inch of crumb on there. The pecans add a delicious toasty bite to the crumb topping that I go nuts for. As for the cake part? It’s super moist thanks to the Greek yogurt and those blueberries, and the spices make it feel so warm and comforting.

This cake has tons of texture and flavor all by itself, and it doesn’t need a glaze or anything to gussy it up. I opted for a simple dusting of powdered sugar – I used T-Sugars Icing Mill which I am so excited by. I’m one of those people who gets powdered sugar all over everything anytime I pull it out, so having the convenience of it being in a mess-free container, where I can twist out how much I want? Yes, please!

This crumb cake works any time of year, with fresh or frozen berries, but be sure not to under-bake if using frozen – they can add some extra moisture. Happy baking! :)

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Blueberry Crumb Cake

Save Print Prep time 15 mins Cook time 60 mins Total time 1 hour 15 mins Author: Rachel Conners Serves: 8-10 slices Ingredients

½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup T-Sugars Cassonade Sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
¾ cup Greek yogurt
1½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries

For the crumb topping

⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup T-Sugars Cassonade Sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and still warm
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan or a 9-inch cake pan with 3-inch sides.
Prepare the crumb topping: Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl to combine. Add flour and stir until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough. Set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the Greek yogurt and mix. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the blueberries. The batter will be quite thick.
Spread batter in the prepared pan. Top with the crumb topping. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for about 15 minutes. Remove the sides from the pan and slide the cake onto the rack.

Notes You may substitute light brown sugar for cassonade sugar. 3.4.3177