I knew Alex, especially, would love this one. My son loves anything with blueberries. So this one was definitely a winner before I even read the rest of the ingredients.
Sihan of Befuddlement selected this week's recipe, and what a lovely choice. Thanks, Sihan!
I actually made this over the course of two days. I made the topping and combined the dry ingredients Saturday night and put the whole thing together early (like, five-thirtyish) the next morning. I am pretty sure I'll make this one again, especially late this summer when the blueberries are ripe.
First up, the topping, which, for me, is often the best part.
I assembled all my ingredients - flour, butter, brown sugar, chopped walnuts, white sugar, and salt - and then combined everything but the nuts in the food processor.
And then I added the nuts, after dumping this mixture into another bowl. Yum.
I covered that and stuck it the fridge. Then I whisked together the dry ingredients...
Actually, no, Julia whisked them.
Then I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and that was it til the next morning.
Like I said, I finished this up EARLY on Sunday morning. Bill took the kids skiing - in North Conway - for the day, so they left a little before five that morning. (Julia even has her own (second-hand) skiis and the most adorable little ski boots. And the boots are adjustable! She'll be able to get about three years' use out of them! Pretty cool, huh? We're hoping to do the same thing with Alex in the fall. We'd have done it this year, but the place we're buying from didn't have any more skiis in Alex's size (at least none in time for this trip), so we just rented Sunday and we'll get him outfitted in October.)
Woah, that was a bit of a tangent.
Anyway, my parents were going to come up for coffee and a visit later that morning, so I figured I'd whip this cake up in time for them.
Also, I didn't want to just make one 8" square cake. Instead, I broke out my mini springform pans and made 6 adorable little round cakes instead.
The process photos didn't come out that great - pre-dawn lighting isn't all that great - but here are a few of them, just because.
They baked for about 40 minutes, and smelled wonderful in the process.
Here they are fresh from the oven...
Want a closer look?
After they cooled a bit, I loosened the rings and let them cool some more. Then I removed the rings and the bases of the pans and let them finish cooling before plating them up.
I ran one over to our friends across the street right away, and kept the rest handy for picture-taking and eating.
My parents and I shared one little cake, and I gave them another to take home. At the moment, we have one left. Alex has eaten most of the other two.
Big raves all around - from my friend across the street, my parents, Bill and the kids, and - oh, yeah - me. Soft, moist, easy to make and delicious. Like I said, I'll be making this again, especially during blueberry season. I was also thinking this would work well as a batch of muffins.
Many thanks so Sihan for choosing the Blueberry Crumb Cake for this week - you can find the recipe on her site or in the pages of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. (Pages 192-193 to be exact.) You can also go read what the rest of the TWD crew had to say about this one. The blogroll is LOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG, so pace yourself!
Looks wonderful.
I love seeing all those mini cakes on one sheet pan.
Posted by: chocolatechic | March 24, 2009 at 01:00 PM
I absolutely LOVE your mini cakes!! Too cute! PS. I also love your pretty white plates! :-)
Posted by: Amy (Sing for your supper) | March 24, 2009 at 01:11 PM
This was delicious!!! Your cakes look soooo tasty!
Posted by: Marthe | March 24, 2009 at 02:30 PM
Great job! I have those mini springform pans too and absolutely love them! They make the cutest little cakes. I made mine with cranberries but I can't wait to try the blueberry version this summer.
Posted by: Tracey | March 24, 2009 at 04:57 PM
Oh fabulous - I totally want to have that many mini springforms so I can do this. Gorgeous little cakes!
Posted by: Caitlin | March 24, 2009 at 08:04 PM
Mini Springforms!! you go girl.. I love it. And I suppose the reason I don't have nifty tools like that is I would eat the entire damn cake; Fabulous!
Posted by: hannahkinley@yahoo.com | March 24, 2009 at 09:30 PM
How perfectly cute. Glad they were so well liked!
Posted by: rainbowbrown | March 24, 2009 at 09:46 PM
the tiny springform pans are absolutely gorgeous! wish i had more of those. and the cake turned out perfect. I'm so proud of you!
Posted by: Sihan | March 24, 2009 at 10:13 PM
WOW! Beautiful photos! I love that you did this in round pans. I dug through my baking supplies (and I have MANY) and couldnt find the exact sized pan but it never occured to me to make it in my mini pans! I love the individual size!
Posted by: Courtney | March 24, 2009 at 11:07 PM
You take the most beautiful pictures! I can almost taste the cake.
Posted by: Anita | March 24, 2009 at 11:40 PM
Your mini-cakes are such fun! This was really good, I especially loved the topping.
Posted by: Karen | March 25, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Love the mini cakes!! I will have to try that.... Beautiful!
Posted by: Carolyn | March 25, 2009 at 12:07 PM
I love the size you made them. I wish I could reach through my screen and eat them all! My man is gonna be especially happy to eat this when I make it, he is a blueberry fan too!
Posted by: Nina | March 25, 2009 at 05:35 PM
Fantastic photos! I love your mini cakes. They're perfect!
Posted by: Annette | March 25, 2009 at 11:56 PM
Oh, Jayne. Those look incredible. Minis, I think, are the best way to go these days. So easy to share. Love your little bowls. Great variety and colors.
Posted by: Margaret | March 27, 2009 at 11:47 PM