Blueberry Buckle Cake

June 5, 2020
Richard Makin
Dessert

12 Servings
0.0

Such an easy little blueberry cake to whip up, slice, and share (or devour..). It’s the perfect combo between a soft, moist, blueberry sponge, and a crunchy, cinnamony crumble. Perfect for your afternoon working-from-home coffee break.

Ingredients

For the Crumble

65g plain white flour
65g granulated sugar
55g vegan butter
1t ground cinnamon
Pinch flaky sea salt

For the Cake

1t ground psyllium husks (or 1T ground flax/linseed) + 4t water
260g plain white flour
2 t baking powder
¼ t fine sea salt
55g vegan butter, at room temperature
100g granulated sugar
50g light muscovado sugar
1t vanilla extract
2t lemon zest
240ml vegan soy yogurt, unsweetened and unflavoured
3T soy milk
200g blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190c. Grease a 20x26cm baking dish or cake tin.

To Make the Crumble

Place all the crumble ingredients in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, chop everything together until you have a lumpy, crumbly texture. If you like your crumble much finer, rub the mixture between your finger-tips to break up the lumps of butter. Set aside.

To Make the Cake

In a small bowl mix together the psyllium husks and water. If using ground flax/linseeds instead, use 1 tablespoon of seeds and 2 tablespoons of water instead.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and fine sea salt. Whisk well to combine. Set aside.
In a separate medium bowl, place the vegan butter. Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the butter for a minute or until smooth and light. Add the thickened psyllium husks, sugars, vanilla, and lemon zest and beat again to combine. Note that psyllium husks like to clump together, so be sure to beat until smooth.
Alternating between the soy yogurt and the flour mixture, add a few spoonfuls at a time, beating to combine between each addition. Once fully combined, add the soy milk and beat for a final time. You should now have a thick cake batter.
Add ¾ of the blueberries and very gently fold them into the batter. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking tray or cake tin and spread smooth with the back of a spoon. Top with the remaining blueberries.
Finally, top the cake with the crumble topping and place in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until puffed in the centre and the crumble is browned nicely.
Remove once baked and allow to cool fully on a wire cooling rack before slicing and serving.

Notes

Here’s a step by step guide break-down to the process behind this neat little cake (with some added tips thrown in!)

Make Your Crumble

This is our super crunchy, lightly cinnamony topping that we’ll sprinkle over the batter before baking. The aim is to roughly combine the butter, sugar, and flour to make a sort of sandy texture. It’s important not to handle the mixture too much as the butter will melt and activate the gluten in the flour, making everything tough and gross. Use knives to cut everything together and don’t overwork the topping.

Hydrate The Psyllium Husks

This sounds like a task from a sci-fi movie, but I promise it’s not. All you need to do is combine the psyllium husks with a little water and allow them to soak it up. Psyllium husks are our egg replacer in this recipe. They’re super high in fiber and bind the whole batter together, much like eggs do. Just be warned that they do love to clump together, so when you add them to the batter later, be sure to mix well to combine.

Weigh Out The Dry Ingredients

This one’s easy! Just combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside. We’ll be using this later.

Beat Together The Butter/Sugar Mixture

You’ll want to use an electric beater of some sort for this step. Beat the vegan butter until very smooth and light. Make sure it’s at room temperature before you start, otherwise the batter could split. Once beaten, add the psyllium, sugars, vanilla, and lemon zest. Beat again until smooth. This is the start of your cake batter.

Add The Flour Mixture and Yogurt

Next, you need to add both the flour mixture and the yogurt to the butter/sugar mixture – but don’t just dump it all in at once. Alternate between the yogurt and the flour mixture, beating gently between each addition. The batter will be rather thick when you’re done, so be sure to add the soy milk and mix gently for one last time.

Add The Blueberries And Crumble

We’re going to do this in two additions. First, add ¾ of the blueberries and mix them into the batter super gently. Transfer the batter to the baking tray or cake tin then add the remaining blueberries. This means the cake will have blueberries on the top AND in the middle. Before placing in the oven, top the cake with the crumble and spread it in an even layer.