Saturday 17 July 2010

Blueberry Crumble Cake



The younger daughter is 24 today. Happy Birthday Phil! Next weekend she is off backpacking in Thailand for the summer so we thought we'd give her a good send-off today, it being a Sunday and ever-so-nearly the School Holidays. Hurrah. So, another barbecue and another dessert-fest.

One of the puddings I have been making for years and years is this Blueberry Crumble Cake by Sue Lawrence which first appeared in the Sainsbury's Magazine not long after she won Masterchef. The quantities are in ounces so it must have been quite a while ago!

It might not look much but it tastes absolutely gorgeous. The mystery ingredient is quick-cook polenta.

You whizz up 8 oz plain flour, 4 oz polenta, 5 oz golden caster sugar, orange zest, 1tsp baking powder, pinch of salt and 5 oz unsalted butter. Then add an egg, 1 tbps of both olive oil and orange juice. At this point it is supposed to look like breadcrumbs - I have never achieved this, it is always quite stuck together. Line a 24 cm springform tin with two thirds of the mixture. Top with 12 oz blueberries which you have gently mixed with 1 oz demerara sugar and 2 tsp polenta. Crumble (or in my case dollop) the rest of the mixture across the top and sprinkle with more demerara. Bake at Gas Mk 4 for 45-50 mins.

It is absolutely fantastic served hot with Creme Fraiche, but it's nearly as good cold. It keeps well too and of course blueberries contain lots of anti-oxidants so it's (nearly) healthy.

3 comments:

  1. This looks very tasty. I will try to remember to try this, but I'm not known for my good memory! ;-)

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  2. It is definitely worth a try Suelle. The polenta gives it a really unexpected but lovely flavour.

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  3. this is a big favourite here too. But then I think I may have got the recipe from you initially :-)

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