Blueberry Basil Breakfast Cake

A simple buttermilk and blueberry snack cake recipe served with honey yogurt. A quick and easy summer dessert recipe for all of your backyard barbecues.

blueberry basil breakfast cake, sliced

I love you guys, but you aren’t the most helpful bunch when helping me with recipe ideas. Last week, I had a bunch of juicy little blueberries in my fridge so I took an Instagram poll asking if you’d like to see a snack cake recipe or a scone recipe with them. It was a real nail-biter and when I started planning the recipe out, snack cake was winning by five votes. By the time I finished photographing, scones had taken over. It was too late so this week, you are getting a snack cake recipe and I’m back to work in the kitchen for those scones.

what exactly is a snack cake?

Besides being my very favorite category of baked goods, what makes a snack cake a snack cake? While there isn’t a completely definitive answer for this question, the general consensus is that a snack cake is a simpler-style cake. (If you’re interested in reading what a bunch of pastry chefs consider a snack cake, check out this article). For my personal definition, snack cake criteria is as follows: single layer, made with simple pantry ingredients, easy mixing method (this means blending method with liquid fat or creaming method with solid fat). Whatever the official definition, they are simple and they are delicious and I love them. I’m calling this specific snack cake a ‘breakfast cake’ because it tastes a bit like a muffin and gives me permission to eat it for breakfast.

blueberry basil breakfast cake, sliced and plated with honey yogurt

how to make (and adapt) a blueberry basil breakfast cake

This cake is easy-peasy and is endlessly adaptable based on whatever fresh fruit you have on hand. To start, basil leaves are rubbed into sugar which breaks them down and releases all of the oils inside. Then the sugars are whisked together with your standard dry ingredients (flour, leaveners, salt) + a little semolina flour. I love using semolina flour to give a coarser texture to baked goods, but you could very easily substitute this with cornmeal or even another flour, like spelt or rye. Or just use more all purpose—I told you this cake was adaptable.

For the wet ingredients, we are using melted butter (you can brown it for an extra oomph of flavor), vanilla, eggs, and buttermilk for extra tenderness. Wet ingredients are whisked into the dry to create a thick batter and then fresh blueberries are folded in. The whole thing gets topped with more fresh blueberries and a layer of crunchy demerara sugar before baking. I like to serve this cake with sweetened yogurt, but you could use whipped cream or ice cream if you prefer. It’s also great plain with a giant cup of coffee.

a piece of blueberry basil breakfast cake

Yield: serves 8

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Blueberry Basil Breakfast Cake

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 1 Hour

A simple buttermilk and blueberry snack cake recipe served with honey yogurt. A quick and easy summer dessert recipe for all of your backyard barbecues.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (190 g) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (80 g) semolina flour
• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (54 g) brown sugar
• 5 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup (230 g) buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 1 1/2 tbsp demerara sugar
• 1/4 cup plain whole milk greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp honey

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 9” springform pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and brown sugar. Add the chopped basil leaves and use your fingers to rub the basil into the sugars until fragrant and combined. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, semolina flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the sugars/basil and whisk until combined.
4. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter until smooth and homogenized.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and whisk until no dry spots remain and you have a thick, smooth batter. Add 3/4 of the blueberries, and use a rubber spatula to gently fold them in until evenly dispersed.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth into an even layer. Sprinkle the top with the remaining blueberries and demerara sugar. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until deeply golden brown and the center of the cake is no longer wiggly. Let cool completely in the pan before slicing and serving.
7. To serve: whisk together yogurt and honey. Add a dollop of honey yogurt on each slice of cake and serve immediately.

Notes:

This cake is endlessly adaptable. Substitute any summer berry you have on hand!

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Lavender Wild Berry Muffins

Growing up, some weekday mornings were far more special than the others. My mom is a teacher, and somehow in her mad rush to get my sister and I up, dressed, fed, and out the door, she occasionally found the time to bake muffins for breakfast and those were the very best mornings. You knew it was muffin day right when you opened your eyes because that freshly baked smell wafted through the house, greeting you as you rolled out of the bed. My absolute favorite muffins were these little wild berry muffins, the dry ingredients coming in a little pouch tucked in next to the cornbread mix on the bottom row of the grocery store shelves. I’ve also always wondered how likely it was that a packaged muffin mix actually used wild-grown berries, they probably should have been named mixed berry muffins, but the word wild made them feel even cooler. Regardless, we would split open the warm muffins, slather them with butter, and then wrap them in paper towels to eat in the car on the way to school. What a great way to start the day.

These are the muffins I make when I want to pretend I’m back in elementary school, eating muffins in the backseat. You can mix in any berries you want, wild or otherwise, frozen or fresh, just make sure that you go heavy on the berries. My ideal muffin is just a scoop of berries, barely bound together by batter. Most muffins are made using a liquid fat and the blending method, with the primary focus being moisture and tenderness. These muffins, however, are made using room temperature butter and the creaming method, like a cake, making them a tall and fluffy bakery-style muffin. I like to sprinkle them with just a bit of crunchy demerara sugar, but they would also be great with a crumb topping or even no topping at all. Don’t forget to finish them with a big pat of butter and a sprinkle of flaky salt.

Lavender Wild Berry Muffins 

Yield: 15 muffins

Ingredients

1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature 

1/2 cup (110 g) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (95 g) brown sugar

1 tbsp dried lavender

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour

1/4 cup (60 g) whole milk

2 tbsp whole milk yogurt 

1 1/3 cup (about 200 g) mixed berries, frozen or fresh

demerara sugar for sprinkling, optional

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. 

2. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and lavender and rub with your fingers until fragrant and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add a tablespoon of the flour mixture to the berries and toss to coat. In a glass measuring cup, combine milk and yogurt. Set all of this aside for now. 

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, brown sugar, and sugar and lavender mixture. Cream on medium speed until light and fluffy and no chunks of butter remain. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

5. With the mixer on low speed, add eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract and mix until smooth and homogenous. 

6. With the mixer on low speed, alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the milk/yogurt mixture, starting and ending with dry ingredients (dry-wet-dry-wet-dry). 

7. When the last of the dry ingredients have been added, remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape down the sides to ensure everything is well-combined. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the berries until they are evenly distributed. 

8. Use a large cookie scoop to portion batter into your prepared muffin cups, sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes until muffins are tall and golden brown, and a knife or toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool slightly and then enjoy warm, split open and slathered with lots of butter and flaky salt. 

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