Blueberry Rye Coffee Cake with Almond Crumble

actually really good with a cup of coffee

The thing about coffee cake is that it’s long been one of those foods that I want to want to enjoy. But there are certain dogged consequences of growing up under the influence of online wellness. Because in those formative years, between the ages of 16 and 20, it seemed like everyone online, which includes myself, was proselytizing some vegan-adjacent diet that made enjoying things like coffee cake and bacon nearly impossible.

I’m growing, I’m unlearning, I’m listening to my body. It’s taken years, one of which I was a baker and in another life, that would have been enough to end my fraught relationship with all those foods I was taught were “bad.” But sourdough is good for me, right? And like, I was working on my feet all day. The need to balance the scales continues. I took up running and I only recently stopped doing it for the wrong reasons. I think sunsets had something to do with that. I love running at dusk. But coffee cake and breakfast pastries remain in that (thank god) ever shrinking category of foods which have been cause for unwavering wavering.

Because that’s the other thing about coffee cake. Is I want to have it with coffee. I want it to have a sort of dry crumb that requires some washing down. And if I’m having coffee with my cake it’s going to be served black, piping hot, in a mug with thick walls. And I want to have it outside, just as the sun inches over the horizon as I ruminate over some crossword puzzle I won’t be able to solve. And I want to be 10 years old again just before the age that I learned about the stricture of certain foods. And still, time moves forward. And I’m growing. And this is my attempt at unlearning. The coffee cake of my dreams is slightly sweet. Nutty and earthy with the addition of rye flour. It’s layered with crumble and made seasonally with blueberries from the local market but can be adapted to different times of the year. This is coffee cake of my dreams. I hope it’s yours too.

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Blueberry Rye Coffee Cake with Almond Crumble

For the Crumble

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 cup rye flour

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/3 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Splash of vanilla or almond extract

For the Cake

• 2 large eggs, at room temperature

• 1 teaspoons vanilla

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup oil of your choice (I used olive oil) 

• 1 cup rye flour

• 1/2 cup almond flour

• 1/2 teaspoon table salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

• 3/4 cup greek yogurt

• 1 heaping cup blueberries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium, microwave safe mixing bowl, melt your butter. Once melted, add in the rest of your crumble ingredients and stir until all of the dries are coated in the butter and combined to form pea sized clusters. Set aside.

3. Make your batter. In a medium mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment, add your eggs and vanilla and beat (you can do this with a hand mixer or a whisk as well) until frothy about 2 minutes. Add in your sugar and mix on medium until the mixture is a pale yellow color and there are bubbles on the surface, about 2-4 minutes.

4. Slowly drizzle in your oil, mixing as you go until it is fully incorporated.

5. Add your dry ingredients—flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon—on top of your liquids and mix until combined. (If you are mixing by hand, switch from a whisk to a spatula to and fold dries in. If you’re using an electric mixer, start on the slowest speed and increase to medium for about 1-2 minutes.)

6. Once the dries are combined, using a spatula, fold in your yogurt. Repeat with your blueberries.

7. Line an 8x8in square pan with parchment. Add half your batter. Layer with about 1/3 of the crumble. Top with the remaining batter and top with the rest of the crumble. Bake for 45-55 minutes until the center is cooked all the way through and the crumble has darkened in color.

   

8. Remove from the oven and let cool in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Then gently remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

9. It’s best eaten one 1/2 inch sliver at a time that you keep having to “even out” until you realize the whole thing is gone and you have to make another.