Hello Everyone,
I'm always looking for ways to use rhubarb so when a friend of my daughter's made this morning cake for us one day while we were all self distancing in upstate New York, I immediately wanted to substitute the blueberries with rhubarb.
I also wanted to replace some of the flour with flax seed meal. Both versions worked out well. This is indeed more of a muffin top than a cake so it achieves the ends of Alison Roman who published the original recipe in her cookbook Dining Out. Her thoughts on muffins are below, preceding the recipe. My changes to the recipe are in parentheses. The result is still a breakfast indulgence -- but we all need some indulgences these days!
Be well,
Susie
"Whenever I have a muffin, my first thought is generally, “Why aren’t muffins better?” Butter, sugar, eggs, flour — I mean, by all accounts, it should be at least an 8/10 every time. And yet I find myself wishing that most were even a tenth as good as the ones from Costco that I grew up eating, which we all know are just cakes baked in muffin cups. After giving it a lot of thought, I realized that instead of making a muffin that just tastes like cake, what I wanted was a cake that tasted like a muffin. So here it is, basically one giant muffin top, now in sliceable cake form."
Directions
Yield: Serves 8
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 9-inch fluted tart pan or round cake pan with nonstick spray (or grease with butter or canola oil)
- Whisk together the almond flour, all-purpose flour (flax meal), baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Using an electric mixer, in a medium bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and ¼ cup of the granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until the mixture is super light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and with the mixer on medium, add the eggs one at a time, beating until each one is incorporated, followed by the vanilla. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is pale and nearly doubled in volume, 4 to 5 minutes. Fold in the almond mixture until no dry spots remain. Gently add 1½ cups of the blueberries (or 2/3 cup of stewed rhubarb) by hand, making sure you don’t totally smush them.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared tart pan and, using a spatula or the back of a spoon, smooth the top. Sprinkle the remaining 3 tablespoons granulated sugar on top and bake until the cake is deeply golden brown and pulls away from the edges slightly, 30 to 35 minutes. It should start to crackle a bit on top (what you’re looking for).
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing.
Note: The cake can be baked 4 days ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and stored at room temperature.
Reprinted from Dining In. Copyright © 2017 by Alison Roman. Photographs copyright ©2017 by Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriot. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.
