Spoon & Shutter

Blueberry Gingerbread Cake

From Susan: Dear reader, you surely have noticed that our posts have been somewhat sporadic of late. Not to make excuses, but it’s that time of year – kid back in school, I started a new job on Sept. 1, a new TV season … (just kidding about that last one).

Well, we are back on the wagon, bringing you recipes! dinner parties! photo of the week! travel! and more from our keyboards, camera and kitchen.

Before settling down Sunday night to watch the recorded first episode of “Boardwalk Empire,” (we do watch some TV) I popped this easy cake in the oven. It seems to me an ideal recipe for the transition of summer into fall, incorporating a summer fruit (blueberries) into a fall-flavored cake (gingerbread). I used frozen Maine blueberries; do try to find these if you don’t have fresh ones, their small size works better for this cake than the big ones.

Blueberry Gingerbread

1 cup fresh or frozen wild blueberries

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup sugar

7 tbsp. butter, melted

3 tbsp. molasses

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk or regular milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8 x 11 pan (9 x13 will work too if you want a thinner cake). Combine blueberries and 2 tbsp. flour, tossing gently to coat. Combine remaining flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer, place sugar, butter, molasses and egg; beat at medium speed until well combined. Add dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk or milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Gently fold in blueberries. Spread evenly in pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour (less for larger pan) until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.