One of the new rages on the internet these days (mostly among women) is Pinterest. Pinterest is a website that allows you to create online image boards, or collages of multiple images. It’s a great way to plan a redecoration in your home, pin recipes you’d like to make (like CIRS recipes), or even plan your dream wedding (which I spend way too much time doing). The website can be equally beneficial and organizational as it is a brilliant time waster. However, I came across a picture for blueberry breakfast cake, and knew I wanted to make it immediately. The recipe originally came from http://www.alexandracooks.com, another food blog, and I have altered it to make it a little more me and a little more healthy so that I could call it “breakfast cake” and not “dessert cake that I choose to eat for breakfast”.
Of all the flavors and recipes I mess around with, baking recipes are the hardest to change because of the chemical balance in correctly baked products. The new trick I’ve been working with is replacing the butter in recipes with greek yogurt. I know this isn’t a mind blowing alternative, but I’ve found it to be pretty successful in most of my dishes. The biggest difference is that cakes become softer and less bouncy. The products also stay white and don’t brown because the cooked butter is what does that in any recipe. Everyone I’ve tested them on really likes the taste of the yogurt because of the natural tang, which naturally complements fruity recipes. I’ve stuck to purchasing Cabot Low Fat Greek Yogurt (non-fat will not work well) because of it’s thickness and richness.
Makes: 8- 10 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes Baking Time: 35-40 minutes Total Time: 1 hour
½ cup Cabot low-fat Greek yogurt
1 lemon, zested
1 cup sugar, separate 2 tbs out
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
1 tbs butter
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 9 inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixer, beat together the yogurt, lemon zest, and sugar (minus 2 tbs). Add the egg and vanilla, making sure that they are well combined into the mixture.
- Instead of wasting a bowl to “whisk the dry ingredients” like you are supposed to in every baking recipe, I just add the dry ingredients half at a time. Add one cup all purpose flour, the baking powder, salt, and cinnamon to the yogurt mixture. Mix until just combined. Over mixing any baked goods recipe will develop the gluten in the flour and make a tough cake.
- Add the buttermilk and slowly mix. Before it is incorporated at the remaining white flour, whole wheat flour, and blueberries. Mix until just combined without crushing the blueberries, you can even fold in those ingredients with a spatula.
- Use a spatula to evenly distribute the batter in the pan. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 tbs of sugar. Melt the butter in a small bowl and use a pastry brush to brush across the top. This will allow for some of the browning I was referring to in the introduction.
- Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes. It will come out mostly clean with a toothpick, although recipes with Greek yogurt are softer than their fattening counterparts. It will feel firm on the top.
- Let the cake cool slightly before slicing and serving.
Cooking In Red Socks 