blueberry snacking cake
During my first week of baking school, I have learned that I know nothing. And anything I thought I knew, I didn’t. But I expected that. So, I will be stripped down and rebuilt like the bionic woman. I’ve been whisking wrong, frosting wrong, and holding my offset spatula wrong. I’ve been chopping, slicing and dicing wrong. I think I’ve been eating wrong. My baking school posse and I? Well, we’re gunna be hittin’ ya up with some worldly stuff. We’ll be baking in positively sophisticated ways. We are not doing home economics, people, we are doing professional. (That’s what my chef instructor likes to say.) And we will be jammin’ en français. (Thus, I have understood only about 30% of this week.) It’s like a freakin’ fairy tale for grown ups.
Also, just so you know:
- My program – Boulanger & Baking Art – is the only one of its sort in the country. That’s because of the bread focus, and the training we get in making breads in quantity. Why make one loaf of bread when you can make 50?
- I got condoms in my college orientation pack. Along with shower gels, shampoos and other personal hygiene products that you can glop all over yourself to cover your stench. So, I learned that college marketing is aimed at people who actually go out on the weekends – and want people to sniff them.
- Dudes that travel in large packs (and wear pants that don’t cover their underwear) seem to make up about 60% of my college’s population. I’m worried that one of them is going to hang me up by my chef’s jacket in the bathroom one day.
- When your chef pak is twice as big as your torso – and just as heavy – it is very difficult to remain standing when it is strapped to your back.
- Our lockers are pint sized – they are half lockers. We are supposed to house our chef paks, street clothing, outer wear, street shoes, bags/purses, a metre stick and an extra pressed-to-perfection uniform in there. In a space that is about a foot wide, a foot deep, and four feet tall. IT ISN’T POSSIBLE. So, I guess next week I’ll be learning MAGIC at baking school.
I got my textbooks, uniform, and equipment – tons of delightful tools of the trade. I also got knives that terrify me. I’ve completed my food safety & handling, WHMIS and Occupational Health and Safety courses and exams. On Monday we do some more training on the equipment in the kitchens – the 60 quart mixers, stack ovens and other machines that could suck you in and spit you out. And then on Tuesday? We wear our uniforms for the first time and start to bake. Which we were all excited about until we realized that baking can kill you.
Now, if you’ve been worrying about getting maimed and stuff, you could make some of this blueberry snacking cake. It will take your mind off things. You can use fresh berries or frozen – I’ve tried both. And when you make the batter, you will think it is wrong – because it is a very sticky dough. Quit cryin’, you’ll be fine. You have to drop mounds of that sticky batter into a springform pan and press it down with your fingers – just a little, and gently. You’ll be thinking it’s weird, and you might think things won’t turn out, but you’ll have to trust me – it works. The original recipe called this a blueberry marble cake. People, you cannot swirl sticky dough. So it isn’t a marbled cake. Don’t be silly. No, it’s a snacking cake. It would be great at breakfast too. Just the thing to get you ready to do battle with, say, a locker…
. . .
Blueberry Snacking Cake
recipe: adapted from Homestyle Cookies, Muffins & Cakes
Yields one 8 inch round cake.
- 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen), divided into two equal portions
- 1 1/3 cups self-raising flour
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into small cubes, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- icing (confectioner’s) sugar for garnish
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8 inch round springform pan, and line base with parchment paper.
Place 1 tablespoon of white granulated sugar and half of the blueberries in a small saucepan. Stir together over medium-low heat (stirring constantly so the sugar doesn’t burn) until the juices begin to run, and the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat. Stir in the remaining blueberries and then allow the mixture to cool.
Sift together the self-raising flour and sugar into a medium sized bowl, and set aside. Crack the eggs into a small bowl, and beat lightly. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer (or with a hand-held mixer), beat the butter and vanilla for 1-2 minutes on low speed. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Add the beaten eggs, and mix on low speed for 2 minutes. The butter and eggs won’t combine completely – don’t worry.
Stir in the flour mixture by hand with a metal spoon until smooth. I have found that using my hands brings the dough together much more cohesively. The batter will be very sticky.
Take half of the batter and gently stir it into the blueberries. Place alternating spoonfuls/dollops of the plain and blueberry batters randomly into the prepared tin. Gently press the batter down into the pan (with fingers, spatula or knife), making sure the batter is spread evenly with no spaces between the dollops of batter or along the edges of the pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar over top.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in its tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes before removing the sides of the springform pan. Dust the cake liberally with icing sugar before serving. This cake is best eaten on the day it is made.
Lovely pictures! Thank you for indicating what the texture of the dough will be like. Don’t you hate it when a recipe just seems so wrong, but it says nothing about how the texture(or whatever) wont be normal?! I made a cake the other day and the batter was SO watery and I freaked out…but it turns out it came out perfect! Anyway, Sounds like you’re having a great time at baking school. Yay!
The original recipe said nothing about the stickiness – nothing. I guess they wanted it to be a special surprise! That being said, the cake is very nice. Good thing I’m brave…
It sounds like boot camp, Miss B., complete with impossible tasks — wasn’t it Lewis Carroll who counseled doing impossible things before breakfast? Movita Beaucoup is ready to roll and I can’t wait her about her adventures as a professional soldier — I mean, “baker.”
Hey girL, they’ll have you writing for their school paper before you know it.
And then just make sure they drop your tuition!
You are good!!!!
I can’t wait to try it!
This cake looks yummy. I wonder if I could make it with sour cherries? Good luck for your second week of baking school. Sounds exciting!!!
I think cherries would be great! I’m also thinking about making it with raspberries…
So glad you’re having fun! You must take pictures of all of your hard core burn scars from the oven and your first stitches from the scary knives! 🙂
Just like the first week of ballet school, right? “No… real turnout, real turnout!” You’re gonna be a superstar!
You know, I’m finding a lot of similarities between baking and ballet. That said, I’d rather be at baking school at 7 am than in an Advanced Cecchetti class!
Don’t worry, if the big boys chase you they’ll probably trip over their pants and then you can nudge them into one of the furnace like ovens you now know how to use/are terrified of. See, it’s all working out : )
These are very good points. I will try this method at school today…
I am getting so excited to read your upcoming adventures!
God i am so going to enjoy this! though I am a little unnerved about the sniffing and with all of us going to school stuffed in your little pack, well we are going to have to talk about a bigger locker, i mean really, takes me back to the sniffing! c
YES!!!
Thanks Ms B.! This recipe is superb. I made the recipe into blueberries muffins as my kiddens like muffins and they have come out so light and not muffin-dense as often happens! Yummy blueberry merry, thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to learn tips and tricks from your class too. bisous xox
Hello! My name is Brianne, and I am addicted to baking with blueberries. I also go crazy over snacking cakes, so this is a treat in rare form. I will make this, and keep it all from my almost equally blueberry-crazed boyfriend. Bwahaha! (He “doesn’t like cake,” though, so I have the upper hand here.)
It sounds like baking school is going to be a blast! I can’t wait to hear more stories 🙂
Your blueberry snacking cake looks just like what I need for breakfast this morning. Plus it’s gorgeous!
I’m excited that I get to live vicariously through you and your whole cooking school experience. So far it sounds very exciting…and terrifying!
🙂
this would have been perfect for breakfast today!
i can’t wait to hear all about the cooking secrets you learn in school! and don’t worry, if one of those saggy-pants guys comes after you, you can just throw your chef pak at them! 😉
if you make nice with one of the boys maybe he’ll share his locker with you, and by share, i mean you can have his locker for use too… it’s all about locker real estate and apparently, prime space is at a premium, oui? 2.0 doesn’t need to know about ALL the shenanigans you get yourself into at school. don’t pretend that you didn’t keep things from your mom when you were in primary school… but you should share them here…
Gorgeous cake! I don’t think you’ve been doing those things wrong… if you achieve such great results how can anyone tell you that you have been doing them wrong, no matter who they are. If someone told me I wasn’t chopping an onion correctly I’d probably rub it in their eyes… For a start I’ve seen 4 different professional chefs chop an onion differently… there isn’t a correct way… It does sound like you’re having a great time though. Love that you got given condoms – it’s better to be safe than sorry you know… why not heat them up and stretch them over something entertaining?
What a gorgeous cake :D. I look forward to more of your posts!
Best of luck with school, it sounds like you are going to need it!
You remind me of my our lockers in medical school, the only difference is that 2 students had to share the same locker!
As for the cake, it sounds and looks amazing, thank you for the note about the sough consistency. I tend to panic a little when things don’t go as expected in the middle of a recipe
I am so impressed that you have already done your food safety & handling and Occupational Health and Safety courses and passed! I had to follow your link to find out what WHMIS is. Hazardous materials? Oh, my! All in one week?! Very impressive! Can’t wait to hear about the big machines. I’ve always wanted a Hobart of my own. Sad, huh? Keep safe!
Stacy
Mmm! I’m going to have to try this recipe. Having just finished baking school I know where you’re coming from with the lockers. Ugh … how do they expect students to fit everything in those tiny lockers. One thing that helped me was combining my purse with the bag I was using to lug my uniform in that way I only had to cary one bag to school. Also, I left my kit at school so I didn’t have to lug it there and back. And if you can get a second uniform that you can leave there just in case, that might come in handy. Best of luck with your studies!
This looks very yum and doable.
Love the recap on the beginning of your new adventure. Maybe you can trade the condoms at lunch.
I saw this lovely cake on FB, and I thought to myself, “Hey. I like to snack.” I call it snacking, but some might call it overindulging. Either way, I want this cake.
I’m currently in school, and I just don’t get the attire. Students like to wear sunglasses indoors. Indoors! What is up with this? Unless your eyes are dilated, this is completely unnecessary, and they look ridiculous.
Please don’t get sucked up by the super mixer, because I’ll miss you if you do. Just sayin’.
Beautiful post and beautiful pictures! Just finished dinner and this would be a lovely after dinner treat 🙂
Baking school sounds so exciting. I’m looking forward to reading about your experiences there.
Your photos are lovely! I have some blueberries in my freezer that I’ve been wanting to do something with and this sounds perfect.
Hilarious! But condoms in an orientation pack? Really? Your course sounds very interesting. Once you are done with this course, you are gonna be SooperBakerWoman.
This cake makes me abundantly happy. what also makes me happy is that right now (like, as i type this) i know you have completed your first actual baking-stuff day of baking school. and i can’t wait to hear about it.
I suppose it’s a good thing you’re the one attending real baking school, because as it turns out, i would have wandered around the halls in a headache fog the entire first week. I probably would have accidentally stabbed someone after trying to fit all my worldly possessions into a teeny locker. and then i would have cried and thrown condoms at the saggy-pants posse. You are a better person than i am. 🙂
I can’t wait to hear about this day. I bet First Official Bake Day is awesome, even if it was scary.
When I clicked here I thought.. “and so school begins for Movita”! How exciting, even if you have a tiny locker! And if any of those guys messes with you.. well, he’ll have all of us showing up there to teach them a lesson or two in getting maimed!! Loved reading about your adventure and love your recipe too!! I just have a few blueberries that need to meet some cake batter!! xx
Movita, i am SO EXCITED for this new school, and for all the details you will dish to us! I wish they made a reality TV show out of your life, because I would totally watch.
This looks absolutely delicious, definitely going to try out this recipe so thank you for sharing! Enjoying reading about your baking school adventures too. I’m in a similar position in that I’ve just started art college, to learn how to properly draw, paint, photograph, craft and make 🙂 Sending you lots of good luck vibes for your new learning adventure!
Such a thrill to attend baking school vicariously right along with you! Your cake looks fabulous, so clearly you’re doing lots of things right. As for wrong, perhaps there are just different ways of doing things (and occasionally the new way might even work better for you!). I’m getting all defensive hearing that someone told Movita she was doing things wrong! As for all that killer bakery equipment — safety first!
Question: Any chance you fit inside the industrial-sized mixer? Because if you could climb down in there and have someone take a picture, it would make a great Christmas card. Like, not only for you and 2.0 to send to your friends and family. I think *I* would buy a solid hundred of them to send out to my own peeps. On the inside it could say something like “Hope you’re mixing it up this holiday season!”
Mixing it up, get it? GET IT?! .
That’s probably the most genius idea I’ve ever heard. IN MY WHOLE LIFE.
Comments on this post are now closed as it was published in September 2012. Happy baking!