The first thing that caught my eye this morning as we wandered into the local farmers market was a bounty of fresh beautiful blueberries. I told Jeff there was no way we were leaving without a basket or 5 of these plump dark cobalt spheres. Even though our freezer still has a good supply of wild blueberries, there is just nothing like that sweet burst of juice when you eat a fresh blueberry.
I knew I had better get working on at least one recipe today, otherwise my supply would be gone in a heartbeat as they are way too tempting to just snack on. I chose this
Vegan Blueberry Buckle (buckle is just a fancy name for coffeecake) to make mainly because it used about double the amount of blueberries than other recipes I came across this morning. Besides getting a ton of nutrition from the berries, this buckle also incorporates whole grains into the dry ingredients. Today we used spelt flour, but you will notice that I've also given the option to use whole-wheat pastry flour instead - if you don't have either, you could go ahead and use all-purpose. Don't be scared to use either of the spelt or whole wheat pastry flours if you can find them though, they make for a wonderful tender cake without the weight of regular whole wheat flour.
Not counting the crumbly streusel on top, the only sweetener called for in the cake is pure delicious maple syrup. With a generous four cups of fresh blueberries in the cake batter, each bite I took from my slice erupted with sweet blueberry flavor - Jeff got more impatient as he watched my eyes rolled back enjoying my piece. I gave in and finally cut him a slice... I think he finished his in record time! I did wait until he was done eating to tell him it was actually a vegan recipe and he was quite surprised! I do have to say that the cake was a tiny bit dense without any lift from eggs, but it was not that noticeable. I also kind of missed that buttery flavor in the golden cinnamon-scented crumbles on top - the fat used to make them is canola oil, but I wonder if you could get some of that flavor back by using a vegan stick-butter (I've used those from
Earth Balance before and it worked well).
I knew I had better get working on at least one recipe today, otherwise my supply would be gone in a heartbeat as they are way too tempting to just snack on. I chose this Vegan Blueberry Buckle (buckle is just a fancy name for coffeecake) to make mainly because it used about double the amount of blueberries than other recipes I came across this morning. Besides getting a ton of nutrition from the berries, this buckle also incorporates whole grains into the dry ingredients. Today we used spelt flour, but you will notice that I've also given the option to use whole-wheat pastry flour instead - if you don't have either, you could go ahead and use all-purpose. Don't be scared to use either of the spelt or whole wheat pastry flours if you can find them though, they make for a wonderful tender cake without the weight of regular whole wheat flour.
Not counting the crumbly streusel on top, the only sweetener called for in the cake is pure delicious maple syrup. With a generous four cups of fresh blueberries in the cake batter, each bite I took from my slice erupted with sweet blueberry flavor - Jeff got more impatient as he watched my eyes rolled back enjoying my piece. I gave in and finally cut him a slice... I think he finished his in record time! I did wait until he was done eating to tell him it was actually a vegan recipe and he was quite surprised! I do have to say that the cake was a tiny bit dense without any lift from eggs, but it was not that noticeable. I also kind of missed that buttery flavor in the golden cinnamon-scented crumbles on top - the fat used to make them is canola oil, but I wonder if you could get some of that flavor back by using a vegan stick-butter (I've used those from Earth Balance before and it worked well).
Lovely cake, this reminds me I must try something from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World!
ReplyDeleteMmmm, now tell me, why don't you weigh like 400 pounds?
ReplyDeleteKelly - Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnon - Besides being a fairly active person, we both are good at enjoying food in moderation and not over-doing it. I think we keep a fairly balanced diet!
We also freeze a lot of stuff or give it away to friends or neighbors!
Ahhh! so you are giving your stuff to neighbors. Wish I was your neighbor. This cake looks great!
ReplyDeleteHi Joe. We're reveling in blueberries over here too - we picked 10 pounds on Friday. We've done a blueberry cobbler and today I made the buckle from the KA Whole Grain book - no shortage of butter in that one. ;) I'm thinking maybe blueberry ice cream next.....
ReplyDeleteOhhh, I love blueberry buckle. I have the urge to make this. I love butter though...that sort of takes away the vegan part.
ReplyDeleteMeeta - Not everything is given away though! We mostly save stuff for us!
ReplyDeleteAlysha - Jealous!
Emilie - yeah, but you could always use butter and just not call it vegan!
Or you could use Earthbalance and not be able to tell the difference while saving yourself some saturated/trans fat. Another alternative you might want to look into would be coconut oil and other tropical oils although I've never personally used them myself. Looks delicious Joe.
ReplyDeleteHi Sean - Yes, I mentioned Earth Balance in the post. I've used it before and it worked well!
ReplyDelete