Blueberry Spoon Cake
Published June 6, 2024
- Total Time
- 1 hour 5 minutes
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:One 9-inch cake (6 to 8 servings)
- 4tablespoons/58 grams unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the dish
- 14ounces/397 grams fresh blueberries (about 2½ cups)
- ¾cup/150 grams granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- Zest and juice of ½ lemon (about 1 tablespoon juice)
- 1large egg
- ½cup/113 grams sour cream, plus more for serving
- ½cup/76 grams yellow cornmeal (preferably fine grind)
- ¾cup/63 grams almond meal
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- 1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) or ½ teaspoon fine salt
- Vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
288 calories; 14 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 38 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 26 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 289 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch glass pie dish.
- Step 2
Put the blueberries, ¼ cup/50 grams sugar and the lemon zest and juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring here and there for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved and the berries are glossy. Turn off the heat and set aside.
- Step 3
In a medium bowl, cream the butter and remaining ½ cup/100 grams sugar together until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the egg and stir to incorporate fully before adding the sour cream. Stir to combine and set aside.
- Step 4
In another medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, almond meal, baking powder and salt, and whisk. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk to form a smooth batter, then pour into the greased pie dish, leveling the batter with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Step 5
Spoon over the blueberries with their juices somewhat evenly distributing them and leaving some batter uncovered. Sprinkle with sugar to evenly cover the surface. Set the pie plate on a baking sheet to catch drips.
- Step 6
Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the cake has taken on a deep nutty color around its edge, and a blueberry-less area of sponge springs back when you press with a finger. The jammy areas will feel underbaked and that is good.
- Step 7
Leave to cool a little before serving warm with sour cream or vanilla ice cream, or both.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
lu
Some unsolicited advise… if you’re looking for a delicious blue berry spoon cake and this one seems like Too Much (zesting a lemon, almond powder, etc), i recommend a recipe called strawberry spoon cake (any kind of berries will do). it’s in nyt cooking
Debbie
We loved this! I've been baking gluten-free for 32 years, and this crust was the best of all the spoon breads or cakes I've tried (and I've tried dozens). Helpful hint: Use Anson Mills yellow corn meal (yup, it's fine). Also, Anson Mills GF flour blend has become my basic flour blend when I don't take the time to make my own blend of about 10 whole-grain GF flours. I order in bulk and keep bags in the freezer. I learned about AM from NYT Cooking, my favorite food resource!
Bianca Russo
Has anyone tried this with frozen blueberries? I freeze fresh blueberries for baking.
cv
added a teaspoon of vanilla to the batter -- was a great move!
Joyce S
My 9-inch glass pie plate was not big enough and the cake overflowed onto the baking sheet. I will use a bigger pie plate (maybe a 10-inch?) next time.
SusanL
Not really. Almond flour is made from blanched almonds. Almond meal from almonds with the skins still on. So the flour is about the same color as yellow cornmeal; the meal is darker. They can pretty much be used interchangeably tho' in my experience.
Annie
I have not made the recipe, but I would generally NOT substitute buttermilk for sour cream. Though the tang would be good, the consistency would be all wrong. My go-to replacement would be Greek yogurt, and not less thank 2% milkfat.
Rebecca
Delicious AND a little overdone at 45 minutes. I'll add a smidge more butter and check it at 40 minutes next time.
dimmerswitch
Tender delicious cake and the berries are the star. Made per recipe for ingredients and technique except scaled it back by half, we were serving 3 and full recipe serves 6-8, bcuz instinct said this would be best consumed on day baked. Used 6" (5.75" inside) baker. Perfect outcome. Done at 42 min. Not too sweet but enough that didn't want ice cream as go with so used dollop of slightly whipped 5% Greek yogurt. Perfect pairing. Keeper.
MG
Delicious and so easy. I followed the recipe to a T with 30 g of sugar less as my blueberries were sweet. Used a 10 inch pie dish so there was no projections in the oven. It took 42 minutes to bake.
Simon
totally hear you on niche ingredients -- in so many areas of the country it can be tough. however for this one you could make your own almond meal if you have raw almonds and a blender or food processor. for those with more access, i substituted almond flour and it turned out great.
Lynne
Thanks for this perfect gluten free recipe! It is as decribed... just the right sweetness and very moist.
Sheila L.
Made exactly as directed. Absolutely delicious. Will make many more times this summer.
Westchester Peach
I consider myself an accomplished baker but this was an epic fail for my GF husband, too salty and I probably should have swapped my Sunrise Mill GF flour for almond/corn meal. The blueberries/lemon topping was great w/ ice cream. I do not recommend
cv in sf
I thought it was too sweet as it is, I would make it with less sugar next time. Also, I used yogurt to replace the sour cream and it worked fine.
Marianne
Very tasty
John M
I’ve made this a couple times now, with two notable changes. I zested the entire lemon and squeezed most of the juice in as well. Lemon improves blueberry, in my opinion. But here’s the game-changer. I replaced the almond flour (I dunno—it’s just not my favorite for baking) with GF oat flour. It was really good, both times. Made it for company and they kept going back for more. Oh, I did one other thing. I baked it in a casserole dish, and didn’t cook it quite as long as called for.
Leigh
I made this using grams to measure my ingredients. After simmering the berries for about 6 minutes, I had quite a volume of berries and juice. When I poured it over the cake batter, it made a complete layer I estimate to be at least 1/3 as thick as the cake. No sponge showed on the surface; it looked like an open-face pie. Was I supposed to drain off most of the juice after cooking the berries?
Nancy
I don't understand the love for this recipe. In fact, I think it's pretty bad. I made it last night and considered throwing it away, but it's better this morning when it's cold. Still, I would never make it again. The cake part is the problem. It tastes fine but it's mushy and mealy. Never again.
Jane Roth
What is almond meal?
Debra
Fabulous with my garden fresh berries! Am always happy to find GF recipes. The cake flavor is superb. The almond and cornmeal are a great combo. I used a 9” deep dish pie dish and had no cook over. It was perfectly done at 45 min.
Dbee
The recipe says to use a pie DISH not a pie plate. Might be the problem with overflowing!
Kelly M
While fresh blueberries were a tasty star of this dish, my family found the texture of the crumble to be a bit off-putting. While I have a good tolerance for salt, and am never shy in its application, the amount of salt in this dish could be cut to half. With so many summer fruit-forward recipes to choose from, I don't find this one has earned a spot in our rotation.
JME
This was very dry and too salty.
Constance Samuel
Easy to make and everyone enjoyed it.
Sue
This is fantastic! For all you GFree folks out there, this has none of the tasteless “dust” (my name for too many gluten free flours, which are mostly starch). Homey, delicious with cornmeal and almond flour, which bring out the best in blueberries. The only change I will make next time, is cutting down blueberries slightly, to annoy a bit more of the wonderful cake taste and crusty bits.
MG
Delicious and so easy. I followed the recipe to a T with 30 g of sugar less as my blueberries were sweet. Used a 10 inch pie dish so there was no projections in the oven. It took 42 minutes to bake.
AnnP
I’d like to make this for someone w dairy allergies in addition to gluten. Could coconut-based yogurt substitute for sour cream? Or what would you suggest?
Sue
I also used Kite Hill plain almond yogurt here, and results were superb. This recipe is magic!
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