Recipe to Reality: Buttermilk Blueberry-Raspberry Breakfast Cake

   After coming home from the gym today, I picked up Candee and brought her to my apartment to make some Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake from a recipe that I found at Alexandra's Kitchen . As a fruit and veggie lover, I decided that we should add raspberries as well as blueberries because in my head, the more berries the better! 

All our ingredients, ready to go!

As a savory cook, I don't bake very often, but I do love eating baked goods! So it's going to take me a little while to get used to improvising in the baking kitchen. In cooking, I can pretty much add whatever I want to a dish. Extra veggies, different spices, a little more water, no problem! Today I learned that it's a little harder in baking. I'm going to have to be more precise and follow the recipes to a T and learn how to add in different elements that I want. This makes Cupcake Wars seem a lot harder! No wonder so many of their batters come out wrong when using new ingredients. I guess we can't just add in an extra cup of raspberries just because I think that it will taste better ;)

Our Coated Berry Mix

The recipe was very simple to follow. We used my zester today (instead of Candee's cheese grater) and found that the lemon flavor of the cake is subtle and brings a brightness to the cake. The recipe also instructed to coat our berries in flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan while baking.

Mess-free Shield!

I was pretty excited to use my Kitchen Aid mixer for the 2nd time since I received it as a gift from my bridal shower. (Thanks Aunt P, Aunt E, and Grandma!) Candee was just as excited if not more-but for the funnel-shield thingy that prevents some of your dry ingredients from spilling out the sides of your mixing bowl.

Pink?!

It didn't occur to me that the raspberries would break apart and dye our batter pink...but I didn't mind at all! The batter looks like frosting, doesn't it?

35 Minutes

Before baking, we sprinkled another tablespoon of sugar on top of the batter and it made somewhat of a crunchy sugar crust. While the recipe suggested 35 minutes for baking, we left ours in for about 42 minutes because when we checked the cake after 35 it was still runny. I think the addition of the raspberries made the batter more liquidy and that's why it needed a longer cooking time.

Looking Good!

Overall, we were happy with the way it came out. The cake is a very moist and full of berry flavor! The raspberries add a tart element, and my husband suggested more sugar next time to compensate. The cake is a bit...for lack of a better term... squishy! But! I prefer soft cakes and cookies to dry crunchy ones, so I'm really okay with it. Half of the cake went home with Candee and half stayed here, and I don't think either will be sitting on the counter for long ;)

Blueberry Swirls

We love the way the blueberries popped to make these beautiful blueberry swirls! Also, notice that the pink raspberry color of the batter baked out while in the oven.

Cooking is better with a cousin :)

Stay Sweet,
Jasmine & Candee