You Have One Hour, and Your Time Starts ... Now

Quick! You're invited to a barbecue at the last minute and you need to throw together a contribution. What to make? That's why it's always good to have a couple of quick crowd pleasers in your repertoire. Like an easy blueberry sour cream cake.

This one evolved from a raspberry buttermilk cake published last June in Gourmet (sigh, I do miss it).  I always have almonds in the cupboard, so here, instead of 1 cup of flour, I use 3/4 cup flour plus 1/4 cup ground almonds, and in place of the buttermilk I use sour cream (or plain Greek-style yogurt), because I never seem to have buttermilk just sitting around in the fridge. My hubby and I don't like our desserts extremely sweet, so I decreased the sugar to 1/2 cup (instead of the original 2/3 cup).

Also, the leavening in the original recipe seemed excessive for what amounts to 1 cup of flour, so I've cut the baking soda in half (down to 1/8 teaspoon). Cooking science experts, such as "Bakewise" author Shirley Corriher, say that too much leavening actually drives air out of the batter instead of giving a cake more lift. The adjustment seemed to work. My husband didn't know about my change to the recipe and commented that the cake turned out lighter.

Blueberry Sour Cream Cake

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup flour plus 1/4 cup ground almonds* (OR just 1 cup all purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (2 ounces) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream or Greek-style yogurt
1 heaping cup blueberries**
1 tablespoon sugar (any kind of sugar crystals, eg. regular white sugar or turbinado sugar)

DIRECTIONS

Before making the batter, place oven rack in the bottom third of oven*** and preheat to 400 F at least 15 minutes.
Generously butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan (or spray nonstick cake pan with cooking spray) so that it will be ready when you need it.

1. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, ground almonds (if using), baking powder, baking soda and salt with a fork. This helps ensure you don't get a clump of baking powder or soda in one spot.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar, about 2 minutes, until fluffy. I use a medium speed of my hand-held electric mixer.

3. Add egg and extracts to butter, mixing well to combine.

4. Add about 1/3 dry ingredients into batter, mixing them in at low speed, then half of the sour cream. Mix in another third of the dry, followed by remaining sour cream. Mix in the rest of the dry ingredients just until combined.

5. Spread batter into prepared cake pan, and then arrange berries on top.
Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar and bake at 400 F until golden brown and tester inserted in center comes out with no raw batter, about 25 minutes. (You may have to adjust the time depending on your oven.)

Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Run a knife between the cake and the side of the pan to
loosen the cake, place a plate on the pan and then invert it onto the plate. (This is the reason you need to generously butter and flour the pan ahead of time.) Remove the pan carefully, leaving the cake on the plate. Then invert the cake onto another plate so that it is right side up again.
Serve with fresh berries and whipped cream

NOTES:
*I really like using ground almonds (I whiz blanched slivered almonds in a food processor with a level tablespoon of sugar until they are ground relatively fine). But the original recipe used just 1 cup of all purpose flour (I like King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose), and it tasted very good that way too. If you don't use the ground almonds, you can add the tablespoon of sugar that would have been with the almonds to the creamed butter instead.

**The original recipe also called for 1 cup of raspberries, but I prefer 1 1/2 cups berries. I've also made the original recipe and this version with strawberries and pitted cherries, and all the variations were delicious.

***I like to preheat my oven (it's NOT convection) ideally for 20 to 30 minutes. I also keep a baking stone on the oven rack to preheat along with the oven and place the cake pan on the baking stone. This seems to help prevent the temperature from dropping drastically when I open the oven door to put the cake in. It also seems to keep the heat that hits the bottom of the baking pan more even.

I know this recipe by memory now, so it comes together super quickly for me (just under an hour from measuring ingredients to a slice on my plate). But I still set up the ingredients before getting started, and I place them in bowls on my counter (just like on TV cooking shows) in the order that I will be using them (a.k.a. mise en place). Not only does it let me zip through preparation quickly and easily, it makes me less likely to forget an ingredient. Yes, I've had a more than a few senior moments.

Made(leines) in the U.S.A.

Everyone who knows me at first thinks I picked up my love of madeleines in France. After all I spent a bit of time there and went to a bakery or two every day.
But it wasn't love at first sight. It wasn't even first sight. I didn't notice the little cakes shaped like elongated scallop shells when I was in Aix or Paris or Marseilles or Nice. No, it was the flashier tartes and chocolate endowed cakes such as opera cake and the laminated layers of the croissants that called to me from behind the glass at the patisseries.

It wasn't until I came across a package of mass-produced madeleines at Fairway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that I discovered these little cuties. They didn't blow me away, but I was charmed by the size and shape.

Around that time there must have been a fad for madeleines because I suddenly came across madeleine recipes from Bon Appetit and The New York Times. I can't resist a do-it-yourself project (ask me sometime about my homemade tofu) and decided to give it a go. Fresh from the oven, my own madeleines were in a completely different category from the ones wrapped in cellophane at the supermarket. The home-baked ones were buttery, a little nutty, with a slight crispness at the edges that dared to be dipped into a cup of coffee or tea.

Out of a batch of two dozen, there were about five left after an hour. After five hours, only the lingering fragrance of toasted butter hinted at their existence.

If I had shared, they might not have lasted so long.

Since then, madeleines are something I just throw together, the way the mother of one of my first grader's friends might throw together a batch of Tollhouse cookies.

Sometimes I mix in ground almonds or hazelnuts. Other times I fold in lemon zest or chopped candied orange peel that I've made. The most popular variation that I've given away (I KNOW! Sometimes I actually have some left) is the one with the hidden lump of Valrhona chocolate that I tuck into the batter. To me they're all good.

The only caveat is that the little cakes (technically a variation on a genoise) tend to get dry after a day. That's what madeleines do. Normally I'd shrug -- as if they'd ever sit uneaten that long. But I sometimes do mail them a thousand miles to my mother-in-law or my sister, so occasionally I need them to stay a bit moister for a just a few days.

One of my favorite additions to baked goods is sour cream, and this is no exception. In my version of madeleines, sour cream prevents them from totally drying out before reaching their destination. (Besides, the surprise of dark chocolate in the center distracts people from noticing any flaws.) Then, when they are ready to be eaten, all they need is about a minute in an oven to restore a bit of crispness to the edges.

Recipe

Chocolate Surprise Madeleines

yield: 24

INGREDIENTS
pinch salt
3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
2/3 c. sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 c. plus 1 Tbsp cake flour
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 Tbsp. sour cream
24 Valrhona chocolate feves* (I like one of the  61% chocolates), optional
(other options: 1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest or chopped candied orange peel, or 2 tsp orange flower water)

Note: Butter and flour madeleine molds (I do it even if they are nonstick)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F


1. Beat eggs and yolk with salt until doubled or tripled in volume.

2. Still beating, add sugar and vanilla until incorporated.

3. Gently fold in cake flour.

4. In bowl, combine butter and 1/4 c. to 1/2 c. of the batter. Incorporate sour cream into butter-batter mixture.

5. Fold butter-batter mixture into remaining batter.

6. Fill madeleine molds 3/4 full.

7. Lightly press a piece of chocolate into each madeleine. You can bake with the chocolate showing, but I like to use the back of a spoon or small spatula to pull some batter over the chocolate to hide it. I think it looks better with the chocolate hidden.

8. Bake at 425 degrees F for 4 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F. and continue baking until edges turn golden brown, anywhere from 4 to 8 minutes more depending on the oven.

9. Allow madeleines to cool in mold about a minute, then remove to cooling rack.


Note:
*Jacques Torres baking disks would be a good substitute for Valrhona feves. If you don't like dark chocolate but love milk chocolate, then bien sur, use milk chocolate.