Blueberry Brunch Cake

Fresh blueberries, sweet cream butter, and rich Greek yogurt make this a coffee cake that works for breakfast, brunch, or as a midnight treat.  Every part of this cake is delicious--the crust, the baked batter, the berries, and the ribbons of brown sugar and cinnamon!  

If you need a fail-safe dessert, a celebratory treat to share, or something to make for a friend who deserves more sweetness in his/her life, this is it!  My husband and kids are in love with it, and I ate mine slowly to savor each bite. 

Blueberry Brunch Cake

Makes 2 large loaves

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour (whole wheat works)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (full-fat preferred)

1 3/4 cups fresh blueberries (frozen work)

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 large loaf pans with cooking spray.

2. In a medium/large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. 

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and soda, Alternate adding flour mixture and Greek yogurt to creamed mixture.  Fold in blueberries. 

4. In a small bowl, stir brown sugar and cinnamon well. 

5. Spread 1/2 blueberry batter in prepared pans. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture over the wet batter. Top with remaining blueberry batter, and finish with a sprinkling of the remaining brown sugar mix. 

6. Place in center of hot oven and bake 38-42 minutes. Let cool in pans. Use a knife to loosen edges before removing.  Serve warm or cooled. 

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Bunny in the Carrot Patch Bread

This bread gets lots of "Wow!" and "How?"

And not just because it is fun to look at--it tastes great, too!

To make your own, you will need two loaf pans, a bunny cookie cutter, and two recipes--one for pound cake and one for carrot bread.

If  you need a bunny cookie cutter, I found a set of 3 cute ones for a good price on Amazon

The pound cake (which you make first) came from Divas Can Cook.  I chose it because of it's high-fat content, since it will be baked twice. I altered it just slightly. Here it is:

Whipping Cream Pound Cake

3 sticks (1½ cups) unsalted butter, softened

3 cups white sugar

6 eggs, room temperature

3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl cream the butter with the sugar until well combined (about 5 minutes)

2. Add the eggs one at a time and mix completely after each egg.

3. Alternate adding the flour and whipping cream, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

4. Grease and flour 2 large loaf pans. 

5. Spoon the batter into the pan.

6. Place into a cold oven on the middle rack and turn the oven to 325.

7. Bake for 1 hour and 5-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

8. Let cake cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing to finish cooling on a cooling rack.

While pound cakes are cooling, make your carrot bread recipe: 

Carrot Bread

3 cups flour (I used half all-purpose, half whole white wheat)

1.5 teaspoons ground ginger

1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 cup canola oil

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups grated carrots

1. Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour 2 large loaf pans.

2. Stir together all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. In a mixer bowl, beat eggs well. Add oil, sugar and vanilla. 

4. Mix dry ingredients into wet.

5. Stir in carrots.

Now your carrot bread batter is ready. Set it aside. 

Once your pound cakes are made and cooled, cut them into slices (almost as thick as your cookie cutter is), and then cut out bunny shapes from each slice. Discard the heels and the excess (I plan to use mine in a trifle). 

I may have snacked a bit on the leftover pound cake. This was one of the BEST pound cake recipes I've ever used. 

Start lining up the bunnies in the loaf pans, standing up.

Here's how they look all lined up.

Spoon the carrot bread batter over the bunnies carefully. If you just dump it right on top, you might have some smashed bunnies.

Put the loaves in the 325° oven. They will bake for 45-55 minutes.

They look like ordinary loaves of carrot bread...

But they are NOT! Look at the cute little bunny inside!

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