Table Talk » Note to Self: Always Engage Brain Before Baking

Last weekend, a member of the Cooking Light Great Food bulletin board posted a Blueberry Yogurt Coffee Cake from the Washington Post. Right away I knew that I wanted to make it for Tom. The recipe appeals to me because it doesn't have a lot of sugar and it uses a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat flour. Tom loves blueberries and I wanted to make him something different for breakfast.

I got home from work and pulled out all the baking stuff. What I didn't pull out was my brain. After I got all the ingredients mixed together, I realized that something was very wrong, the batter was much too dry. So I reread the recipe. Oh, it has 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. Not 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, which is what I had used. Now what do I do?

Baking is not my strong suit. I don't know the science of baking and that means that baking is not something that I feel comfortable improvising with. But I wanted to rescue this cake. It needed moisture, so I stirred in yogurt until I got a batter consistency. Since the cake had an extra cup of whole wheat flour and a cup or more of yogurt, I was concerned that it didn't have enough leavening to rise. I didn't want to bake a brick. The recipe calls for equal amounts of baking powder and baking soda, so I added in about a 1/2 teaspoon of each. I poured the batter into the pan, popped it into the oven, and crossed my fingers. I knew it would take longer to bake, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would. After the time specified in the recipe, the outside of the cake was set, but the center was still very liquid. It went back in the oven for 10 minutes. I tested it with a skewer every 5 minutes after that Finally after an additional 35 minutes, the tester came out clean. I let it cool for a little while, then tipped it out of the pan onto a rack. After it was completely cooled, I tried a sliver of it.

My verdict is that the cake survived my mistake. It is quite dense, but also moist. Slightly sweet, with a crunchy granola topping. My mistake cake is not the best cake I've ever made, but it is not the worst. Tom will have it for breakfast tomorrow. We'll see what he has to say.

blueberry yogurt cake.jpg

Posted January 23, 2008 7:37 PM in Test Kitchen

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5 Comment(s)

MarcyK said… (on January 23, 2008 at 21:56 PM #)

Good for you!!! I bet this would make great muffins too. Hope Tom enjoys

Lisa said… (on January 24, 2008 at 08:15 AM #)

The granola topping looks yummy! Sounds like you did a decent job rescuing the cake. I hope Tom enjoys it!

Fran said… (on January 24, 2008 at 12:05 PM #)

Not engaging my brain before and while I cook anything is my nemesis. You do a good job no matter what, Patti! :-)

Tom said… (on January 24, 2008 at 22:59 PM #)

It's good! As Patti said, it is dense, but also quite moist. I would normally heat it for a little bit in the toaster oven (while going out to retrieve the paper), but I was in a hurry this morning so just nuked it for 30 seconds before breakfast. It was warm and moist, and yummy. It's a keeper.

Although, I do have to admit thinking that while the granola topping is probably healthier, it would really rock with a a crumb cake topping.

Jean said… (on January 27, 2008 at 15:43 PM #)

Looks yummy!
A small tip -- if you want to become a more confident baker, weigh out your ingredients and standardize your recipes by weight. If you use mastercook or similar recipe software, you should be able to convert recipes into units of weight without any problem. The process should get you to start thinking about common ratios in baking (dry to liquid, how much leavener, how much fat, etc.)
Bake on!


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