blueberry boy bait

This afternoon I made a blueberry cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  It's called blueberry boy bait and apparently it lives up to its name.  "It's perfect," said Dan, "crispy on the top, warm on the inside.  Soft and moist and succulent."  He then proceeded to grab the rest of my piece off of my plate and stuff it in his mouth.  And then I smacked him.  Jk.  But he probably deserved it.  Luckily, we have almost an entire cake still sitting on our counter (because it's a big cake...not because it's not delicious).

The wet and dry ingredients about to be combined into one batter of deliciousness.  Man, I wish I had a real mixer.  A nice big kitchen aid one.  Oh well, at least I have an electric handheld mixer now.  We were originally using one that you cranked by hand.  I'll try to post a picture of it sometime.  Needless to say, it was fun for about, oh, five seconds.  Although, if I am going to be eating all of these decadent pastries, I could probably use the extra work out. 

Before the oven.  Dan asked if I arranged the blueberries in that square and arrow.  The answer is no; I hadn't even noticed it.  But it is pretty crazy that the blueberries randomly landed like that. 

Out of the oven.

My piece, which promptly became Dan's piece. 

Guilty.  

I wonder what I could bribe him to do with this cake....

Deb of Smitten Kitchen explains the origins of the recipe, which are pretty cute.  In the 1954 Pillsbury Junior Bake-Off a 15-year old girl baked the original blueberry boy bait cake, which she had named because of its power over boys.  She only earned second place, but the story was catchy.  Also, if she only got second, I wonder who got first!  Hmm...I'm going to try to look that up.

Update: I looked up who got first place and, turns out, it was a girl from Kansas! Her recipe sounds rather disgusting though.  Marlyce Ann Snay of Haven, Kansas won the junior bake off in 1954 with her Chicken Salad Pie recipe.  Sounds okay, right? Just wait....it calls for pineapple, American cheese, chicken salad and a mayo-whipped cream topping.  Hmm.  If you're more daring than I, the recipe is here.

Recipe

preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9x13 baking pan

2 cups flour
1 tbs baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup of blueberries and 1 tsp flour

Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

Mix together butter and brown and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs to the butter/sugar mixture (mmmm) one at a time until just combined (now you can't eat the butter/sugar mixture anymore, bummer ).  Scraping the bowl as needed.

Add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the wet mixture.  Then add 1/2 cup of whole milk.  Then add half of the remaining dry mixture.  Then another 1/2 cup of whole milk.  Then the rest of the dry mixture.

Mix 1/2 cup blueberries with a teaspoon of flour.  Fold them into the batter.

Topping:

Add another 1/2 cup of blueberries to the top of the cake.  Mix together 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon and sprinkle over the cake.

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350.  After it's done baking (yes this is torture) let the cake cool for 20 minutes before serving.  Then watch the boys come in throngs.