Crumb Bottom Coffee Cake

This coffee cake is a perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee or tea. I have made it with blueberries, raspberries, and no berries at all. It keeps well, lightly covered with waxed paper, for nearly a week.

2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp. of baking powder
1 cup of sugar
1/2 stick of butter, softened
1/2 tsp. of salt
1 egg
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
1/2 sour cream (or 1/2 cup of buttermilk or milk)
1 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries (optional)

Crumb bottom:
5 tbs. of cold butter, cubed
3/4 cup of all purpose flour
1 cup of brown sugar
2 tsp. of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. of salt

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8×8 square pan or bundt pan with non stick spray (or even better, some butter!).

Use a hand mixer, starting out at low and gradually working up to medium speed. In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes, until light in color and creamy. Add egg and vanilla and mix for an additional 2 minutes. Add salt, baking powder and flour. Add the sour cream and mix an additional 3-5 minutes. Batter will be quite thick. Carefully fold in fresh blueberries (or whatever) and spoon batter into the pan. Set aside.

Mix brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and cold butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add crumb topping mixture to the cake pan and gently press everything down, slightly pushing the crumb mixture into the batter.

Bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes. Remove from oven and let it sit for 10 minutes.. Invert onto a plate. Garnish with powdered sugar.