Marmalade and Blueberry Coffee Cake with Bourbon Drizzle

When you have friends coming over on a Sunday afternoon, friends you love and rarely see, you have to have coffee cake. And, believe me, this Marmalade and Blueberry Coffee Cake with Bourbon Drizzle is the coffee cake to end all coffee cakes.  And, it’s surprisingly easily to pull together.

This recipe is open to substitution. If you don’t have marmalade [make mine, or] just use jam. If you don’t have blueberries, use another fruit or skip it altogether. If you don’t have sour cream, use buttermilk or whole. If you don’t want to sprinkle on pecans, use another nut or skip them altogther. And, if you don’t want bourbon in your drizzle, use citrus juice or cream, or skip the drizzle altogether and dust the cake with icing sugar.

One thing to note about coffee cakes like this one, the batter is going to be really thick. You are going to wonder, is this cookie dough? Is the cake going to become a rock when I bake it? No. It won’t. It will be wonderful.

Print Recipe

Marmalade and Blueberry Coffee Cake with Bourbon Drizzle

Servings: 12 Slices

Author: Roseanne Carrara, Smelling Salts Journal

Ingredients

Crumble Topping

• 6 tbs unsalted butter melted [you will use the other 2 tbs from this 1/2 cup of butter in the drizzle]
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon [or 1 tsp if you don't use the ginger and cardamom]
• 1/4 tsp ginger [optional]
• 1/4 tsp cardamom [optional]
• 1/4 tsp  salt
• 1 c flour

Cake

• 2 c flour [reserve 1 tbs of this mixture for the berries]
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream [buttermilk or milk also work]
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup Marmalade
• 1 pint blueberries 
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Drizzle

• 2 tbs unsalted butter melted
• t  tbs bourbon [or more lemon juice or cream]
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp lemon juice [or cream]
• 1 cup icing sugar
• [Note: You will use a total of 3 cups flour 1 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup white sugar, 2 tsp vanilla in this recipe]

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 375°F.
• Butter and flour a 9-in spring form pan or a high-walled pan of similar measure, and line with parchment paper.
• Wash and dry the blueberries, toss with 1 tbs of the 2c flour from the cake recipe.
• If your marmalade is refrigerated, place it in a bowl and allow it to come to room temperature.
• To make the Crumble, add the sugar, spices, and salt to the melted butter and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.
• With a spatula, add the flour and mix into a dough. The crumble will look like grainy maple fudge.
• Set the Crumble aside.
• To make the Cake Batter, in a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and keep handy.
• In a mixer or by hand, mix the butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
• Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and beat until combined.
• Add 1/2 of the sour cream [i.e. 1/4 cup] and beat until combined.
• Repeat with the remaining dry and wet ingredients. [The batter will be very thick. You're going to say, Is this cookie dough? This is never going to work! IT WILL!]
• With a spatula, fold in the berries. This won't necessarily be easy. Try not to crush them.
• Scoop the batter into the pan and smooth it flat with a big spatula.
• In a small bowl or jar, stir the marmalade until it is smooth.
• In clumps spaced evenly around the pan, add the marmalade to the cake batter by the dollop.
• Gently swirl through the batter with a knife. [It won't go deep because the batter is crazy thick.]
• Top the batter evenly with the chopped nuts if desired.
• Sprinkle the Crumble topping over the cake, breaking it into large crumbs with your fingers. You might have to use a spoon or spatula to scrape the crumble out of the bowl.
• Bake for 47-57 minutes, or until a long toothpick or butter knife in the centre comes out clean. [Watch out for burst blueberries and warm jam throwing you off!]
• Cool the cake completely in the pan on a wire rack.
• Remove the cake from the springform pan and carefully move cake to a serving dish. Feel free to leave the parchment on the bottom, or even the metal springform base. [If you don't use a springform pan, carefully flip the cake onto a plate. Remove the parchment. And flip back onto a serving dish.]
• To make the Drizzle, add 1/2 c of the icing sugar, the vanilla and the bourbon to the melted butter, whisking to combine.
• Add the citrus juice to the combined mixture and whisk to combine.
• Add the additional icing sugar and whisk well until thoroughly combined and thick.
• With a fork or knife toss the thick drizzle over the cake. [Alternatively, you can skip the drizzle and just dust the cake with icing sugar.]

Notes

Substitutions: 

• Sour Cream : Buttermilk or Whole Milk
• Marmalade : Jam
• 1 Pint Blueberries: 2 Cups Chopped Fresh Fruit : Nothing
• Pecans : Any Chopped Nut : Chopped Dried Fruit : Nothing
• Bourbon : More Citrus Juice
• All Citrus Juice : Milk or Cream
• Bourbon Drizzle : A Dusting of Icing Sugar