Maine Wild-Blueberry Cake

Servings: 8
Preheat: 350°
Source: Nancy Harmon Jenkins, NYTimes Magazine 8/17/2008

Ingredients
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
1 cup plus 1 ½ tablespoons flour, plus more for flouring the pan
½ cup slivered blanched almonds
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
2 tablespoons whole or nonfat plain yogurt
1/3 cup whole or nonfat milk
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen low- bush, wild blueberries (see note).

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square cake pan with butter. Dust the pan with flour, shaking out excess. Set the pan in the freezer.

On a baking sheet, roast the almonds in the oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let cool and pulse them to a coarse grit in a food processor. Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking powder and sea salt and continue processing to a fine grit.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 3/4 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, stopping to scrape the sides. Beat in the egg, vanilla and orange zest. Stir the yogurt into the milk and then beat it into the batter.

Fold the flour mixture into the batter until combined. Toss blueberries with the remaining 1 ½ tablespoons flour and fold them into the batter.

Transfer the batter to the chilled pan. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon sugar on top. Bake in the oven until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a cake rack. Serves 8.

NOTE: Wyman’s frozen wild blueberries are available at most Whole Foods Markets and health-food stores. When using frozen blueberries, do not let them thaw.