Sweet of the Week: Blueberry Almond Cake at Bake

 Blueberry Almond Cake : If there's one thing I love more than cake, it's blueberries. One of my favorite ingredients of all time, I legit wait all year for blueberries to come into season so that I may savor all the sweets at their prime. When blueberries are on, they are ON, enlivening any dish or drink they touch. Naturally, as a dessert-lover, I am all about the blueberry confections, be it a good blueberry pie, a blueberry turnover, or blueberry ice cream. Or of course, blueberry-almond cake from Bake. This adorably nostalgic bakery has a way with classic American pastries, especially of the cake-y persuasion. So when I saw their pastry case stocked with blueberry-almond cake one morning, I sprang on it faster than Tigger on Pooh. 

(Blueberry almond cake at Bake)

Bake's blueberry-almond cake is like a glorified, exceedingly decadent and satisfying coffee cake. Whereas coffee cakes are relatively straightforward and predictable, this one sports a myriad of buttery nooks and crannies, a smattering of toothsome almond slivers, and succulent pockets of fresh berries, exploding with juicy sweetness with each bite. The cake itself is soft, warm, and doughy, like a thick slice of toasty poundcake. Some of the edges are caramelized, lending added crunch and texture, and it's all finished with a generous dusting of powdered sugar to balance the not-too-sweet cake. It's the perfect vessel for summer fruit at their finest. 

- Matt Kirouac