A Cake for all the Berries
“Maybe she had stayed in Watsonville. There was Pajaro, and that was the railroad section, and then the Pajaro River and the bridge into Watsonville.”
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Inspiration
This recipe was the Pillsbury Bake-Off winner in 1990. Twenty-six years later it’s still fantastic. The Blueberry Poppy Seed Brunch Cake is easy to make and a joy to share. This is a coffee cake than transcends brunch and moves right into dessert territory. An exuberant lemon poppy seed cake gone rogue by making room for a gigantic pile of blueberries. So many blueberries, some barely burst open, other melt into jam and then just before serving more fresh berries are piled on top! And yes the cake is good too. I thought the cake edges might have gotten over-baked, but the slightly crisp edges are reminiscent of a buttery lemon poppy seed scone. The cake is soft and tender, yet sturdy enough to cradle all the berries.