My mom was coming over for her first visit since my boyfriend and I moved into our apartment a year ago and her first visit after a 2 month long hospital stay earlier this year. Since my boyfriend has recently become vegan, I needed to make something that he could enjoy but that would be easy and yummy for my mom to have along with her tea. Enter blueberry crumb cake!

It’s a really easy and quick recipe. Techniques are different in the vegan baking process than traditional baking methods, so a few recipes I’ve tried haven’t turned out very well. But this one did. And was amazing.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Adapted from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Ingredients

For the crumb topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅓ cup brown sugar
¼ cup canola oil

For the cake:
¾ cup soy milk (or any other milk substitute)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
⅓ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup canola oil
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Grease an 8-inch pan. I used an 8-inch square pan for my cake but you can use an 8-inch round pan as well.
2. Combine the milk and the vinegar or lemon juice. Set aside so the milk can curdle.
3. To make the crumb topping:
   In another bowl combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and the flour. I whisked mine until it was combined pretty good. Next you pour in the ¼ of oil. You can use a fork to combine, but I just used my hand. It should end up looking like this:

   

   You can add more oil if the mix isn’t crumbing up enough for your taste. Just be careful not to add too much! You don’t want oily crumb topping. Set aside this mixture.

Next up is the cake!

4. In another bowl you will mix together the curdled milk, oil, sugar and vanilla. The milk should have little lumps in it before you combine everything. If it doesn’t, wait a little longer until it does.
5. Next, mix in the dry ingrediants. You can sift these all together, but I never do and my baked goods always turn out pretty yummy. So, mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix this until it forms a smooth batter. Mine had some still had some lumps, so yours can too!
6. If you are going to add the blueberries, you’ll want to only pour half of the batter into the pan. Then you get to top that with some blueberries. Yum!

   

7. Then you’ll add the rest of the batter over these. I used the spatula to drop dollops of batter across the top, then carefully spread it out all across. This ensured the berries didn’t get smashed, were still in a layer over the bottom and didn’t get mixed around too much.
8. Next up is the crumb topping. What I ended up doing was taking a handful of topping and compacting it in my hand like this:

   

   I then broke off bigger chunks to scatter around the top. Then filled in with smaller pieces.
   

9. Put it in the over for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took a little over 40 minutes.
10. Make an attempt to let this cool down a bit before you gobble it up. I managed to wait about 20 minutes. It held together well and was still a little warm. Great to have with some soy milk! It will serve 8 if baked in the cake pan or 9 if you used a square pan.

    

    I used blueberries but you could easily use any other fruits and even some jam. Blackberries or apples would be especially delicious I think.