Blueberry Maple Tea Cake
Melissa Clark's simple and amazing recipe for naturally sweetened, blueberry maple tea cake.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on October 22, 2024
Have you ever heard that the phrase “cellar door” is the most beautiful-sounding phrase in the entire English language? I would like to petition that “jammy pockets” take its place. Jammy pockets, as in, “this maple-scented blueberry tea cake is full of jammy pockets.” Jammy pockets make the world a better place.
This sweet little cake, with its delicate, maple-infused crumb and jammy purple pockets, is naturally sweetened and made entirely with whole grain flours. The recipe is one of Melissa Clark’s in Cook This Now, an audaciously titled book that lives up to its name. I got the book this winter and indeed, I did want to cook the maple tea cake the moment I found it, but I had to wait until the blueberries arrived this month. It was certainly worth the wait.
The cake is a cinch to mix together, no electric mixer required. It’s more like a quick bread in that respect, and I respect it for that. None of the ingredients are too hard to find at even the smallest standard health food store, but I know maple syrup is expensive. I’m sorry. You see, my friend works at one of the local health food stores and gets a discount, so I asked him to buy me “the biggest bottle of maple syrup” and he came back with a bottle bigger than I knew existed. I have a surplus of maple syrup in my fridge and wish I could share it with you!
I’ve had some success with natural sweetener substitutions (see my notes here) and I think honey might be a lovely replacement. If you decide to try it, keep in mind that honey browns easily so you will probably need to turn down the temperature (325 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal) and bake it longer. I hope that works.
As you can see, I substituted some medium grind cornmeal for the flour when I baked this cake, but the cornmeal never softened up entirely. I found the taste pleasant but the texture distracting. Feel free to substitute some fine cornmeal in place of some of the whole wheat flour, though. Corn meal or not, trust me, you want to bake this now!
Blueberry Maple Tea Cake
Delicious maple-sweetened, whole-grain blueberry cake with maple glaze! This is a great summer dessert. Recipe yields 9 slices of cake.
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅔ cup real maple syrup
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- ½ cup milk
- 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Maple Glaze
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons real maple syrup
- Pinch sea salt
- ¼ cup powdered sugar*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease an 8-inch square pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, egg, milk and melted butter. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix just until combined. Gently fold in the blueberries. Pour the battered into your prepared pan and bake for about 23 to 26 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- While the cake is cooling, make the glaze. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the maple syrup and salt, then stir in the powdered sugar. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring constantly. Resist the urge to taste test, it’s crazy hot! Pour the warm glaze over the cake and use a pastry brush to distribute the glaze evenly.
- Let the cake cool completely, slice and serve. This cake should last at room temperature for up to 48 hours. Store in the fridge if you will not be able to eat it sooner. I learned the hard way that those jammy pockets will go bad when left in a warm kitchen for a few days.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Cook This Now by Melissa Clark.
Baking time/pan notes: The original recipe specified to bake the cake in an 8-inch loaf pan for 50 to 60 minutes, I chose to use my pretty square baker instead.
*To make your own powdered sugar: Blend sugar in a blender or food processor until it is a fine powder. I used organic cane sugar but turbinado sugar works, too.
Change it up: Raspberries or peaches would be great substitutes for the blueberries in the summer. I can’t wait to try this cake with fresh cranberries in the winter!
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hi, used a little buckwheat, cornmeal and whole wheat flour and folded in my frozen blueberries. Cake turned purple but was really delicious anyway!
Great!
Hi Kate,
Quick question, is 3/4 stick of butter the equivalent
to 85 grams?
It’s 6 tablespoons. You could use an online converter to confirm the grams.
Will be making this for family I haven’t seen in over 20 years without even testing it first. Everything I’ve made so far has been lovely.
I would like to pass along a tip from a recipe I saw in a NH newspaper. Toss the blueberries with flour first to keep them from all going to the bottom of the cake. The recipe in question used one tablespoon of flour for 1 1/2 cups of berries.
Thanks for sharing!
I did it yesterday and the cake came wonderful. I ‘ve used only whole wheat flour and I used coconut sugar for glazing.
But it took 50mn to bake perfectly!
Excellent recipe! Thank you
You’re welcome, Karine! Thank you for sharing you loved this cake.
Just made this today and it turned out great! I didn’t use any of the flours in the recipe, honestly, so I don’t know how yours is in comparison. I used half all purpose and half spelt flour, because it’s what I had I believe spelt has similar properties to whole wheat flour. I also added some lemon zest. I love this cake and I can’t wait to experiment with different fruits.
This cake is so delicious! Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out so moist and flavorful. And was so simple! Will definitely be making again.
Just made this with all purpose flour, so good! Thanks for this awesome recipe.
Hello, do you have metric conversions to your recipes especially the cakes blueberry maple tea cake. Only because there seem to be a bit of a discrepancy on cups to gram conversion for solid and liquids. I really like your website made quite a few things and like them, just slightly apprehensive with the cake cup to gram conversion. Just wondered. All the best, thank you Maria
Hi Maria! I don’t have that yet. But I have found a great chart that seems to work well. Let me know!
Hello and thank you , that is pretty much what I used when I made it yesterday. in my opinion it worked out well, it is delicious. Really appreciate your help. Thank you very much.
Hi Kate,
How can I make this eggless?
Hi Japneet! I haven’t tried this one egg free, sorry. I do remember this one is tricky so I don’t know if a flax egg would work or not.
Thanks for your reply! I’ll give it a try and let you know :)
I made this with fresh raspberries over blueberries and it was absolutely smashing – and I’m pretty sure I won about 10 girlfriend points for it! I was pretty generous with the amount of fruit I used, just because I felt like it would be hard to go wrong otherwise.
This cake turned out so well! I used all purpose flour and it worked just fine. Everything in this cake is easy and quick. My family loved it for dessert and we ate the rest for breakfast on Sunday. Would be fun to try with other fruits! Or with honey instead of maple syrup.
Thank you for your review, Julia!
This cake was tasty and easy to make! I think I added the glaze to the cake a little early but it was still delicious! Will definitely make this again.
I have made this recipe many times with different fruits and it always turns out great! Twice already this fall I have used apples by sauteing small diced Granny Smith with a pat of butter and cinnamon before adding them to the batter. As a maple syrup producer, I love your recipes that only use syrup for sugar like this and your banana bread! Thanks for all your wonderful recipes and inspiration, you have been my go-to for years!
Super yummy! I used 1/4 c plain yogurt instead of the egg because I was out of eggs and still turned out great.