Description
You will need an 18x13x1-inch sheet pan for this recipe.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Crumb Topping:
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted (3/4 cup, 6 oz)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (106 g)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 g)
- 1 3/4 cups + 2 TB all-purpose flour (225 g)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp fine-grain salt (like table or sea salt)
For the Muffin Top Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (270 g)
- 1 TB baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp fine-grain salt (like table or sea salt)
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (3/4 cup, 6 oz)
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (250 g)
- zest of 1 lemon, preferably organic
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups full-fat sour cream (340 g)
- 1 TB pure vanilla extract
- 4 cups fresh blueberries, divided
- 1/4 cup turbinado sugar (45 g)
Instructions
For the Crumb Topping:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined. Add the flour, cinnamon, and salt and stir with a wooden spoon until a thick dough forms. Set aside.
For the Muffin Top Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Grease the bottom and sides of an 18x13x1-inch sheet pan with butter.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl (the mixture may look curdled, but will smooth out as you add the rest of the ingredients).
- Add half the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until incorporated, then mix in the sour cream and vanilla. Add the remaining half of the dry ingredients and mix just until a few streaks remain. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and, using a rubber spatula, gently fold in 2 cups of the blueberries.
- Pour the batter onto the prepared pan and spread it evenly to all four corners. Top with the remaining 2 cups blueberries. Break up the crumb topping into uneven clumps with your fingers and scatter evenly over the batter, all the way to the edges of the pan. Finally, sprinkle the top with the turbinado sugar.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the sheet pan on a wire rack and let the cake cool for a least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- Loaded with LOTS of blueberries and extra crumb topping, this recipe really pushes the pan's boundaries, so be sure to use a true 18x13x1-inch sized pan. If dubious, you may want to line the bottom of your oven with aluminum foil, just to be on the safe side.
- I love this just-different-enough-to-make-a-huge-difference method for making the crump topping: Adding the flour separately allows the topping to actually keep its crumble, vs just turning into more batter.
- An easy way to visualize 4 cups of blueberries = two 1-pint containers.
- To capture all of the lemon zest's natural oils (read: flavor), pour the sugar into the mixing bowl and zest the lemon directly over the sugar and into the bowl.
- If you have one, using an offset spatula is an efficient way to evenly spread the batter into the sheet pan.
- The original recipes says to store the cake, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator. But I've always just kept it on the counter. Feel free to store as you wish.
- You could easily make this cake 4th-of-July festive using a combination of blueberries and raspberries and serving with vanilla yogurt. Even better: zero in on the "cake" part of the recipe title and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream 😉
- Recipe adapted from Molly Gilbert's book Sheet Pan Sweets.
Keywords: blueberry muffin cake, blueberry muffins, sheet pan cake, sheet cake, baking with sheet pans, Molly Gilbert, Sheet Pan Sweets, Sheet Pan Suppers, breakfast recipes, brunch recipes, cooking for a crowd, baking for a crowd, blueberry muffin tops