We love this time of year because we are in the perfect location for the best Michigan berries. Wickwood Inn celebrates the best ways to serve this delicious summer fruit with our:
- Four Berry Fruit Bowl
- Very Berry Bread Pudding (with both raspberries and blueberries) and Spiced Blueberry Syrup
- Berry Bismarks with Lemon Cream
- Berry Fruit Salad … great on its own or over our homemade Granola
- Raspberry Shortbread Bars
- Strawberry Shortcake for breakfast (biscuits, cream, and berries are all good individually for breakfast … so what’s not to love?)
“Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.”
~ Wendell Berry
Of course, none of this would be possible without the the great Fruit Belt berries available all around us. We love having easy access to the true rock stars that surround us … our farmers! Thanks to the growers and folks who make all this deliciousness possible:
- Saugatuck, Holland, and South Haven Farmers’ Markets
- Riverbend Raspberry Farm
- Pleasant Hill Organic Blueberries
- Krupkas Blueberries
- Blue Star Farm
Because we love bringing great people together around good food, here’s a recipe, bursting with berries, from our kitchen to yours. Be ready to receive rave reviews the next time you host brunch!
To enjoy the entire celebration of berries, simply call or book online and reserve a taste of the good life at Wickwood Inn this summer.
Razzle Dazzle Berry Coffee Cake
At Wickwood, we call this our Razzle Dazzle Cake; it always elicits a “WOW!” from our guests. We initially made this scrumptious coffee cake with raspberries, but we think it’s equally wonderful when Blueberries are bursting with flavor. Crumbly pecans are the perfect topping. Your house guests will never guess there’s apple in the cake; it replaces some of the butter found in most coffee cakes and adds a decidedly sweet taste and moist crumb.
Lately, we’ve begun to like just two bites of something sweet … just two bites … well maybe four. But, not an entire piece of cake. It’s just too much. With a dash of lemon added to the raspberries, this coffee cake packs a real punch.
Makes
16 serving, 2-inch squares
Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour or white whole-wheat flour, plus 1 1/2 teaspoons, divided
3 tablespoons cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup whole or low-fat milk
3 tablespoons lemon zest (zest of 3 lemons)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups blueberries or raspberries, fresh or frozen (not thawed)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peeled apple
Topping
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare an 8-inch square pan with softened butter and flour.
- To prepare cake: Whisk 1 cup flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat softened butter with an electric mixer on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides. Add 3/4 cup sugar and beat on medium-high until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, milk, lemon zest and vanilla and beat on medium-high until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until incorporated.
- Place berries and apple in a small bowl, sprinkle with the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons flour and toss very gently to coat. Sprinkle the fruit over the batter and very gently fold in until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.
- To prepare topping: Combine cold butter and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl. With two knives or a pastry blender, cut them together until the butter is in small pieces and uniform crumbles form. Add pecans and toss until evenly incorporated. Sprinkle the topping over the batter.
- Bake the cake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the nuts are a deep brown, 50 to 55 minutes.
- Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. To serve cut into 2 inch squares. This cake can be wrapped well and stored at cool room temperatures for 1-2 days or frozen.