We’re sharing retro recipes this week and when I stumbled upon this one from ATK, I found the name hilarious, and I kid you not, as it was cooling on the counter, my husband wandered in and said, “Oooooh, what’s that?!”, circling it like our dog does when we sit down for dinner at night. If I were in a position to be luring males with baked goods, this would have done it. It’s a tender cake that’s quick to whip up, with juicy berries and a light cinnamon sugar topping that kind of caramelizes as it bakes. You can serve it as-is or with whipped cream or ice cream. It’s as appropriate for breakfast or brunch as it is for dessert!
The retro factor is just a bonus. I have kind of this weird obsession with the 1960s. I just find this time period endlessly fascinating–I love the style and nostalgia and literature and movies and TV shows and history and the sense that things are changing in huge and monumental ways. Plus, look at my mom reading a Redbook as a newlywed in 1963–isn’t she adorable?
One thing that never goes out of style is a good recipe and this one stands the test of time!
Ingredients Needed
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- unsalted butter – softened
- light brown sugar
- granulated sugar
- eggs
- buttermilk (whole, if you can track it down), or whole milk
- fresh or frozen blueberries
- granulated sugar
- ground cinnamon
How to Make Blueberry Boy Bait
- Preheat oven and prepare a 9×13″ baking pan.
- Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, cream butter and sugars in another, then add eggs.
- Alternate adding dry mixture and milk until batter is smooth.
- Fold in blueberries and spread batter in the pan.
- Top with extra blueberries, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
- Bake until golden and set in the center.
- Cool before slicing, and serve warm or at room temperature with optional toppings.
Storage & Other Tips
- This recipe is great served warm, or at room temperature. It’s even better topped with sweetened whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream.
- For longer term storage, you can wrap cooled sliced tightly and store at room temperature (they’ll stay good for 2 or 3 days), or freeze individually for longer term storage (2 or 3 months).
Frequently Asked Questions
No, it doesn’t matter. If you’re using frozen, my only recommendation is to keep them frozen until you fold them into the batter. That way, they won’t bleed and discolor the batter. You’ll definitely get some purple streaks with frozen, which is kind of pretty.
Yes! This cake makes ahead beautifully. Just bake, let it cool, and store as usual. It also freezes well, as wrapped individual pieces, or as a whole.
This often happens when the oven door is opened too early and the cake isn’t fully baked yet. Try keeping the door closed for the bulk of the baking time, and turn the light on in the oven, rather than opening the door. Also, ensure your baking powder is fresh.
Yes! We’ve never tried it so we can’t guarantee success, but in theory it should work very well. Try raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries diced small and see how it goes. If you try it, leave us a comment and let us know how it goes!
Blueberry Boy Bait
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups 10 ounces all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, large
- 1 cup buttermilk whole, if you can track it down or whole milk
- ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries 2 ½ ounces
Topping
- ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries 2 ½ ounces
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Adjust the rack to the middle position (or the best position in your oven for baking) and preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease and flour a 9×13″ baking pan and set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium high speed for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy (scrape the bowl as necessary).
- Add eggs one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Reduce speed to medium and add ⅓ of the flour mixture, mixing until incorporated. Mix in ½ cup milk. Repeat with another addition of flour, the rest of the milk, and ending with the final addition of flour. Gently fold in the blueberries and spread the batter into the prepared pan.
- Scatter the additional topping blueberries over the batter. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the blueberries. Bake for 35 – 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 20 minutes (or completely) before cutting into squares and serving. Serve warm or at room temperature, plain or with drizzled with cream and blueberries or topped with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Questions & Reviews
Isn’t this basically a blueberry coffee cake? Looks really good though, and a must try! I’m thinking you should look into the Chocolate Revel Bar that comment #4 mentioned — sound good.
Pretty much, which is why I labeled it as a breakfast/brunch food as well. 🙂
The chocolate revel bars are almost identical to a recipe Sara posted a couple weeks ago for Carmelitas. The only difference is she puts caramel and chocolate in between layers and the revel bars have chocolate mixed with sweetened condensed milk. Both are delicious!
This simply looks divine!!!! If I were to make this and have men come crawling, I might have to substitute blueberries for blackberries. The sweet man in my family (besides my sweet little man too!) LOOOOOVES blackberries! No doubt he’ll want to try this! Thanks for the find!
If this is half as good as the lemon buttermilk sheet cake, it is a winner!
Looks awesome. Like you I am also obsessed with the 60’s. Well actually mid 50’s-mid 70’s. A book you might enjoy about food from that period is, The Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks. It takes old recipes and talks about how regrettable they can be. Hilarious!
Love the pic of your mom! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hahaha! oh the memories of the Medieval club at BYU! That made me laugh! This looks delish!
You’ll have a hard time finding good recipes in the 1960’s. They were all about convenience and less work then. Canned goods, jello, frozen foods(fish sticks were huge), etc were the rage. These same homemakers were the first to embrace the microwave, which accounts why a lot of families lost homemade family recipes for about 20 years. If they have them, they usually contain one of the above ingredients.
Boy Bait is good, I know I have made it before!
I was a child in the 60’s and I don’t remember anything remarkable. Everyone used a cake mix. But luckily frosting was still homemade (canned frosting was a few years out) Cool Whip was an up and rising product. Frozen corn (homemade of course) was considered a vegetable. Canned green beans and peas were a staple. Spaghetti was easily made with a wonderful packet of Schilling Seasoning. Banquet Frozen Dinners were a delicacy we got to eat when mom and dad went out!
I think it was the beginning of the convenience foods. McDonald’s had only sold 1 million hamburgers. The music was fun. Clothes were nothing special, I thing it was the beginning of the hippie movement, granny dresses were a popular thing. Hair was long, straight and parted down the middle.
Thanks for letting me reminisce!
Fun. Have you been watching the new BYU TV series, Granite Flats? The story is set in the 1960’s. It’s been a fun series to watch!
You’re way ahead of us, Ashley! We’ve got a little Granite Falls-inspired giveaway coming up soon… 🙂
I LOVE the “check on the kids” trick. I am a repeat offender, and it works everytime! Thanks for the recipe. I can’t wait to try it. Like Sara, I have 3 boys (4, including my husband), so I was tickled by the name of this dessert!