Blueberry Cheesecake Coffee Cake

The sum of the parts sounds like a quote by a cook, but it actually has to do with math.

If you have a whole and take it apart, any of those parts, no matter how brilliant, tend to be less than the whole. 

Makes sense.  

Remember the short lived deconstructed dishes? 

Fancy restaurants serving deconstructed Caesar Salads and Baked Alaska like the chef walked off leaving the prep cook to finish service.

I wonder what they did with all the long plates? -I have one.

I’m the person who, at Thanksgiving dinner, uses the little dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, etc and makes my own mini sliders. I re-construct.

If anything is better eaten alone, then eat it alone, or with some friends to help it shine.

The Parts:

Fresh Blueberries

A modest but tasty buttery cake base

Good Cream cheese

A coffee cake topping looking for something to tie together with its sweet texture.

How to Make Blueberry Cheesecake Coffee Cake

Coffee cake ingredients

Filling and topping ingredients

Cake

1. Grease a 9”x13” (23x33cm) pan.

2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and ground ginger.

3. Cream together sugar and butter.  Beat in the egg and the vanilla.

4. Add some of the flour mixture, about half of it and blend it in.

5. Mix in the milk.

6. Add the rest of the flour mixture and stir just until combined. 

7. Spread the batter into prepared pan.

Filling and Topping

8. Wash the blueberries and pat dry.

9. Evenly sprinkle the batter with the blueberries.

10. Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until well combined.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  

11. Mix in the cornstarch and the sour cream. 

12. Dollop the cream cheese mixture over the blueberries.  Spread to cover.

13. Whisk together the sugar, flour and cinnamon.  Cut in the cold butter.

You could also put all into a food processor and pulse a few times until crumbly.

14. Sprinkle over the cream cheese filling.

15. Bake at 350°F (180°C) 45 minutes. 

It will still be a bit wobbly.  That’s the cheesecake part.  It will continue to cook a bit after you bring it out and will be firm once it cools.