Personal Touch

The best baker I know is my friend, Mary Ellen Rae. Her cakes, cookies, breads and coffee cakes are so good that it’s fortunate I don’t live nearby. I would constantly invade her kitchen to overdose happily on those gorgeous pastries.

Perhaps it’s her Scandinavian heritage. The rich, buttery, cardamom-flavored baked goods from that part of the world are so extraordinary that I collect Scandinavian cookbooks just to read about them.

The other day, Mary Ellen came up with one of her finest, a blueberry coffee cake as pretty and fresh as a spring morning—scented with cardamom, of course. I loved the sugary brown topping and the crunch of nuts contrasting with the plump berries. Nice with coffee, it’s wonderful as dessert, slightly warmed and topped with whipped cream.

Looking through an old Scandinavian cookbook handed down by her Norwegian grandmother, Mary Ellen came across an appealing recipe for kaffe-kage (Sunday morning coffee cake). By the time she was done, the recipe was completely transformed, embellished with berries, nuts and cardamom, which were not in the original.

A trained chef with years of experience in teaching and recipe testing, Mary Ellen is the head of Personal Touch Gourmet, based in Hermosa Beach. She’ll make this coffee cake, or anything else you might need (hint: her Swedish meatballs are the best ever) for a party, or a dinner at home. Or she’ll teach you how to make it. Or organize a cooking class for your friends.

One idea that appeals to me is, she will take a family recipe—we all have those stuffed away—and work it out so that you’ll be able to taste once again that great dish that Mom or Aunt Mildred used to make.

Now Mary Ellen, there’s this high rising, fluffy sunshine cake with sheer orange icing that my mother always made for my birthday when I was a kid. I’m dying to taste it again, but the one time I tried to make it, it just wasn’t the same. Can you help?

To contact Chef Mary Ellen Rae, go to www.PersonalTouchGourmet.net or email MaryEllen@PersonalTouchGourmet.net.

MARY ELLEN RAE’S BLUEBERRY CARDAMOM COFFEE CAKE

Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
Combine the topping ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Cake:
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon finely ground cardamom seeds
½ cup milk
¾ cup blueberries

Remove the butter, milk and eggs from the refrigerator ½ hour before starting the recipe. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, blending after each addition.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir in the cardamom.

Using medium speed, add half of the milk to the butter mixture, then half of the flour, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the remaining milk and flour, and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Gently fold in the blueberries.

Spread half of the batter in the baking pan. Spoon half of the topping over the batter.  Scrape the remaining batter out of the bowl onto the layer of topping and smooth out to the edges.  Sprinkle the remaining topping evenly over the batter.

Bake until the top is a deep golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.  Cool slightly. Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature, topped with whipped cream if desired.

Makes 9 to 12 squares.