Have you ever heard that the phrase “cellar door” is the most beautiful-sounding phrase in the entire English language? I would like to petition that “jammy pockets” take its place. Jammy pockets, as in, “this maple-scented blueberry tea cake is full of jammy pockets.” Jammy pockets make the world a better place.
This sweet little cake, with its delicate, maple-infused crumb and jammy purple pockets, is naturally sweetened and made entirely with whole grain flours. The recipe is one of Melissa Clark’s in Cook This Now, an audaciously titled book that lives up to its name. I got the book this winter and indeed, I did want to cook the maple tea cake the moment I found it, but I had to wait until the blueberries arrived this month. It was certainly worth the wait.
The cake is a cinch to mix together, no electric mixer required. It’s more like a quick bread in that respect, and I respect it for that. None of the ingredients are too hard to find at even the smallest standard health food store, but I know maple syrup is expensive. I’m sorry. You see, my friend works at one of the local health food stores and gets a discount, so I asked him to buy me “the biggest bottle of maple syrup” and he came back with a bottle bigger than I knew existed. I have a surplus of maple syrup in my fridge and wish I could share it with you!
I’ve had some success with natural sweetener substitutions (see my notes here) and I think honey might be a lovely replacement. If you decide to try it, keep in mind that honey browns easily so you will probably need to turn down the temperature (325 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal) and bake it longer. I hope that works.
As you can see, I substituted some medium grind cornmeal for the flour when I baked this cake, but the cornmeal never softened up entirely. I found the taste pleasant but the texture distracting. Feel free to substitute some fine cornmeal in place of some of the whole wheat flour, though. Corn meal or not, trust me, you want to bake this now!
Blueberry Maple Tea Cake
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 23 mins
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 9 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
Delicious maple-sweetened, whole-grain blueberry cake with maple glaze! This is a great summer dessert. Recipe yields 9 slices of cake.
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅔ cup real maple syrup
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- ½ cup milk
- 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Maple Glaze
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons real maple syrup
- Pinch sea salt
- ¼ cup powdered sugar*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease an 8-inch square pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, egg, milk and melted butter. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix just until combined. Gently fold in the blueberries. Pour the battered into your prepared pan and bake for about 23 to 26 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- While the cake is cooling, make the glaze. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the maple syrup and salt, then stir in the powdered sugar. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring constantly. Resist the urge to taste test, it’s crazy hot! Pour the warm glaze over the cake and use a pastry brush to distribute the glaze evenly.
- Let the cake cool completely, slice and serve. This cake should last at room temperature for up to 48 hours. Store in the fridge if you will not be able to eat it sooner. I learned the hard way that those jammy pockets will go bad when left in a warm kitchen for a few days.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Cook This Now by Melissa Clark.
Baking time/pan notes: The original recipe specified to bake the cake in an 8-inch loaf pan for 50 to 60 minutes, I chose to use my pretty square baker instead.
*To make your own powdered sugar: Blend sugar in a blender or food processor until it is a fine powder. I used organic cane sugar but turbinado sugar works, too.
Change it up: Raspberries or peaches would be great substitutes for the blueberries in the summer. I can’t wait to try this cake with fresh cranberries in the winter!
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Katrina
This is so cute! Love this idea Kate – perfect for summer :)
la domestique
Blueberries are my favorite and I must say that “jammy pockets” is music to the ears!
Kayla @ Pure.Sweet.
Mmmm, this looks so delicious!
Blog is the New Blac
I like jammy pockets!
Ashley
Oh Kate – you get me every time! With those tempting pictures, and words like “jammy pockets”, you just know I’m going to need this in my oven!
Erica Lea | Cooking
This looks simply scrumptious! I LOVE the use of natural flours and sweeteners. The maple glaze looks smooth and shiny – lovely.
Ashlae
I, too, think that jammy pockets should replace cellar door as the most beautiful sounding phrase in the english language. I mean, come on – just the sound of jammy pockets makes my mouth water. Blueberry jammy pockets? Even more.
Blueberries are still unavailable at my local health food store, but I’m heading to the farmer’s market this weekend to see what they’ve got in stock. Loads of blueberries, I hope.
Kathryn
I noticed some blueberries in the store today, starts to make it feel like summer! This sounds like such a wonderful cake with those little jammy pockets; I was brainstorming a cake with similar jammy pockets earlier and it’s just made me even more determined to bake it sooner rather than later.
Also I’m in love with that square baking dish!
Lauren
This looks wonderful! Have you tried a cupcake version? I may experiment!
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
Jammy pockets sound great to me. I love blueberries and maple but I’ve never used the two together.
Dawn @ Making Home
This sounds so delish ! Do you think the wheat pastry flour is a must or could you use just all whole wheat flour ?
kate
Hey Dawn, great question. The original recipe called for half all-purpose flour, which I replaced with whole wheat pastry flour, and half whole wheat flour. I think you could use all whole wheat flour, but I would expect the cake to taste more wheat-y and be a little more dense. I love substituting whole wheat pastry flour for all-purpose because it’s almost impossible to tell it’s there. If you try using all whole wheat flour please let us know how it turns out!
Inés
Hi Kate, hi Dawn,
I tried the cake with one half whole wheat and one half whole kamut (another sort of wheat) flour and it tuned out wonderfully!
I used honey instead of maple syrup as well. As I don’t have a comparison with a cake with Kate’s original flour composition I cannot say how different it is, but it was not dense at all! It was rather moist (but not dense) and maybe it tasted a bit like there were nuts in there because of the whole wheat. One of my office colleagues asked me this.
I will definitely file this recipe for repeating and, as some people at my office today told me that they liked the cake without me having asked them, I think they really did like it ;-) I hope so! I always worry that it’s not sweet enough, as I only use honey and don’t usually eat that sweet or that it looks too healthy because of the whole wheat, but it seems to have been approved =)
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks for the report, Inés! I sure do appreciate your feedback. I’m glad the cake was a hit at your office. I really want to try making it with honey next time! Maybe I’ll make a blueberry honey cake for my friend who is expecting.
Cassie
I am a huge fan of maple. Great addition to this cake. It’s beautiful!
Cathy
Looks fantastic! Can’t wait to try it!!!
Beth {local milk}
This will make an excellent addition to my collection of blueberry recipes… kind of a blueberry pancake vibe. Which are in constant rotation here. Not to mention been on a massive jammy pocket kick. Pies, berry stuffed scones… they are my craving du jour (well, de mois…)!
Melissa@Julia's Book
JAMMY POCKETS!!!! Oh how I love it! I think I might start saying that at any time of day, for no reason whatsoever.
What a delightful looking recipe — I love Melissa Clark :)
Margarita
Kathryne, this looks so delicious! I think I would like the cornmealy texture, I always like more textured cakes/quick breads. Oh boy, that glaze looks divine! I love the fact that it only has 1/4 cup of sugar. I was just looking at an awesome cake recipe on another blog that was so mouth watering, but when I found out that the frosting required 5 cups of powdered sugar, I was turned off. Yes cake should be sweet, but that much is totally not necessary.
I’m a big fan of eating dessert for breakfast too… just a small slice… nice, happy way to start the day with good coffee on the side!
Meg
I like your swap of whole wheat pastry flour. I have Melissa Clark’s “In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite” and like it a lot. I’m sure I’ll like your version of her cake! Though I might go sans glaze… I’m a bit more of a breakfast person.
Dana @ My Little Cel
ugh ugh ugh. i’ll take me some of them jammy pockets please. This looks outstanding!
Elizabeth
I can really see those jammy pockets in the first picture. I haven’t seen any blueberries at the markets here yet – don’t know if I can wait for them though, I may just have to sub the cherries that are in my fridge right now.
the actor's diet
stunning! just found out about maple glaze since having it this morning on a donut.
Christina
This sounds so good, like a healthier substitute to a maple glazed donut! I’m definitely going to make it this summer!
baker in disguise
oh how i envy you that you get blueberries… i would do anything to have them!! gorgeous!!
Heidi @foodiecrush
I’ve never combined maple and blueberries outside of an outstandingly delicious blueberry pancake and this recipe looks so much richer and divine. And look at you coining cooking phrases. Watch out Rachel Ray. XO
Elin
Thank you for sharing – looks delicious and I plan to try this recipe soon – with different summer berry variations. No blueberries in VT yet – do you think strawberries would work? As a (very small scale) maple syrup maker, Vermont gold is our main sweetener for almost everything – and I am always on the lookout for recipes that use lots of maple syrup.
Thanks! :-)
kate
Yes, I think strawberries would be great! Peaches would be as well.
Riley
I think tea cake is a good enough excuse to throw a tea party?
Marta @ What Should
I like maple syrup on my pancakes so I’ll like it in a cake as well :) Looks delicious, great cake Kate :)
Katie
I’m a Canadian living in Sweden, and though, much to my relief, I can actually find real maple syrup here, it is ridiculously expensive for the teeniest bottle. Still, it’s worth it for the good stuff, and I think this cake would be a good place to splurge. When the local blueberries arrive, I’m getting right on it!
Joanne
Melissa Clark’s recipes pretty much never fail to make me swoon. That woman has a knack, I tell you. A serious knack.
And jammy pockets? Can we make that part of our daily lexicon? Cause it really does have a lovely ring to it.
Sophie
Kate, only you can make me bake with butter… This tea cake is as delicious as it looks! It was absolutely perfect. I’ll try and comme up with a vegan version next time though.
kate
Sophie, so happy you baked the cake! What kinds of flour did you end up using? I’d love to hear how your next, vegan version comes out.
Baking Serendipity
I love everything about this cake! Blueberry pancakes are my favorite…because I love when the berries mix with maple syrup and pop when they’re bitten into. This cake combines all of that goodness. Perfect!
Hannah
Gorgeous! I usually stick to a blueberry buckle recipe when I work with wild blueberries but I’ll have to try this later on this summer!
Erin@TexanerinBaking
Cellar door? Haha. No. When I saw the title of this cake, I almost didn’t click because I don’t like tea. How embarrassing that I had never heard of tea cake before now. I absolutely love this glaze. I just wish the cake didn’t use so much maple syrup! That’s about $7 of syrup over here. I wish I had maple syrup producing neighbors. They would give me syrup and I would give them half my baked goods. This sounds like the most awesome arrangement ever.
kate
I used to think that coffee cake actually had coffee in it! Ha!
Killara
Kate, this is a sensational recipe!
May I include this on my site? Let me know where you’d like your link to go.
…and I also love your images.
I can’t wait to try this. Blueberries are my daughter’s favorite fruit.
kate
Hi Killara, I’m so glad you enjoy the recipe but I prefer my recipes to stay on my own site. Thank you for offering, though!
Libby M.
Hello! This recipe looks lovely, but I just have one question: can the flour you use in this be replaced with a gluten free substitute? I’ve noticed you used oat flour in one of your recipes for pancakes on this site. Do you think that would work in this recipe? Thanks!!
kate
Hi Libby, I’m sorry, I wish I could offer you some insight into how to make this cake gluten free. I honestly don’t have any experience with making gluten free substitutions. The original recipe said you could sub up to 1/2 cup cornmeal, which is gluten free, but that’s as far as I know! If you try swapping a gluten-free flour blend, please let us know how the cake turns out!
Libby M.
I decided to take on the challenge of substituting ingredients to make this beauty gluten free, dairy free, and soy free… and it turned out wonderful!! Here are my substitutions:
*Instead of the two whole wheat flours, I used gluten free King Arthur all-purpose flour + 1/2 t. xanthan gum
*Instead of the milk, I used an equal amount of almond milk
*For the butter, I used an equal amount of Earth Balance soy free vegan butter
The cake rose beautifully, and it doesn’t even taste gluten free! Everyone in my house is raving!! Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!! I’ll be sure to try it with raspberries, and even fresh cranberries in the winter, as you suggested!!
Libby
kate
Thanks so much for sharing your adaptations and notes with us, Libby! I’m glad to hear that the cake is great with those substitutions, sharing this information with my twitter followers now!
SASHA VINNICHENKO
Hi! Did you use sweetened or unsweetened almond milk?
★★★★★
Jill
Hi Kate, I made this cake just as listed above (well, with Grade A maple syrup) and I loved it. The flours above were just the right weight for the cake and not a morsel was left after we took it to a dinner at our neighbors. The blueberries were so good with the maple. The glaze was just perfect and I need to find other recipes that need that topping! Thanks!
Jill
kate
So happy to hear that you enjoyed the maple cake, Jill. I’m totally obsessed with that glaze, too.
Megan
Oh man! This looks so good!
Bridget Macdonald
Hey Kate :) Love your blog- Im a new reader!! I was wondering if it would make a big difference if instead of using the pastry flour I could just use all whole wheat flour. I dont have pastry flour. Thanks so much!
kate
Hi Bridget, I haven’t tried baking the cake with all whole wheat flour. I think it would work, but the cake will probably be a little more dense and taste more like wheat. The original recipe called for half whole wheat flour and half all purpose, so I know that would work!
Annie
Made this tonight with fresh peaches from my baby peach tree! I used part regular flour and part oat flour. Baked it 25 minutes @400 and the toothpick came out clean – but should of baked it a bit longer as it seemed a bit undone in the center but the edge pieces were brown and pulling away. Great over vanilla ice cream and my crew loved it! Will try again with some whole wheat and oat flour – very easy “quick cake” Thanks for your blog its awesome and your pictures and directions are great!
★
kate
Glad to hear that the cake can be made with part oat flour! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the cake, Annie.
Fork and Whisk
Looks delicious. Would be great on a cold morning with a pot of hot coffee. Thanks for sharing.
Jessica
Yum I love the combination of maple and blueberry. This looks delish.
Chelsea
Hi Kate! This recipe looks divine! Do you have any suggestions for using maple extract, as opposed to maple syrup? How do you think corn syrup and maple extract would work?
Kate
Hey Chelsea, I have never tried making that substitution so I can’t advise. If anything, I would substitute honey for the maple syrup.
Pixie
Last Christmas, I decided to buy fresh cranberries and realized I do not like them raw! My boyfriend really likes maple syrup, so I made this, but with cranberries. It was amazing! My boyfriend would eat about half the pan in one sitting. I made it about 3-4 times during the Christmas season. Thanks for another awesome recipe!
Kate
Thank you, Pixie! I can’t believe I forgot to make cranberry version last winter. Putting it on my list for next winter!
Rasha
tried this and it was an absolute hit! will try it again with other variations of fruit.
Kate
Thank you, Rasha! I’m so glad it went over well.
Anne
Blueberry pancakes, only neater and faster. I hate things with maple “flavor” but just using the real thing as a sweetener is just rich. More cinnamon added made my hub happy.
Kate
Thanks, Anne! You must have used up a lot of blueberries this weekend. :)
Ruby
Kate,
This was so unbelievably good. You never disappoint! Thanks!!
★★★★★
Kate
Hooray! Thank you, Ruby!
Heather
I just stumbled upon your blog today, and I’ve been saving your recipes like crazy!! Can’t wait to make some of them! :) I do have a question though. I don’t usually buy or use powdered sugar.. Or any sugar for that matter. Can you suggest a substitute? Also, can you shed some light on why Grade B maple syrup is recommended? Thanks!
Kate
Welcome, Heather! Thanks for the note! I use powdered sugar sparingly. Unfortunately, it’s the only sugar I know that works for glazes—it stays on top of baked goods rather than sinking in. I usually make my own powdered sugar by blasting raw/turbinado sugar in a blender/food processor. I’ve been meaning to try it with coconut sugar. The powdered version has more volume than the sugar crystals, so you’re looking at less than 1/4 cup sugar in the glaze. If you avoid all sugar, though, I’m afraid I don’t have a good solution for you, other than omit it and let the glaze sink into the cake. Grade A and grade B are extracted from trees at different stages. Grade B has a slightly richer flavor and is slightly higher in minerals, etc., but the difference is really pretty negligible.
Rachel
Hey Kate, do you think it would work if used a blend of frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries) to make this cake? It sounds so good I don’t want to have to wait until berries come in season to make it!
D
I baked this cake using 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all purpose flour. It was delicious. I love that the recipe uses maple syrup as I can’t eat honey. The glaze makes the cake even better. I poke holes in the cake to get some of the glaze to seep into it – I find I lose a lot of glaze down the sides. I have made a coconut version and I am planning to try rhubarb.
Mark Walker
Freshly made today….wonderful!!
Kate
Thanks, Mark!
ilana
I live in Quebec Canada, so blueberries and maple syrup are very easy to come by here. The recipe looks perfect for my daughter’s first birthday cake, blueberries are her favorite thing ever.
Thanks!
Kate
You are welcome, Ilana! Let me know how it goes for you.
P
Hi, used a little buckwheat, cornmeal and whole wheat flour and folded in my frozen blueberries. Cake turned purple but was really delicious anyway!
Kate
Great!
Sheeva
Hi Kate,
Quick question, is 3/4 stick of butter the equivalent
to 85 grams?
Kate
It’s 6 tablespoons. You could use an online converter to confirm the grams.
georgia campbell
Will be making this for family I haven’t seen in over 20 years without even testing it first. Everything I’ve made so far has been lovely.
I would like to pass along a tip from a recipe I saw in a NH newspaper. Toss the blueberries with flour first to keep them from all going to the bottom of the cake. The recipe in question used one tablespoon of flour for 1 1/2 cups of berries.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks for sharing!
Karine
I did it yesterday and the cake came wonderful. I ‘ve used only whole wheat flour and I used coconut sugar for glazing.
But it took 50mn to bake perfectly!
Excellent recipe! Thank you
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Karine! Thank you for sharing you loved this cake.
Sarah
Just made this today and it turned out great! I didn’t use any of the flours in the recipe, honestly, so I don’t know how yours is in comparison. I used half all purpose and half spelt flour, because it’s what I had I believe spelt has similar properties to whole wheat flour. I also added some lemon zest. I love this cake and I can’t wait to experiment with different fruits.
★★★★★
Sara
This cake is so delicious! Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out so moist and flavorful. And was so simple! Will definitely be making again.
★★★★★
Leah
Just made this with all purpose flour, so good! Thanks for this awesome recipe.
★★★★★
Maria
Hello, do you have metric conversions to your recipes especially the cakes blueberry maple tea cake. Only because there seem to be a bit of a discrepancy on cups to gram conversion for solid and liquids. I really like your website made quite a few things and like them, just slightly apprehensive with the cake cup to gram conversion. Just wondered. All the best, thank you Maria
Kate
Hi Maria! I don’t have that yet. But I have found a great chart that seems to work well. Let me know!
Maria
Hello and thank you , that is pretty much what I used when I made it yesterday. in my opinion it worked out well, it is delicious. Really appreciate your help. Thank you very much.
★★★★
Japneet
Hi Kate,
How can I make this eggless?
Kate
Hi Japneet! I haven’t tried this one egg free, sorry. I do remember this one is tricky so I don’t know if a flax egg would work or not.
Japneet
Thanks for your reply! I’ll give it a try and let you know :)
ali
I made this with fresh raspberries over blueberries and it was absolutely smashing – and I’m pretty sure I won about 10 girlfriend points for it! I was pretty generous with the amount of fruit I used, just because I felt like it would be hard to go wrong otherwise.
★★★★★