why do my blueberries sink?

[CLCH]

I have recently made the blueberry pound cake from Complete Cooking Light and today made a blueberry crumb cake from oneof my annual recipes cookbooks. Both times, ALL of the blueberries sunk to the bottom of the pan while baking so there is a layer of cake and then a layer of blueberry mush. Does anybody know what I can do to prevent this? In the picture of the poundcake on the cover of the Complete Cooking Light book the blueberries are distributed so evenly.

[charlie]

Did you use the tbs or 2 on the blueberries before adding them to the recipe? It sort of aids in the suspension in a batter.

[CLCH]

For the poundcake, I coated the blueberries with flour as the recipe indicated, but they sunk anyway. For the crumbcake recipe, the recipe simply said to stir in the fresh blueberries so I did not add flour, and they sunk as well. I give up.

[Irene Bartlett]

Hi,

Same thing here. The first time I made a recipe with frozen blueberries and I didn't have any problem. The next time I used fresh blueberries (adding the flour) but I had the same problem :a layer of blueberries on the bottom and it was a mess when I took the cake out of the pan. I'm puzzled !

[charlie]

Well, now that Irene has mentioned the descrepency, I do remember that I had frozen my fresh blueberries and then used them in both of those recipes. So maybe that is the kicker?

[Laura B]

Originally posted by charlie:
Well, now that Irene has mentioned the descrepency, I do remember that I had frozen my fresh blueberries and then used them in both of those recipes. So maybe that is the kicker?

Well, I made the blueberry poundcake with forzen blueberries and had no problem with sinking. I really do not know what the problem could have been. They were commercially frozen blueberries, not blueberries I froze myself. Don't know if there could have been a difference in weight???

[Jewel]

If I use fresh blueberries in ANY recipe, whether or not they're coated with flour, they become bottom-feeders...if I use frozen and coat them with flour, they do the backstroke all through the cake! I have no idea why, but I just chalk it up to some type of physics thing that I'm not privvy to. All in all, I look at it as a blessing since frozen is easier, and in the long run usually cheaper! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[AD]

I haven't cooked with bluebberries in over a year, and I only made muffins so I'm not really speaking from experience. I can't even remember how they turned out. I've always used canned blueberries though.

It may be a matter of density or a problem with the batter. The bluberries could be denser (more compact) than the batter. Perhaps a different size blueberry or ones with a different water content would work better. I'm thinking that the batter could also be too thin. You may need more flour than the recipe calls for in the batter to make them stick. Also, you may need to reduce the liquid in the batter.

[CLCH]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I think that I will try using frozen blueberries in the future.