Blueberry Cornmeal Tea Cakes with Honey Butter Icing

Blueberry Cornmeal Tea Cakes with Honey Butter Icing

If you’re looking forward to spring as much as I am, you’ll love these tender, fluffy Blueberry Cornmeal Tea Cakes. They taste like soft, sweet cornbread with the added freshness of juicy blueberries. The Honey Butter Icing adds the perfect, sweet finish. Who doesn’t love cornbread slathered with honey and butter? It’s a match made in heaven and it works so well on these delightful tea cakes.

I placed them upside down because they look more pretty and elegant that way. I added some fresh, pesticide free violas to the tops. They would also be cute decorated with fresh blueberries or chamomile flowers.

This versatile recipe can also be made into muffins by filling the muffin pan cups 2/3 full instead of 1/2 full. The baking time may be a little longer. Place the muffins right side up on the cooling rack.

To see the inside of the tea cakes, watch the TikTok video. Click here.

Blueberry Cornmeal Tea Cakes with Honey Butter Icing

Sweet, soft cornbread cakes with blueberries, topped with honey butter icing
Course Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert
Servings 12

Ingredients
  

Blueberry Cornmeal Tea Cakes

  • 1 ¼ cups (159g) all purpose flour, sifted
  • ½ cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons (130g) granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup (36g) cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup (170g) sour cream
  • ¼ cup (57ml) vegetable oil or neutral oil of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
  • ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Zest of 1 small lemon
  • 1 cup (170g) blueberries

Honey Butter Icing

  • 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar, sifted
  • 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • Pinch fine sea salt
  • 1-2 tablespoons whole milk or half and half

Instructions
 

Blueberry Cornmeal Tea Cakes

  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease and flour a 12-serving muffin pan*.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, oil, butter, vanilla and lemon zest until smooth.
  • Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined. Don't over mix. A few lumps are okay. Fold in the blueberries.
  • Fill the muffin cups half full. Bake until the tops of the cakes are light golden, the tops are springy and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 14-16 minutes.
  • Cool the cakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan and place them upside down on a cooling rack. Top the cooled cakes with Honey Butter Icing.

Honey Butter Icing

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, butter, honey, salt and 1 tablespoon of milk. Add additional milk as needed to achieve your desired consistency. Whisk until smooth.

Notes

To find the muffin pan I used, click here.
Keyword blueberry, cake, cornbread

Blueberry Skillet Cornbread

This is a sweet, fluffy blueberry cornbread that my family loves. It’s heavenly served with honey and butter. I love baking it in a cast iron skillet because of the delicious crust that forms from the steady high heat conducted with cast iron. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can use an 8-inch round cake pan instead. To find the 8-inch cast iron skillet I used, click here.

The texture of this cornbread is more like a quick bread than a cake and my family has always called it cornbread. When I posted this recipe previously, I called it a skillet cornmeal cake because I was trying to shy away from the cornbread police who inevitably show up when I post sweet cornbread recipes. These enforcers of non existent cornbread laws no longer intimidate me because I’ve done my cornbread research. There are different regions who make cornbread in many different ways. Various groups of people in the United States argue over whether or not cornbread should contain sugar. Historically, some people had to add sugar to cornbread because of the lower quality cornmeal they had access to. But the first cornbread was made long before that in ancient Mexico. People then and now use the ingredients available to them to create food that tastes good to them. So by any name, it’s all good.

 

Blueberry Skillet Cornbread

by Mari Vasseur
Sweet cornbread with blueberries baked in a cast iron skillet.
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ¼ cups (about 177-198g) blueberries, divided
  • 1 ¼ cups (159g) all purpose flour, sifted, plus one teaspoon for the blueberries
  • â…” cup (132g) sugar
  • ¼ cup (35g) cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup (170g) sour cream
  • ¼ cup (1 7/8 oz or 55ml) vegetable oil or neutral oil of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Grease an 8-inch cast iron skillet.*
  • Set aside 1/4 cup of blueberries. In a small bowl, toss the remaining 1 cup of blueberries with 1 teaspoon of flour.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt until well blended.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, oil and melted butter until creamy and well combined. Add the egg mixture to flour mixture and stir just until combined. A few small lumps are okay. Gently mix one cup of blueberries into the batter.
  • Transfer the batter to prepared skillet. Top with the reserved 1/4 cup of blueberries.
  • Bake until top looks golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 35-45 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Notes

*To find the skillet I used, click here.
If you don't have a cast iron skillet, you can use and 8-inch round cake pan.
Keyword blueberry, cornbread