Berries, along with chocolate chips, nuts and other mix-ins you
might like to add to cakes, breads and muffins, often seem to
sink to the bottom of the pan during baking. While you still get
to eat the same number of berries per muffin, this usually means
that you have one bit of berries and several of plain cake.
Berries sink when a batter is not thick enough to support their
weight and hold them up during baking. Choosing a recipe that
you know has such a batter will produce the best results. One
other benefit of using very thick batters is that you will get a
much more bakery-like dome to your muffins, since the muffin
will be able to support the weight of a high rise better. But to
prevent the berries from sinking into a thinner batter, tossing
them with a little bit of flour before stirring them in can help
a bit. The flour helps them "grab on" to the rest of the batter
and remain in position during baking. Adding a teaspoon of flour
will not change the way the recipe works or tastes, so it's a
good tric