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Blueberry Coffee Cake

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Blueberry Coffee Cake – An incredibly moist coffee cake studded with fresh blueberries, a hint of lemon, and covered with a cinnamon brown sugar crust

Piece of Blueberry Coffee CakeOh look, it’s yet another berry recipe! I really should stop apologizing for so many berry recipes because it’s clear that it ain’t gonna stop. Whether it’s winter, spring, summer, or fall, it’s pretty easy for me to find a recipe that brings out the best of the berries.

As fall begins, berries will probably take a backseat to apples, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and other comforting foods. Therefore, this will probably be my last berry recipe until the holidays roll in.

Before we say goodbye with today’s recipe, let’s take a quick recap at some of my favorite berry recipes this year:

February: Chocolate Raspberry Mousse – incredibly light and creamy at the same time. Plus, you just can’t deny the unstoppable duo of chocolate and raspberry

April: Blackberries & Cream Slider Doughnuts – so many textures going on in these doughnuts. Crispy outside thanks to the sugar crystals and a creamy/juicy center due to the plump blackberries and cream cheese filling. Oh man, I’m gonna have to make these babies again soon.

July: Blackberry & Rosemary Pork Tenderloin – who knew berries and pork would pair so perfectly together. The marinade is killer, but that sauce takes it to a whole other level!

And now for today’s recipe: Blueberry Crumb Cake!

Blueberry Coffee Cake piece surrounded by blueberries Fork cutting Blueberry Coffee Cake Closeup of Blueberry Coffee Cake after being cut with a fork

I talked a lot about my breakfast cake obsession in this post for my Classic Crumb Cake almost exactly a year ago. I mean, it’s hard not to love a cake that’s sole purpose is to be eaten before noon.

Since it’s been so long since that post, it felt necessary to share another yummy cake that you can eat for breakfast. I had my heart set on making a chocolate version of a coffee cake for you guys.

But on baking day, I was just not in a chocolate mood. I know, I was shocked too! It was so hard to get amped up for the recipe when I wasn’t excited about the outcome. My heart (and stomach) just wasn’t in it.

All during the prep for the chocolate coffee cake, I couldn’t get a blueberry coffee cake out of my mind. I knew the flavor would be so vibrant and perfect for the mood my appetite was in. So I set that chocolate coffee cake aside and off I went to the store to get a fresh lemon and some blueberries!

But I still plan on sharing a chocolate coffee cake eventually! Stay tuned!

Mixing blueberries with the batter Blueberry Coffee Cake on wax paper

The recipe for the classic crumb cake was so incredibly moist that it made me question every cake recipe since then. All cake needs to taste this moist!

That’s why I have decided to use the exact same recipe for this blueberry coffee cake. All I did differently was add blueberries, lemon zest, and change up the topping. I wanted more of a crust than a crumb topping so that the focus was on the blueberries in the cake rather than the yummy cinnamon topping.

But don’t worry – it’s still every bit as cinnamony as the crumb topping.

Forkful of Blueberry Coffee Cake

As always, here are a couple tips to help you make this recipe perfectly:

  1. I love thick coffee cake so I used my 8×8 square pan. You can easily use the 9×9 square pan, if that’s all that you have. But be warned – it won’t be as tall as the cake in my photos. And the cake won’t take as long to bake so keep an eye on it!
  2. Make sure you dust the cake with powdered sugar right before serving. The cake will absorb the sugar so if you don’t eat right after dusting, it will disappear before anyone will ever see it!
  3. Do not overmix the batter! When you mix past the point where the ingredients have combined, you are overworking the batter, which will make the cake less fluffy and almost tough.
  4. You can use frozen berries in this recipe, but I would toss them in a little flour before using to make sure that the whole batter doesn’t turn blue.

Here are all the kitchen tools and serveware that I used in today’s recipe. For each item sold below, I make a small commission. I only recommend items that I own and love so you can trust that each recommendation is tried and true. Thank you for supporting CPA!

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Print Recipe

Blueberry Coffee Cake

An incredibly moist coffee cake studded with fresh blueberries, a hint of lemon, and covered with a cinnamon brown sugar crust.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Servings: 9 bars

Ingredients

For the cake:
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 5 tablespoons butter unsalted, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
For the topping:
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons butter unsalted, diced
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • powdered sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

For the cake:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if you have a dark-coated pan). Prep your 8x8 square pan by lining it with parchment paper with a little hanging over for easy cake removal.
  • Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in small bowl to combine. Set aside.
  • Whip butter and sugar together with a stand mixer or a hand mixer until it becomes light and fluffy. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment. Add egg and vanilla. Mix on low until fully incorporated.
  • In a separate small bowl, mix sour cream and milk together. Add 1/3 of flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Add 1/2 of the milk mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Repeat again until flour and milk mixtures are fully incorporated into the butter mixture. Add blueberries and zest and gently fold together.
  • Take a spatula, scrap down the sides of the bowl of the cake batter to make sure you have all the ingredients mixed in. Pour batter into prepared dish and spread into an even layer. Make topping (see below) and spread over the batter.
  • Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. If you want a crispier top layer, cook for full 35 minutes. Once finished baking, place on rack to cool for 10 minutes while still in cake pan. Then remove from cake pan to finish cooling on the rack. Can be served warm or cooled. Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar for a pretty white layer on top. Store leftover cake in storage container for up to 3 days.
For the crumb topping:
  • Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and flour together in a medium mixing bowl. Add cubed butter and combine together until the butter is the size of crumbs.

Notes

Cake recipe adapted from my Classic Crumb Cake

Pin for later:

Blueberry Coffee Cake photo collage

More recipes that you’ll love:

Blueberry Muffin Tops

Blueberry Muffin Tops on wax paper

Blueberry Crumb Bars

Stack of blueberry crumb bars

Classic Crumb Cake

Cutting classic crumb cake

Comments

  7. Mary says

    Coffee cake and blueberries, a match made in heaven! I really like how you have put all the bluberries at the bottom instead of dispersing them throughout the cake. That way every bite you get all the deliciousness in one bite!

    Reply

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