Blueberry Coffee Cake
Blueberry Coffee Cake aka Blueberry Crumb Cake! Soft blueberry buttermilk cake is crowned with a thick layer of brown sugar crumb topping. It’s all about that perfect crumb topping!
In my humble opinion, a truly great crumb cake must have a crumb topping that is just as thick as the cake beneath it. This recipe delivers with an abundant crumb topping.
Folding fresh blueberries into the batter and layering more berries into the crumb topping takes this treat into another league altogether.
This cake is great for dessert or with a cup of tea, but you could also have it for breakfast or brunch on the weekend.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Cake Flour – Low protein cake flour makes a cake that is very tender with a fine crumb. If you can find bleached cake flour that’s what I recommend for the softest cake.
- Brown Sugar – You can use light or dark brown sugar for the crumb topping.
- Buttermilk – Acidic buttermilk tenderizes the cake and adds great flavor.
- Baking Powder – You’ll notice that there is no baking soda in the recipe, only baking powder. Baking soda is on the base side of the pH scale, so it’s used with acidic ingredients to balance the pH of a batter. I purposely did not use baking soda because I wanted to keep the batter slightly acidic.
- Blueberries – Use fresh or frozen berries. Don’t defrost them first. You should fold them into the batter while they’re still frozen so they don’t break down and turn the entire cake green.
Process photos
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Add the dry ingredients for the crumb topping in a mixing bowl.
- Mix to combine the ingredients.
- Toss in the butter.
- Mix until the topping looks like wet sand. If you grab a handful it should hold together in a large clump.
- Sift the dry ingredients for the cake batter into a mixing bowl.
- Add the butter and half of the buttermilk and mix to aerate the batter.
- Add the eggs and mix until smooth.
- Fold about 2/3 of the berries into the batter.
- Spread the batter into a buttered and floured 9″ square pan. (You can use a 9″ round pan). Line the pan with parchment if you want to remove the cake from the pan before serving.
- Sprinkle more berries over the batter. Break the topping into large clumps over the batter.
- Layer in the rest of the berries and crumb topping.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Storage
Blueberry Coffee cake will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days. The cake should never be refrigerated. Leftover slices can be frozen for up to a month.
More Blueberry Recipes
More Coffee Cakes
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Blueberry Crumb Cake
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 6 3/4 oz Cake flour (1 1/2 cups, see note)
- 6 oz brown sugar (2/3 cup)
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 4 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)
Cake Batter
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 oz buttermilk (1/2 cup, divided)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 3/4 oz Cake flour (1 1/2 cups)
- 6 oz granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 4 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 10 oz blueberries (2 cups)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 9" square cake pan. Cut an 8"x16" piece of parchment paper and line the pan in one direction, leaving a short overhand on each side. Butter and flour the parchment. (see note)
Crumb Topping
- Combine 6 3/4 oz Cake flour, 6 oz brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon table salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest. Mix on low speed until completely combined. With the mixer running, add 4 oz unsalted butter and continue to mix until the topping looks like sand. Remove from the mixer and transfer to a small bowl by squeezing handfuls to create large clumps. Set aside while you mix the batter.
Batter
- Combine 1 large egg and 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 cup of the buttermilk in a small bowl and set aside.
- Sift together 6 3/4 oz Cake flour, 6 oz granulated sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. add 1 teaspoon lemon zest. With the mixer running on low speed, add 4 oz unsalted butter and the remaining 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Mix until completely combined. Scrape the bowl and beater. Mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes to lighten the batter.
- Scrape the bowl and add the egg mixture in two batches, scraping between additions. By hand, fold about 2/3 of the blueberries into the batter. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
- Sprinkle 1/2 the remaining blueberries over the top of the batter. Sprinkle 1/2 the crumb topping over the batter, breaking the topping into pea to marble sized clumps. Sprinkle the rest of blueberries and then the remaining crumb topping.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool at least 30 minutes in the pan. Use the parchment to carefully lift the cake out of the pan.
- Cool completely on a wire rack
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Notes
Since you love coffee cake, try these other fabulous recipes: Rhubarb Crumb Cake, Peach & Pecan Coffee Cake, Banana Coffee Cake, Pumpkin Coffee Cake, Sourdough Coffee Cake and Sourdough Crumb Cake.
And here are some more blueberry recipes: Blueberry Cheesecake Tart, Blueberry Preserves, Lemon Blueberry Macarons, Blueberry Hand Pies, Blueberry & Cherry Shortcakes and Blueberry Crumb Bars..
Hi,
can I use a 9 inch round springform pan?
Yes, that should work just fine.
Hi Eileen,
Thank you for the suggestion. I have two 9 inch round pans. Would you advise to use that?
You can use 9″ pans, but a double batch would probably be a little too large. Also, depending on the portion size, a 9″ cake may not feed 18-20p.
Thank you so much!!
Sure, let me know how it turns out.
Hi Eileen,
Hope you are doing great!!
I just want to bake the blueberry cake (without the crumble on top) and do cream cheese frosting as layer cake. I want to use this recipe for the blueberry cake. Do you recommend to do that?
Also, I want to make the cake for serving of 18-20 people..can you please suggest me the quantity of cake flour that I should take?
Any other suggestions that I need to do.
Thanks
Monali
Hi Monali, For 18-20 people I would suggest you double the recipe and bake in two 10″ round pans if you have them. Use one batch of Cream Cheese Frosting to fill and ice the cake.
Hi Eileen,cake Flour means, cake mix or plan Flour
Hi Naleema? Are you based in the US? Cake flour is sold here in the US and is flour made with soft wheat with a lower protein content. It’s good for making cakes, biscuits and other baked good with a soft crumb.
wow. you were right. the cake literally just melts in your mouth. it is so light and fluffy and the flavor with the blueberries is delicious.
I have tried NY crumb cakes twice before (two different recipes) and both failed! the crumb always sank to the bottom. :0(
this one did not. it was perfect in every respect.
thank you!!
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it.