Blueberry Coffee Cake that is bursting with blueberries and a subtle lemon flavor. Finish with a crumb topping and quick vanilla glaze for a simple and delicious breakfast or dessert!
This blueberry coffee cake recipe is one of my favorite ways to use overripe blueberries. We go through a ton of fruit in my house; on the rare occasion that some gets left in the fridge too long, I toss it into baked goods like this coffee cake, these sour cream blueberry muffins, or blueberry pancakes.
Baking softens the fruit as it cooks, so it’s a great way to use any that is otherwise “too soft to eat.”
What’s in Blueberry Coffee Cake?
This Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake has three components: the cake, the crumb topping, and the glaze. You will need sour cream (for tang), fresh lemon juice and zest (to balance the sweetness), and good unsalted butter (to add that rich flavor).
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter
- Eggs
- Sour Cream
- Vanilla Extract
- Lemon Zest
- Lemon Juice
- All-Purpose Flour
- Granulated Sugar
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Fresh or Frozen Blueberries
Crumb Topping:
- Granulated Sugar
- All-Purpose Flour
- Cinnamon
- Softened Unsalted Butter
Glaze:
- Powdered Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
- Milk
How to Make Blueberry Coffee Cake
Don’t let the “long” list of ingredients scare you. This cake comes together simply and quickly. I like to use a springform pan to make a taller, round cake, but you can certainly make this even easier by using a 13×9 baking dish.
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a 9in springform pan or 13×9 baking dish.
- Cream butter until light and fluffy.
- Add sour cream, vanilla extract, and eggs, cream until well combined. Add zest and juice, mix well
- Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, reserve 1-2 teaspoons of the dry ingredients.
- In a small bowl, add blueberries and reserved flour mixture and toss to coat. This will help prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom while cooking.
- Gently fold blueberries into the mixture, being careful not to break the berries.
- Spread evenly into prepared pan and top with crumb topping.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes and allow to cool completely before drizzling with glaze.
Tips for Making Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Instead of refrigerating your cake, cover it with a lid. Storing it in the refrigerator can dull the flavor and may make it dry.
- This cake also freezes well! Let the cake cool completely, cut into individual slices, wrap each slice in plastic wrap, and then store in an airtight bag in the freezer for up to one month.
- I’ve only made this recipe using fresh blueberries, but frozen will work as well. They may bleed more color into the cake, but the taste will be the same.
What makes a coffee cake a coffee cake?
A coffee cake is typically anything that is intended to be eaten with coffee (which may or may not include coffee flavor in the baked good itself). Think of the pastries and snack cakes that are served at coffee shops, like lemon pound cake. This Blueberry Coffee Cake is delicious for breakfast or dessert!
More Delicious Cake Recipes
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened (1 + ½ sticks)
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ cups sour cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 -2 teaspoons milk depending on consistency
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray baking pan with cooking spray – can use 9 inch springform pan or 13×9 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy.
- Add sour cream, vanilla extract and eggs, cream until well combined.
- Add zest and juice, mix well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, reserve 1-2 teaspoons of dry ingredients.
- In a small bowl, add blueberries and reserved flour mixture and toss to coat. This will help prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom while cooking.
- Gently fold blueberries into mixture, being careful not to break the berries.
- Spread evenly into prepared pan.
Crumb Topping
- In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, flour and cinnamon.
- Cut in butter with fork until topping is crumbly.
- Sprinkle over coffee cake.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven on to cooling rack.
- If using springform pan, remove from pan onto platter.
Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together ingredients for glaze until smooth and thin.
- Drizzle over warm coffee cake.
- Serve warm or room temperature.
- Store leftovers in airtight container.