This blueberry coffee cake is a moist, tender and buttery classic coffee cake filled with sweet blueberries. It’s topped with a crunchy cinnamon spiced streusel that is the perfect complement to the fresh, tart blueberries. Make this blueberry sour cream coffee cake for a wonderfully delicious weekend or holiday breakfast or brunch.
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Why Should You Make This Recipe
I absolutely adore a delicious coffee cake recipe. My Cinnamon Streusel Muffins, Maple Pumpkin Coffee Cake and Banana Coffee Cake are just a few I love from the blog. This blueberry coffee cake with sour cream is filled with the coziest flavors and textures. If you’re a fan of decadent breakfast dishes or just love a wonderfully delicious streusel topped cake paired with your coffee, this recipe is for you.
- Layers of flavors and textures. From the soft and fluffy vanilla cake bursting with sweet blueberries, to the sweet cinnamon spiced streusel, this sour cream coffee cake will delight your senses.
- Easy to make, bake and eat. This homemade blueberry coffee cake tastes like you just bought it from a bakery, but is so simple to make. Simply make the streusel, mix up the sour cream coffee cake with blueberries, bake and enjoy.
- Perfectly cozy and perfect for warmer seasons. The light, fluffy and tender vanilla coffee cake is flavored with lemon and blueberries and is perfect for a cozy spring or summer breakfast or brunch dish.
Ingredients
This recipe for blueberry sour cream cake requires a handful of simple ingredients to make and you probably already have them in your pantry and fridge.
For the Streusel Topping
Gather all purpose flour, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and cold cubed unsalted butter.
For the Blueberry Coffee Cake
Dry Ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt
Wet Ingredients: Gather unsalted butter, granulated sugar, lemon zest, eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract and fresh or frozen blueberries.
Substitutions
These blueberry sour cream cake with streusel topping is as easy to make as it is delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions to make this cake if you need them.
- All purpose flour: To make this blueberry sour cream cake gluten free, use a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda: These both act as leaveners in this coffee cake.
- Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar: This sour cream coffee cake recipe calls for granulated sugar, but maple sugar would also work well to make this refined sugar free.
- Lemon Zest: Lemon pairs so beautifully with blueberries. To make this blueberry coffee cake taste even more perfect, zest 1 lemon into the sugar. Lime would be a wonderful substitute.
- Unsalted Butter: Feel free to use an equal amount of salted butter in place of the unsalted butter. Just make sure to omit the added salt. Vegan butter or plant based can also be used in place of regular unsalted butter.
- Eggs: This recipe has not been tested without eggs.
- Sour Cream: This ingredient is standard in the classic blueberry sour cream coffee cake. However, a thick and creamy greek yogurt works well in this recipe.
- Vanilla Extract: This is more for background flavor and nicely enhances the flavors of the other ingredients.
- Blueberries: You can fresh or frozen blueberries. If using frozen berries, do not let them thaw. Also note that the baking time will be a bit longer if using frozen berries. Raspberries and blackberries would also work really well in this coffee cake recipe.
Variations
- Blueberry Sour Cream Bundt Cake: Generously grease a 10 -12 cup capacity bundt pan. Prepare the streusel topping and blueberry coffee cake according to the recipe directions. Transfer 1/3 of the coffee cake batter into the bundt pan and top with ½ of the streusel. Repeat with the next 1/3 of the blueberry sour cream coffee cake and the remaining ½ of streusel. Top with the last of the blueberry cream cake batter. Bake at 350 F (177 C) for 50-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then inverted onto a serving plate to cool to room temperature.
- Lemon Glaze: Top the blueberry coffee cake with a tart lemon glaze. Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g) with 2-3 tablespoons (30-45 ml) lemon juice until smooth. Pour over the warm coffee cake and enjoy.
- Vanilla Glaze: Top the blueberry sour cream coffee cake with a vanilla glaze. Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g) with 1 teaspoons (5 ml) vanilla extract and 2-3 tablespoons milk. Pour over the warm coffee cake and enjoy.
How To Make
Learn how to make blueberry coffee cake in a few easy steps.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Lightly grease and line the bottom and long sides of a 9 x 9 inch (23 cm) cake pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and ground cinnamon for the streusel topping. Work in the cold butter cubes until a sand like texture develops. There will be a few bigger crumbs, but most should be finer, smaller pieces. Place the bowl in the fridge until the coffee cake is ready for topping.
- In a medium bowl whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until well combined.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and lemon zest together until they are the consistency of wet sand. Beat butter and lemon sugar together until light and fluffy. This takes about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. On low, beat in the eggs and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.
- Mix in ½ of the dry ingredients into the wet, followed by the sour cream, then the dry. Repeat until all the ingredients are just combined. Fold in the flour coated blueberries.
- Evenly spread the blueberry coffee cake batter into the prepared pan. Top with the streusel, making sure to break any extra large pieces.
- Bake the coffee cake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the blueberry coffee cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool the pan in the pan for 15-20 minutes. Gently lift the coffee cake out of the pan using the parchment paper. Transfer to a serving plate or serve right from the pan. Top with powdered sugar or a glaze, slice and enjoy!
How To Make Ahead, Freeze and Store
- Make Ahead: Parts of this coffee cake can easily be made ahead of time. To do this simply prepare streusel topping according to the recipe directions and place it in an airtight storage container and refrigerate until you’re ready to make the coffee cake.
- Store: Place the slices of the blueberry coffee cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Then the cake should be transferred to the fridge for up to another 2-3 days.
- Freeze: Make sure the sour cream coffee cake with blueberries is completely cooled to room temperature. Individually wrap each slice in plastic wrap and place in a ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Thaw: The easiest and tastiest way to thaw your blueberry coffee cake is to let it sit out at room temperature for at least two hours or overnight in the fridge. Enjoy at room temperature or microwave the coffee cake slice for 20 - 30 seconds for that “fresh from the oven” taste.
M's Expert Tips
- Cube the cold butter into small even pieces before mixing into the streusel. Mix until the texture of the topping resembles wet sand with some larger pieces mixed in. Store the streusel topping in the fridge until it's time to top the coffee cake.
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature. This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in soft, fluffy, moist and tender coffee cake.
- Measure the flour properly. I highly recommend using a food scale to get perfectly measured ingredients every time.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Always use the lowest speed on your electric mixer or mix in the dry ingredients by hand. Make sure to mix the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
- Coat the blueberries in flour and don’t thaw. If using fresh blueberries, make sure to toss them with 1 tablespoon (8 g) flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake. If using frozen berries, do not thaw them before mixing into the cake.
- Use the baking times as a guide. All ovens vary and baking times should be used as a guide. As a general rule, when the coffee cake becomes fragrant, it’s a good idea to start checking. Begin checking on the coffee cake at the minimum baking time. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out with a few moist crumbs or clean.
FAQs
Does coffee cake have coffee in it?
No. The name “coffee cake” implies that this type of cake is perfect when served with coffee.
Should sour cream coffee cake be refrigerated?
No, it can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days. Then to maintain freshness for longer, it can be transferred to the fridge for 2-3 more days.
Does sour cream change the taste of cake?
Sour cream adds more moisture and a tender crumb. It also helps to balance the sweetness of the cake, while also adding a background of tangy flavor.
Other Blueberry Recipes to Try
If you try this Blueberry Coffee Cake recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! - M
Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe
This blueberry coffee cake is a moist, tender and buttery classic coffee coffee cake filled with sweet blueberries. It’s topped with a crunchy cinnamon spiced streusel that is the perfect complement to the fresh, tart blueberries. Make this blueberry sour cream coffee cake for a wonderfully delicious weekend or holiday breakfast or brunch.
Equipment
- 1 9X9 (23cm) cake pan
- 1 stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with beaters
- 1 parchment paper
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- ½ cup (60 g) all purpose flour
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp (25 g) granulated sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 tbsp (57 g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
Blueberry Coffee Cake
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 lemon zested
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs (US), room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240 g) sour cream, room temperature
- 2 cups (300-325 g) blueberries tossed in 1 tbsp (8 g) all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Lightly grease and line the bottom and two sides of a 9 x 9 inch (23 cm) cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and ground cinnamon for the streusel topping.½ cup (60 g) all purpose flour, ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar, 2 tbsp (25 g) granulated sugar, ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Work in the cold butter cubes until a sand like texture develops. There will be a few bigger crumbs, but most should be finer, smaller pieces. Place the bowl in the fridge until the coffee cake is ready for topping.4 tbsp (57 g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- In a medium bowl whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until well combined.2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp salt
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and lemon zest together until they are the consistency of wet sand. Beat butter and lemon sugar together until light and fluffy. This takes about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. On low, beat in the eggs and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 1 lemon zested, ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, 2 large eggs (US), room temperature, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Mix in ½ of the dry ingredients into the wet, followed by the sour cream, then the dry. Repeat until all the ingredients are just combined. Fold in the flour coated blueberries.2 cups (300-325 g) blueberries, 1 cup (240 g) sour cream, room temperature
- Evenly spread the blueberry coffee cake batter into the prepared pan. Top with the streusel, making sure to break any extra large pieces.
- Bake the coffee cake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the blueberry coffee cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool the pan in the pan for 15-20 minutes. Gently lift the coffee cake out of the pan using the parchment paper. Transfer to a serving plate or serve right from the pan. Top with powdered sugar or a glaze, slice and enjoy!
Notes
If using frozen berries, do not thaw them before mixing into the coffee cake.
To store: Place the slices of the blueberry coffee cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Then the cake should be transferred to the fridge for up to another 2-3 days.
Use the baking times as a guide. All ovens vary and baking times should be used as a guide. As a general rule, when the coffee cake becomes fragrant, it’s a good idea to start checking. Begin checking on the coffee cake at the minimum baking time. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out with a few moist crumbs or clean.
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How does the taste of sour cream come through in your cake recipes? I'm curious because there's so many cake recipes I want to try baking but I absolutely despise the flavour of sour cream (and don't like Greek yogurt either...), but I know it's so commonly used to make cakes softer and fluffier so it seems I have no other options.
Hi Lorna,
When I bake with sour cream I can't taste the sour cream in the final product. The flavors that really stand out to me in the blueberry coffee cake are buttery, vanilla and cinnamon, with a (very) faint tanginess. This could be from the lemon zest, sour cream or a combination of both. If you've baked with sour cream and still find you can easily detect the taste and that bothers you, for this recipe you could also try room temperature buttermilk in place of the sour cream.
The same amount of milk can also be used, but keep in mind the end result won't be as light and fluffy. If you go this route, omit the baking soda from the recipe. Please let me know how it turns out for you!