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Blueberry coffee cake is full of fresh blueberries with just a hint of lemon. With a perfect streusel topping, this cake tastes just like your favorite blueberry muffins! Follow the alternate directions for a gluten-free version.
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We’re having some work done on our house starting this week and I’m here to tell you that the dogs and I are already exhausted.
Well, one dog is terrified and exhausted. The other one is totally unbothered.
If I’m going to have workers in my house disrupting my peace and quiet, I may as well bake. Right?
At least then I can have a slice of afternoon coffee cake.
This blueberry coffee cake is another absolute winner from my friend Erin at Texanerin Baking. Between the sweet blueberries in every bite, the hint of lemon, and the streusel on top, it’s hard to pick my favorite thing about this recipe.
BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE WITH STREUSEL TOPPING
This blueberry coffee cake could just as well be called blueberry muffin cake. It really tastes like blueberry crumb muffins with a little bit of added lemon!
Like cinnamon coffee cake, pumpkin coffee cake, and easy coffee cake, it also makes for a great make-ahead breakfast.
I like to make it along with some fruit cups the night before serving so I can just roll out of bed without having to worry about preparing breakfast.
I rarely make anything with berries without adding some lemon flavor. The lemon just seems to brighten up whatever it’s added to, like this blueberry cream cheese pie. So in this blueberry coffee cake, I’ve added lemon juice, zest and lemon extract.
If you want even more lemon flavor, use more lemon extract in place of the vanilla and double the amount of zest.
If you don’t want any lemon flavor at all, I’m thinking an almond version of this coffee cake would be amazing! Just omit the zest, use milk in place of lemon juice, and almond extract instead of lemon.
HOW TO MAKE THIS BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE
Like my caramel apple cake, this is another cake recipe that does not require a mixer. Just grab some mixing bowls, a pastry blender, and a spatula and you’re set!
Can you use frozen blueberries in this cake?
Ideally you would use fresh blueberries in this blueberry coffee cake. Even though fresh blueberries are available at most grocery stores year-round, I know that they aren’t always the best or most affordable.
If frozen blueberries are all you have, don’t sweat it! You can swap in frozen blueberries just fine – just make sure they are NOT thawed when you add them, or else they will turn the batter an unappealing shade of gray.
Gluten-free version
This cake uses 2 ¼ cups of flour in the cake batter and ¾ cup of flour in the streusel. You can use all-purpose flour or make it gluten free by using the following mix:
- 2 cups (280 grams) rice flour
- 2/3 cup (103 grams) potato starch
- 1/3 cup (40 grams) tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
Alternatively, you could use an all-purpose gluten-free baking flour. Both work just as well in this coffee cake.
Making this recipe
This recipe is baked in an 8×8-inch pan for a nice tall cake. These are generous slices! Make sure to line your pan with parchment paper to get started.
Make the streusel by stirring together the flour (all-purpose or gluten-free), the sugars, and the salt. Cut the butter in using a pastry blender; you want the mixture to look like coarse crumbs.
Set the streusel in the refrigerator while you make the cake batter.
Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
In a large bowl, stir together the oil, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon extract (if you’re using it), vanilla extract and the eggs. Fold in the flour mixture, followed by the blueberries. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
Pour the batter into the lined cake pan and sprinkle the streusel over the top.
Since the cake is so thick, it will take about an hour to bake. It’s done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, with only a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes before serving.
STORAGE
Cover and store any blueberry coffee cake leftovers at room temperature for up to 3 days.
This cake stays nice and moist, so it is delicious at room temperature. If you want to warm up leftover slices, pop them in the microwave for 15-30 seconds.
If you’d like to freeze slices of the cake for later, place the cooled slices in an airtight zip-top freezer bag. Freeze for up to a month.
When you’re ready to enjoy a slice, you can let it thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours or microwave it for 30-60 seconds before enjoying.
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
For the streusel:
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour mix*
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- pinch of salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter cold
For the cake batter:
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour mix*
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup canola oil or another neutral-tasting vegetable oil
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 ¼ teaspoons lemon extract optional
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups fresh blueberries rinsed and patted dry
*For the gluten-free version – mix together:
- 2 cups rice flour 280 grams
- ⅔ cup potato starch 103 grams
- ⅓ cup tapioca flour / starch 40 grams
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line an 8″x 8″ pan with parchment paper.
- Prepare the streusel. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Add in the butter using a pastry blender or your hands and mix together until coarse crumbs form. Place the bowl in the refrigerator while preparing the cake batter.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oil, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon extract (if using), vanilla extract and eggs. Once well combined, gently fold in the flour mixture. Do not over mix. Carefully fold in the blueberries.
- Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. A few moist crumbs are okay but there shouldn’t be wet batter on the toothpick.
- Let cool for 15 minutes and then serve. Cover and store leftovers at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hello. I dont see the coffe in the ingredients. Is a coffe cake right?
Im confused jajaja
Coffee cake typically doesn’t have coffee as an ingredient, it’s a dessert meant to be served with coffee. I hope that clears this up for you.
-Jamie
Love coffee cake! And this blueberry one is especially perfect…it looks so incredibly light and buttery. Yum.
Same here! They make mornings so much better, right? Thanks for your comment!
Looks delicious. Coffee cake is my favorite. Thanks.
Thanks! It’s one of my favorites, too. Such a delicious treat to wake up to!
Hi Kristi,
This recipe looks amazing and I am excited to try it with the upcoming sunny weather. I wanted to know if you had tried making this with any other kind of berries? Such as raspberry? I thought the raspberry and lemon combo might be a fun alternative!
Hi Jenna! I’ve tried this with strawberries and although tasty, it came out looking not that pretty. Not something I’d want to serve others! I haven’t tried raspberries but I think it’d be delicious. I’d recommend using fresh raspberries just to be on the safe side! I hope you’ll enjoy the cake if you get a chance to try it out.
It looks delicious! But I have a few questions.
How many GRAMS of butter did you use?
Did you measure your cups of sugar and flour etc. packed or just lightly scooped in the measuring cup?
Can you use sunflower oil instead of canola oil? Or will it taste very weird than?
Thank you!
Thanks! I actually go by weight and use cups when I bake to make sure everything is super accurate. :) 1 cup of butter = 225 grams, 1 cup of flour = 120 grams, and 1 cup of sugar = 200 grams. With that, you don’t have to worry about how to measure the ingredients (but this is how I measure flour). Sunflower oil is pretty neutral tasting, right? If so, I think it’d be fine! I hope you’ll enjoy the cake.
About the blueberry coffee cake recipe. There must be an error in the amount of flour or butter in the
struesel recipe. Way too much flour! Was not good.
I’m sorry it didn’t come out for you! I just checked my notes. I’ve made this cake 6 times and each time, I used the same exact streusel recipe that I have listed in the directions. It takes a little longer than normal to come together, but it does come together to form coarse crumbs. Did you make any subs to the recipe?
PS – how did you add the butter? I’ll edit the recipe to say to use your hands (rather than giving you an option) since I think that’s the easiest way to get it combined.
These look fantastic! Lemon is one of my all-time favorite flavors so I would definitely up the lemon factor! Thanks!
Thanks, Megan! It’s one of mine, too. :) I hope you’ll enjoy the extra lemony version if you give it a try!
My husband isn’t a big blueberry fan… Can I use raspberries? Or any other fruit? Thanks
Raspberries would be great! I’ve tried strawberries but that didn’t work out so well. It was tasty but quite unfortunate looking (they got soggy and turned a not-so-pretty color).
Can I use frozen blueberries?
I’ve made this with frozen blueberries but they had absolutely no ice crystals on them. I tossed them in the batter frozen and baked the cake for more like 50 minutes instead of 45. If you want, you can defrost them but it’ll likely discolor the batter a little.
Hi Erin, this looks great. I’m all about doing the prep work the night before but then wonder if it’s been in the fridge all night does that change the baking time?
Hi Kristi! I probably wouldn’t prepare the batter the night before. I’d be worried that it wouldn’t rise properly once you put it in the oven. If you bake it the night before, it’ll still be nice and moist for the next day. Hope you’ll enjoy it!