This blueberry coffee cake recipe is a great way to kick off the blueberry season in Oregon. This tender vanilla-scented cake is loaded with fresh blueberries, and topped with a buttery cinnamon streusel. The cake is finished with a tangy yogurt lemon glaze. It's a great recipe for breakfast, lunch, or an afternoon snack with a cup of coffee.
This blueberry streusel coffee cake is based on a classic coffee cake recipe. My rhurbarb crumb cake is very similar and perfect if you love rhubarb and desserts that are a bit tart.
It's the perfect recipe if you love blueberries and are looking for a new blueberry dessert to add to your recipe collection or are looking for a new brunch dish. For more blueberry recipes check out my recipes for Fried Blueberry Hand Pies and Blueberry Crumble Pie.
What to Know Before You Bake
- Choose the best berries: This cake relies on fresh, sweet blueberries for flavor. If you’re using fresh, taste them first, skip any that are mushy, watery, or bland. Frozen blueberries also work well—just add them straight from the freezer without thawing.
- Don’t skip the ginger: Even if you’re unsure about ginger in coffee cake, trust me. It’s subtle, not spicy, and it brings out the sweetness in the blueberries without overpowering the cake.
- Build from your pantry: The streusel topping is made from the same base ingredients as the cake. If you’ve got flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter, you’re already halfway there.
- Bake it in a springform pan: Lining the bottom and greasing the sides makes it easy to remove and keeps the cake looking beautiful.
Blueberry Coffee Cake Ingredients
Below are the ingredient lists for this blueberry coffee cake with streusel topping. The streusel and cake use the same base ingredients - flour, sugar, butter, and spices.
- Fresh Blueberries: Blueberries are the star of this classic recipe. Look for fresh berries that are plump, sweet, and juicy. In season blueberries will provide the best flavor. If you're making this cake outside of the U.S. blueberry season (April - September depending on part of the country) use frozen blueberries. Frozen blueberries are picked at the during the season and quickly frozen to maintain the flavor.
- Buttermilk. Buttermilk contributes to the moisture, rise, and slight tang of the cake. Because I like the tang that buttermilk adds, I don't add baking soda to diminish it. I also tested this cake with sour cream, and it works perfectly. If you use sour cream, you'll need to adjust the baking time by adding about 10 minutes.
- Ground Ginger. Ground ginger pairs perfectly with blueberries, adding a subtle touch of heat to the cake. Other spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom can also be used.
- Streusel Topping: The streusel topping uses the same main ingredients as the cake batter (flour, white and brown sugar, butter, baking powder, and kosher salt). The cinnamon and nutmeg give the topping that classic coffee cake flavor and look.
How to Make Blueberry Coffee Cake
Step 1: Make the streusel topping and refrigerate it until ready to use.
Step 2: Place the dry ingredients - the flour, baking powder, kosher salt, and ground ginger in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
Step 3: Place the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Step 4: With the paddle attachment cream sugar and butter, until they're light and fluffy.
Step 5: Add the eggs one at a time, beating each one in thoroughly after each addition.
Step 6: Add the flour mixture in three parts and the buttermilk in two parts alternately. The final batter should be thick and creamy.
Step 7: Pour the batter into the prepared pan lined with parchment paper. Smooth the top with an offset spatula.
Step 8: Spread the streusel and fresh blueberries evenly over the top of the batter.
Step 9: Bake the cake until the center of the cake is done. The temperature in the center should be 202°F.
Step 10: Remove the cake from the oven, place it on a wire rack and cool the cake for 15 minutes.
Step 11: Remove the sides of the springform pan, cool the cake and then add the and finish cooling the cake to room temperature before adding the Yogurt Lemon Glaze.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Weigh your ingredients. Weighing you ingredients, especially the flour will prevent the cake from being dry because of too much flour or keeping from collapsing from too little flour.
- Mise en Place. Measure out all the ingredients before starting to make the cake. This step will ensure that you don't forget anything.
- The eggs, butter, and buttermilk should be at room temperature. Room temperature is 65 to 68°F.
- Don't skimp on creaming the butter and sugar together. This step aerates the butter and ensures a fine crumb.
- Use a springform pan to ensure that you can remove the cake from the pan with messing up the topping. If you don't have a springform pan, create a sling the pan by folding parchment paper into a 4-inch wide sling to lift the cake when it's done.
Did you make this yummy blueberry coffee cake? If yes, please leave a rating and a comment below.
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Moist Blueberry Coffee Cake with Buttermilk
Ingredients
Streusel Crumb Topping
- 1 cup (125 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter melted
Coffee Cake
- 2 cups (250 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (175 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 9 tablespoons (127 grams) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 large (150 grams) eggs room temperature
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) buttermilk room temperature
- 2 cups (300 grams) fresh blueberries
Yogurt Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar sifted
- 1 tablespoon plain full fat yogurt
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
Cake Pan
- Melt a tablespoon of butter and brush the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Dust the sides and bottoms with flour. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
Streusel Topping
- For topping, melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan. In a bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Add the melted butter to the flour mixture and mix together with a spoon until it's crumbly. Set aside.
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- For the cake, place the all-purpose flour, kosher salt, baking powder and ground ginger in a medium bowl and whisk together.
- Place the granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand the mixer and beat on medium high until fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until well combined. Add the vanilla and mix. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until flour is just mixed in. Do not over mix. Add half of the buttermilk, beat until combined. Add half of the remaining flour and mix on low until just combined. Add the remaining buttermilk, mix on low and then add the remaining flour and mix on low until combined. Scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl and mix on low speed for another 10-20 seconds to make sure everything is well combined.
- Place the batter in the pan and use an offset spatula to spread the batter evenly around the pan. Spread the streusel and fresh blueberries over the surface of the batter.
- Place pan in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes. The temperature of the cake in the center should be about 202 degrees F. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove the sides of the springform pan and let the cake completely cool before topping it with the lemon yogurt glaze
Lemon Yogurt Glaze
- Sift the powdered sugar. Add the yogurt and lemon juice and stir until the glaze is smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.
Storage
- The cake is good at room temperature for up to 2 days in a covered container. After 2 days keep it in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out.
- This cake also freezes well. Cut the cake into individual servings. Wrap each one in two layers of plastic wrap. Thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours before eating.
Liz says
Hi Cheryl! Hello from Brooklyn, NY! The strawberry doughnuts brought me here, and now I'm in the middle of baking this blueberry treat! Skimming through your recipes and they all look delicious! Looking forward on trying most of your recipes!
Tatiana says
This recipe is perfection. I have made it twice in a week. Second time with huckleberries. I saved a cup of batter to top over the berries to sort of lock in the layer. They didn't sink too far. The ginger is a game-changer. I never print recipes I am printing this recipe. This is fail-proof.
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Tatiana
Thank you for visiting the blog and trying this recipe. I'm so glad to read that you enjoyed it enough to make it again and that you like that pop of ginger. And I like the idea of layering the fruit and the cake batter.
Elissa says
This cake sounds amazing. I went thru all the steps, except reading your blog. I did not use Parchment paper, as i thought? Why put Parchment paper over butter and flour??Put the whole cake together and put in the oven. After a few minutes, I smelt something burning.
Obviously, the cake leaked.
Note to self, read completely, don't jump to ingredients!
Note to author, write " do NOT skip!"
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Elissa
Thank you for trying this recipe. I'm sorry your pan leaked. I always use parchment paper as extra insurance to keep the cake from sticking. It also makes it easier to move the cake to a platter if I want. I think your pan leaking has more to do with the construction of the pan than the lack of parchment paper, though it is possible the parchment paper does offer help prevent that.