This Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake has incredible textures and fresh flavours. It combines a super moist and fluffy sour cream cake, jammy blueberries and crunchy streusel topping. A great cake to serve for afternoon tea or as a Summer dessert!
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The fluffiest, buttery and moist sour cream cake with a hint of lemon zest. Bursting blueberries. Crunchy cinnamon crumb topping. This blueberry coffee cake recipe has it all!
Serve it on its own, with a scoop of Ice Cream, a drizzle of Blueberry Coulis or Blueberry Compote or even some Chantilly Cream, this Blueberry Crumb Cake is sure to impress your guests this Summer!
More coffee cakes to try: Strawberry Crumble Cake / Pear Crumble Cake.
Ingredients
What is Blueberry Coffee Cake made of:
Scroll down to recipe card below for all quantities
Ingredient Notes:
- Blueberries: you can use either fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries that have been thawed and well drained. If you use frozen blueberries straight from the freezer, your cake might take longer to bake which might result in over-baking the crumb topping.
- Butter: unsalted butter at room temperature for the cake layer. Make sure the butter is not too warm (it will appear greasy) or too cold (it does not move when pressed on) or it will not cream properly with the sugar. For the crumble topping, we actually use melted butter instead of cold butter - see instruction below for more info.
- Lemon Zest: optional but highly recommended to balance the sweeter flavour of blueberries.
- Eggs: large eggs at room temperature. If they are too cold, the soft butter will seize when combined.
- Sour Cream: use full fat sour cream for the best result, not low fat sour cream. It brings amazing moisture and flavour to the cake! You could substitute it for full fat greek yogurt but I personally love the texture and light tang sour cream gives to the cake.
- Sugar: you will need both Caster Sugar (or fine white sugar) for the cake batter and Brown Sugar for the crumb topping.
- Cinnamon: added to the streusel topping only, though you could absolutely add some to the cake batter as well.
How to make Blueberry Crumb Cake
- Preheat your oven on 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 23 cm / 9-inch springform pan with a piece of baking paper / parchment paper and set aside.
1. Make the cinnamon brown sugar crumb topping
- Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave (make sure it is heat-proof) and set aside. In a separate medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Photo 1: Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until a thick dough starts to form. Using the tip of your fingers (carefully if the butter was still hot), work the dough until uniform then break down the larger chunks to get small crumbs. Place in the fridge while you make the cake batter.
2. Make the sour cream cake batter
- Photo 2: in a large bowl (if using a hand mixer) or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the soft butter, caster sugar and lemon zest on medium speed for about 3 to 5 minutes or until it turns lighter in colour and gets fluffy. Stop to scrape the edges of the bowl when needed.
- Photo 3: Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium-low speed until fully combined. You should get a thick, fluffy mixture.
If your mixture splits when you add the eggs, it is usually an indication that the butter was either too cold or too warm, or the eggs were too cold. You can try to mix for a little bit longer to increase the temperature of the mixture and make sure it emulsifies.
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If you still cannot get an homogeneous mixture, don't worry - it will get back together once you add the flour.
- Photo 4: Add the rest of the wet ingredients - sour cream and vanilla extract. Stir until just combined and scrape the edges and bottom of the bowl to insure all ingredients are well mixed in.
- Photo 5: lastly, sift in all the flour mixture (plain / all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Mix until just combined; the cake batter should appear relatively thick but fluffy.
3. Assemble the coffee cake layers
- Photo 6: pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Using a small offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread it around to get a flat layer.
- Photo 7: top with the blueberries to form a uniform layer. I recommend trying to stay clear of the edges or the berries might burn and stick to the side of the pan.
Adding the blueberries straight over the cake batter, rather than folding them into the batter or in a layer in the middle of the cake, insures they do not sink to the bottom and the cake bakes evenly.
- Photo 8: take the crumb topping out of the fridge. If needed, break down any large chunks with your finger. Sprinkle all over the blueberries and sour cream cake.
- Place in the oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the streusel topping is golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clear.
If you gently shake the pan and see some rippling movements, it means the cake is not fully baked yet.
- Place on a wire rack and leave to cool down completely before removing from the pan. Optionally, dust with icing sugar or powdered sugar before serving. You could also make a simply vanilla glaze to finish the cake if you want.
Recipe FAQs
A "coffee cake" does not actually contain any coffee; it is called this way as it is a cake you can serve with coffee. Usually, a "coffee cake" combines a soft cake batter (often made with sour cream) and a cinnamon streusel topping. Fruits or other ingredients can be added as an additional layer or folded into the cake batter to flavor it.
Yes, you can prepare it up to 24 hours in advance and keep in the fridge in the meantime! Simply make sure to break down any larger chunks before using.
Yes, I used frozen blueberries here! I recommend thawing and draining the blueberries to remove any unnecessary water / moisture. If you were to use frozen blueberries straight from the freezer, your cake might take longer to bake (as the frozen blueberries lower the temperature of the cake). That might result in a cake that is a bit more dry and the crumble topping that could burn.
I simply served it with some confectioner's sugar, but you could really use any of your preferred toppings such as Ice Cream, Blueberry Coulis or Blueberry Compote, Mascarpone Whipped Cream or Crème Anglaise.
Tips & Troubleshooting
- Make sure the butter is soft and at room temperature (between 18-20 degrees C / 65-68 degrees F) before creaming it with the sugar. If too cold (you can't easily dent it when pressed with a finger) or too warm (turns slightly greasy), the mixture will split once you add the eggs. If this happens, try to mix the mixture on high speed to push the emulsion.
- If preferred, you can gently fold the blueberries into the cake batter before pouring it into the cake pan. Another option is to pour half the cake batter in, add the blueberries then top with remaining batter. I personally prefer to add all the blueberries on top of the batter to make sure they do not sink into the bottom and create a thick layer of cooked fruits.
- It can be hard to tell if the cake is ready because of the crumble topping. When still slightly unbaked, the centre of the cake will jiggle when the pan is moved. Test the doneness with a toothpick or skewer to be sure it is fully baked.
Storing & Freezing
This blueberry sour cream coffee cake can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap / aluminium foil for up to 3 days.
Freezing it will affect the texture of the crumb topping so I recommend serving it fresh.
More Summer Desserts Ideas
I am so excited to share that my debut cookbook
"Bite-Sized French Pastries for the Beginner Baker"
is now available for purchase!
Recipe
Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Equipment
- 23 cm / 9-inch Springform Pan
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
- 50 gr Unsalted Butter, melted
- 100 gr Plain / All-Purpose Flour
- 50 gr Brown Sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
Sour Cream Cake
- 120 gr Unsalted Butter, soft
- 120 gr Caster Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
- 2 large Eggs, at room temperature
- 150 gr Sour Cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 225 gr Plain / All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 pinch Fine Table Salt
- 300 gr Blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed & drained
Instructions
- Preheat your oven on 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 23 cm / 9-inch springform pan with a piece of baking paper and set aside.
Crumble Topping
- Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave (make sure it is heat-proof) and set aside.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix to combine then pour in the melted butter. Mix with a spatula until a thick dough starts to form. Using the your fingers, work the dough (carefully if the butter is still hot) until uniform then break down the larger chunks to get small crumbs. Place in the fridge.
Sour Cream Cake
- In a large bowl (with a hand mixer) or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the soft butter, caster sugar and lemon zest on medium speed for about 3 to 5 minutes or until it turns lighter in colour and gets fluffy. Stop to scrape the edges of the bowl when needed.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium-low speed until fully combined. You should get a thick, fluffy paste-like mixture (See note 1).
- Pour in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Mix for a minute or until combined.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until just combined (see note 2); the batter should appear relatively thick but fluffy.
Assembling the cake
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Using a small offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread it around to get a flat layer.
- Top the batter with all the blueberries to create a relatively uniform layer (see note 3).
- Take the crumb topping out of the fridge. If needed, break down any large chunks with your finger. Sprinkle all over the blueberries.
- Place in the oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the streusel topping is golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clear.
- Place on a wire rack and leave to cool down completely before removing from the pan. Optionally, dust with powdered sugar before serving.
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Notes
- If your mixture splits when you add the eggs, it is usually an indication that the butter was either too cold or too warm, or the eggs were too cold. You can try to mix for a little bit longer to increase the temperature of the mixture and make sure it emulsifies. If you still cannot get an homogeneous mixture, don't worry - it will get back together once you add the flour.
- Make sure to stop mixing as soon as you cannot see flour anymore to avoid overworking the batter, which would result in a cake that is heavier and drier rather than light and fluffy.
- I recommend trying to stay clear of the edges or the berries might burn and stick to the side of the pan.
Nutrition (per serving)
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