This blueberry coffee cake is soft, tender and loaded with sweet blueberries. The cinnamon streusel topping on top is buttery, crunchy and each bite melts-in-your-mouth.
Need more breakfast recipes with sweet blueberries? Try blueberry crepes, blueberry scones or this berry overnight French toast casserole!
Table of Contents
Easy Blueberry Coffee Cake
I have a simple classic coffee cake recipe that I use throughout most of the year. During the fall I make my pumpkin coffee cake with streusel. Then once blueberry season rolls around we can’t get enough of this blueberry coffee cake recipe!
If you go overboard with the blueberries as I do, you might enjoy using the rest of them in these blueberry pancakes, blueberry muffins, or blueberry buttermilk cake!
Why This Recipe Works
- Fresh or frozen blueberries. Make this coffee cake with blueberries all year round for breakfast or brunch by using fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries.
- Easy and flexible ingredients. Make this with any type of berry, swap the crumble topping with a streusel topping and in just over an hour this simple cake is ready.
Recipe Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Milk & vegetable oil: Both of these add moisture to the cake, ensuring a soft and tender crumb. Oil traps the air while milk delivers protein and flavor.
- Granulated sugar: Needed for sweetness. Coffee cake isn’t meant to be indulgent so there is just the right amount of sugar.
- Large egg: Used to bind the ingredients of the cake together so that it doesn’t fall apart when you slice into it.
- Vanilla: A flavor enhancer.
- All-purpose flour: The structure to the whole cake! It’s important to measure your flour correctly otherwise, adding too much of it will yield a dense cake.
- Baking powder: A leavening agent that allows rise without using yeast.
- Salt: Just a bit for flavor since we’re using salted butter.
- Blueberries: Fresh blueberries are ideal but frozen works, too.
- Butter, melted: Adds a wonderful buttery flavor and yields a soft crumb.
- For the topping: Flour, cinnamon, sugar, and room temperature butter.
Substitutions and Variations
There are plenty of ways to jazz up this up to make it slightly different each time.
- Type of berry. Try it with a different berries such as blackberries, raspberries, or strawberries.
- Brown sugar. You can also swap the granulated sugar in the crumble and use brown sugar instead to give it a bit of a caramel flavor.
- Lemon. Brighten up the flavors with lemon juice and lemon zest for a lemon blueberry coffee cake that is similar to my favorite lemon blueberry muffins.
- Cinnamon streusel filling. Pour half the batter into the dish. Sprinkle with a combination of cinnamon sugar, then drizzle melted butter on top. Pour in remaining batter and add crumb streusel topping. Bake for 45 minutes.
- Topping. You can skip the streusel altogether if preferred and sprinkle it with powdered sugar, or make a powdered sugar glaze to drizzle on top.
How to Make Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Mix wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the oil, milk, sugar, egg, and vanilla together.
- Add dry ingredients. Then, add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Gently fold in blueberries to the flour mixture until just combined.
- Transfer coffee cake batter to dish. Pour the batter into a sprayed 8×8-inch baking dish and spread it out evenly. You want to make sure to use a dish at least 2 inches deep so that when it stays contained as it rises. Make topping if desired.
- Bake the coffee cake. Cover it with foil and bake it for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes for a golden topping. It’s done when you can insert a toothpick into the middle of the cake and it comes out clean.
- Cool, slice, and serve. Allow it to sit and cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. This makes an even 9 squares. Serve as is, with a scoop of ice cream, or topped with whipped cream for a special treat!
Tips for the Best Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Do not thaw frozen blueberries. Once frozen blueberries are thawed, they’ll release too much water, become mushy and turn the batter purple.
- Fold the blueberries in gently. You want them to stay whole and plump without breaking apart.
- Double the recipe. To feed a larger crowd, double the recipe and use a 9×13 baking dish and bake for an extra 5-10 minutes.
- Make it ahead. Prepare it in the pan without the topping. Cover with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge overnight. In the morning set it out at room temperature for 30 minutes then add topping and bake.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Using buttermilk will add to the soft and tender texture of this coffee cake recipe. Sour cream or yogurt may be used as well, but may need to be thinned with some water or milk.
Yes! Try 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest added to the batter to add a fresh citrus taste.
Keep it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Certainly. Once completely cooled, wrap it tight in plastic wrap and transfer it to a freezer-safe bag or use an airtight container. Keep it frozen for up to 3 months then thaw and enjoy.
Looking for more fruity cake recipes? Try raspberry bundt cake, strawberry shortcake trifle, and this peach dump cake.
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Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
- 2 cups blueberries , fresh or frozen
Topping
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter , at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8×8-inch baking dish (at least 2 inches deep) with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper, if desired.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, milk, sugar, egg, and vanilla.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon. Gently fold in the blueberries until just combined. Spoon the batter into the baking dish.
Topping
- In a small bowl, cut the flour, cinnamon, sugar, and butter with a fork or your fingers until it forms clumps. Crumble evenly over the batter.
- Cover dish loosely with foil and bake 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake 5 to 10 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool at least 15 minutes. Slice into 9 squares and serve.
Notes
- Mix together 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Spread 1/2 of the batter in the baking dish and sprinkle with the sugar mixture.
- Drizzle 1 Tablespoon melted butter over the top. Pour the remaining batter over the filling. Bake 5 minutes longer.
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Breakfast, Cake + Cupcakes, Desserts, Easter, Kid-Friendly, Meal Prep, Nut-Free, Sweet Breakfast, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is also the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook. Here you will find easy family-friendly recipes for every occasion.
super good! i didn’t have eggs so i substituted for greek yogurt and it was yum! also the oil i used was infused with lemon so it had a super good lemony blueberry taste to it. super moist and would recommend :D
Delicious! Most definitely I will make again.
It is so good! We love this coffee cake!
No one can resists this delightful blueberry coffee cake! It has a perfect combination of flavors that’s really addicting!
The blueberry flavor was so delicious in this coffee cake! There’s something so comforting about a simple treat like this.
Wow!! This blueberry coffee cake is amazing, I cannot get enough of the delicious crumb topping. Thanks for the recipe!