For a special morning treat, nothing beats coffee cake. Sweet and crumbly, it’s the very best thing to have with a cup of coffee!
But for us blueberry lovers, it’s not as easy as just tossing in some blueberries to any old recipe. I tried that and failed. It’s important to get the right balance of berries to cake, or you could end up with a soggy mess!
I finally perfected the balance with this adaptation of my mom’s favorite coffee cake. It makes a sweet breakfast cake with bursts of blueberry goodness in every bite.
The best part is: you can justifiably have cake for breakfast. Who can argue with that?
Why You'll Love this Sour Cream Blueberry Cake
I thought I could make a coffee cake by revising a different recipe. It turned out a little bit like a lava cake. Which doesn’t exactly work for non-chocolate flavors. 🤣
So I went to the best source: my mom’s recipe box. Sure enough, she had a old fashioned recipe for sour cream coffee cake. All I needed to do was add the additional flavors I wanted: blueberries of course, a hint of lemon, and a streusel topping.
Because a coffee cake without streusel just wouldn’t be right!!
Blueberry Sour Cream Cake Ingredients
In addition, if you want to make a glaze you'll need some powdered sugar. The lemon above is used to make zest, then I squeeze some of the juice to make a delicious lemon glaze.
Cake
- Butter
- Sugar
- Flour
- Eggs
- Sour cream
- Baking soda
- Vanilla extract
- Lemon zest
- Blueberries
- Cinnamon
Streusel
- Sugar
- Brown sugar
- Flour
- Butter
Glaze
- Powdered sugar
- Lemon juice
How to make Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake
- First, prep a springform pan by spraying the sides with baking spray (the kind with flour in it) and line the bottom with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Make the streusel so it’s ready when you need it. Mix flour, sugar, and dark brown sugar in a bowl. Then cube up a half stick of butter and add it to the flour mixture. Stir and cut the butter into the flour until coarse crumbs form. I use a pastry blender or fork for this.
- Set the bowl of streusel aside.
- Prep the blueberries by tossing them in a bowl with some flour, sugar, and a dash of cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a medium-large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar and lemon zest. Beat this with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla and mix on low speed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Then add to the batter and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon until just combined.
- Fold in the blueberries, including any extra flour/sugar in the bowl, until the blueberries are evenly distributed in the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the streusel on top of the batter.
- Bake the coffee cake for 45 to 50 minutes. (48 minutes on convection bake was perfect in my gas oven)
- Cool the cake on a wire rack for about 30 minutes, then remove the outer ring of the pan and transfer the cake to a serving plate.
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- To glaze, mix powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth and drizzle all over the top of the coffee cake.
- Slice and serve!
Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe Tips/FAQs
Technically speaking, both the streusel and glaze are optional. My mom's original recipe called for glaze but no buttery streusel - something I couldn't handle!
So feel free to only include one or the other if that is your preference. Ultimately, I decided I had to have both. 🤩
Usually, no. This cake is served as breakfast or a mid-day treat, usually with coffee, hence the name. It tastes just as delicious with tea. 😃
In theory, frozen blueberries could be used for this coffee cake, but I haven't tried it yet. If using frozen, thaw and drain well. The step of tossing in flour will be very important to help keep those berries suspended in the batter!
Sour cream enhances both the taste and texture of this cake! Its slight tanginess balances the sweetness of the cake and adds a depth of flavor.
It also adds moisture as well as a denser and rich texture. This helps to stabilize the batter, and prevents all the blueberries from sinking to the bottom while baking.
All the steps in this recipe are focused on this!
· The proper ingredients are key, and the sour cream adds another layer of moisture to the batter.
· Mixing the butter and sugar with a hand mixer helps to incorporate air which will make the cake fluffy.
· Bake at the correct time and temperature to ensure the best texture.
The most important feature, for me, is the burst of berry goodness on the end of my fork!
More Delicious Ways to Enjoy Your Cup of Coffee
Coffee cake lovers will want to try some sourdough coffee cake for a delicious breakfast. And if you have leftover blueberries, you can add them to pancake mix muffins for an easy batch of muffins!
And here are a few more ideas to try:
📖 Recipe
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Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe with Sour Cream
Ingredients
Cake batter:
- ½ cup butter room temperature (one stick)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest zest of one lemon
- 1 cup sour cream full fat
- 2 eggs large
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup flour all purpose
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
Blueberries:
- 1 ½ cup blueberries
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- Dash cinnamon
Streusel Topping:
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup flour
- 4 tablespoons butter cold, cut in cubes
Glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly spray the sides of an 8-inch springform pan with baking spray, line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Mix the streusel topping by combining the flour and sugars in a bowl, then add the cubed butter. Use a pastry blender, fork, or your hands to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until coarse crumbs form. Place the streusel in the fridge while you mix the cake.¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup dark brown sugar, ½ cup flour, 4 tablespoons butter
- In a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with the 2 tablespoons flour, 2 teaspoons sugar and dash of cinnamon. Set aside.1 ½ cup blueberries, 2 tablespoons flour, Dash cinnamon, 2 teaspoons sugar
- In a medium to large mixing bowl, add the sugar, butter, and fresh lemon zest. Cream with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.½ cup butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- Add the sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Mix on low speed until mostly combined.1 cup sour cream, 2 eggs, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda with a whisk. Add to the bowl of batter and stir with a spoon or spatula until just combined. The batter will be quite thick.1 ½ cup flour, ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- Add the prepared blueberries, including the extra flour and sugar in the bowl. Fold in until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and top with the streusel topping.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cake on a wire rack. Remove the outer ring of the pan and move the cake to a serving plate. Stir together the powdered sugar and lemon juice to make the glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the coffee cake.¾ cup powdered sugar, 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- Slice and serve!
Nutrition
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
Marcia B. Barrett
This was a delicious coffee cake recipe. I will definitely make it again and it looked just like your!
Sula
Fantastic! I'm so happy you loved it and thank you for the kind review!
Healing Tomato
I rarely bake coffee cakes but your image looked so good that I had to try it. This cake was super easy to bake and it tasted so good.
Sula
Thanks for trying it out and I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Ksenia
The sour cream added the perfect burst of moisture to the cake. I loved the amount of blueberries and the way they were dispersed! Great flavor.
Sula
Fantastic!
Gen
This was so moist and delicious! I was excited to find a recipe that had blueberries in it. Just wonderful, thank you!
Sula
I'm glad you loved it like I do. Blueberries hold a very special place in my heart, located right next to cheese and chocolate. 🙂
Jennifer
There's some serious blueberry flavor in this coffee cake! I love grabbing pieces of cake like this for breakfast and love that they're not too sweet. Delish!
Sula
Anytime I can have cake for breakfast, it's a good day for me!! 😀
Sharon
So good! I have never had blueberries in coffee cake and it was really delicious to have that fruity burst of flavor. The sour cream really made for a lovely moist cake. Yum!
Sula
I love the fruity burst from the blueberries too! So yummy!