Our blueberry lemon coffee cake is a guaranteed crowd pleaser with its light and tender texture and crunchy cinnamon streusel on top. This recipe is made with juicy blueberries, lemon zest and comes together in no time at all. The finished cake is drizzled with a homemade lemon glaze making this blueberry coffee cake recipe perfect for a quiet weekend around the house or any special occasion.
This tender coffee cake is the perfect way to enjoy baking with fresh berries. If you are looking for other breakfast cake recipes, be sure to check out our Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake or our Easy Cherry Loaf Cake.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- the crunchy cinnamon streusel topping is easy to make and truly makes this coffee cake irresistible
- fresh lemon zest and lemon juice add an irritable lemon flavor to the coffee cake and fresh lemon glaze
- the buttermilk adds both moisture and flavor to this blueberry buttermilk breakfast cake making the cake so tender and full of flavor
- an easy coffee cake recipe and a great way to bake with fresh blueberries on summer mornings
Key Ingredients
- fresh blueberries - rinse and dry your berries before adding them to the coffee cake batter
- buttermilk - adds both flavor and moisture to the recipe creating a light and fluffy coffee cake with tons of flavor
- cinnamon - adds a little bit of spice to the streusel topping
- lemon - the fresh lemon zest goes into the cake batter and the lemon juice is used to make the lemon glaze that you will drizzle over the finished cake
Substitutions
Fresh Blueberries - If you have frozen blueberries they will definitely work - keep them frozen and toss them into your coffee cake batter just before you pour it into the baking pan.
Buttermilk - If you don't have buttermilk or don't want to bake with buttermilk, you can substitute 1 cup of sour cream for the buttermilk. To be honest, this is a great substitute and the sour cream adds so much moisture and flavor to the finished coffee cake.
Variations
Add a Layer of Blueberry Preserves - If you want a little extra blueberry flavor in your coffee cake, you can add ¼ cup of blueberry jam to the middle of your cake. Pour half of the batter into the cake pan, spread ¼ cup of jam over the batter and then top with the remaining coffee cake batter.
Strawberry Coffee Cake - swap out the blueberries for 1 cup of sliced fresh strawberries. You can add a layer of strawberry jam if you are looking for a more intense strawberry flavor.
How to Make Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake
Be sure to see the recipe card for the full list of ingredients and detailed recipe instructions.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the streusel ingredients. Mix with a fork to incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients.
In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients with the fresh lemon zest. Toss the blueberries with a bit of flour from the recipe.
In the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl with your hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Stop the mixer and add the eggs and vanilla. Mix the wet ingredients on low speed until the batter is smooth.
Stop the mixer and fold in half of the dry ingredients. Add half of the buttermilk and mix until smooth. Repeat this process with the second half of the dry ingredients and the buttermilk.
Fold the blueberries into the coffee cake batter.
Pour batter into a 9-inch springform pan that has been sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray.
Remove the coffee cake from the springform pan and allow to cool completely.
Cover the coffee cake batter with the streusel topping. Bake coffee cake at 350° for 55-60 minutes.
Once the coffee cake is cool, drizzle with the lemon glaze and serve with a warm mug of coffee.
Hint: Use a springform pan to bake this coffee cake. The springform pan makes it so easy to remove the cake from the pan without breaking apart that beautiful crumb topping on the top of the cake. If you don't have a springform pan, I recommend baking this cake in a 9 inch round cake pan and then either serving the cake right from the pan or gently removing the cake from the pan without turning it upside down.
Amanda's Top Tips
Use a Cooking Spray Specifically Made for Baking - I use and really like Pam Baking Spray. It's a cooking oil combined with a bit of flour and using it pretty much guarantees that any cake that you bake will slide directly out of the baking pan.
Use Room Temperature Ingredients - It's important for this recipe that your ingredients are at room temperature before you start baking. You'll want to be sure that you pull the eggs, butter, buttermilk, blueberries and vanilla all from the refrigerator a few hours ahead of mixing up this blueberry buttermilk cake.
Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake FAQs
If you bake your coffee cake in a cake pan, you'll want to wait for it to cool for 15-20 minutes before inverting the pan and then moving the cake to a cooling rack to cool completely.
I really like to bake a coffee cake in a springform pan. This makes it so easy to remove the cake from the pan and you don't lose any of the streusel topping inverting the cake to remove it from the pan.
More Blueberry Recipes
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Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping
Ingredients
For the Blueberry Coffee Cake
- 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour (295g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar (120g)
- zest of one lemon
- ¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup blueberries rinsed and dried
For the Streusel topping
- ¼ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
For the Glaze
- 1.5 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
For the Streusel Topping
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the streusel ingredients. Mix with a fork to incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients.
For the Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Line a 9 inch springform pan with a circle of parchment paper on the bottom. Spray the sides of the pan with a nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients with the fresh lemon zest. Toss the blueberries with a bit of flour from the recipe.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl with your hand mixer, cream the butter and the white sugar until light and fluffy.
- Stop the mixer and add the eggs and vanilla. Mix the wet ingredients on low speed until the batter is smooth.
- Stop the mixer and fold in half of the dry ingredients. Add half of the buttermilk and mix until smooth. Repeat this process with the second half of the dry ingredients and the buttermilk.
- Fold the blueberries into the coffee cake batter.
- Pour batter into a 9 inch springform pan that has been sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray.
- Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
For the Lemon Glaze
- Combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a large measuring cup. Whisk until smooth. Pour lemon glaze over the cooled coffee cake.
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