Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake
I did a bad thing. I’m trying to be all good and healthy, but I accidentally made this Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake this morning. Oops. Sorry (not sorry).
This big, fluffy coffee cake is studded with sweet blueberries and topped with a crunchy cinnamon streusel topping. It comes together surprisingly quick, so it would make a nice treat for a slow weekend morning. It’s the little things in life that make it good. :)
Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake From Scratch
Can I Substitute the Buttermilk?
If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a substitute by adding 1 Tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar to each cup of milk. That substitute will function like buttermilk, but if you want true buttermilk flavor, I suggest using actual buttermilk. But don’t worry, you don’t have to waste a whole bottle of buttermilk just to make this recipe.
How to Use Leftover Buttermilk
You can freeze buttermilk! Pour the buttermilk into an ice cube tray, freeze until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag for long term storage. This way you can thaw a few cubes out at a time to use in various recipes without wasting a whole bottle each time! This trick is an absolute lifesaver for anyone who loves the authentic flavor of buttermilk (hi, ME) and doesn’t want to resort to the milk and lemon juice trick.
Can I Freeze Coffee Cake?
Yes! Baked goods are one of those things that freeze surprisingly well. Let the coffee cake cool completely, then wrap each piece tightly in plastic wrap and place all the wrapped pieces in a gallon size freezer bag. When you’re ready to eat your decadent Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake, just take however many pieces out you want and let them thaw on the countertop, or microwave for a few seconds until warmed through.
…And that’s exactly what I need to go do right now before I do eat the whole cake. 😜
Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake
Ingredients
STREUSEL TOPPING
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour ($0.04)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp softened butter ($0.18)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon ($0.05)
COFFEE CAKE
- 2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.33)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder ($0.24)
- 3/4 tsp baking soda ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 1/2 cup white sugar ($0.16)
- 2 large eggs ($0.55)
- 1 cup buttermilk ($0.60)
- 1/4 cup melted butter ($0.36)
- 1/2 cup blueberries (frozen or fresh) ($0.60)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the streusel topping (flour, brown sugar, softened butter, and cinnamon) until they create a uniform, crumbly topping. Set the topping aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for the coffee cake batter. In a separate bowl, whisk together the white sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter until smooth. Pour the bowl of wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients, and stir just until a thick, fluffy batter forms (do not over stir).
- Coat an 8x8 inch baking dish (or similar size) with nonstick spray. Spread the batter into the dish. Sprinkle the blueberries over top, then push them down into the batter with your fingers. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top.
- Bake the coffee cake in the fully preheated 350ºF oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Slice into eight pieces, then serve.
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Prepare the cinnamon streusel topping first, so it’s ready to go when needed. In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 Tbsp softened butter, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. (the amounts for the streusel in the photos are double, but I ended up having way more than needed and only used 1/2 of the batch on the coffee cake. I froze the rest).
Stir the streusel topping ingredients until they form a crumbly mixture. Set the topping aside.
In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/4 tsp salt. Make sure they’re very well mixed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 cup buttermilk, 2 large eggs, and 1/4 cup melted butter (4 Tbsp). Whisk until smooth.
Now pour those wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients.
Stir just until you have a thick and fluffy batter. Do not over stir the batter. It may still look a little lumpy, just make sure all the dry flour is mixed in.
Coat the inside of an 8×8 inch baking dish, or similar sized dish, with non-stick spray. Spread the batter evenly inside the dish. Sprinkle 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries over the batter, then push them down in with your fingers.
Sprinkle that cinnamon streusel topping over the batter. It doesn’t need to cover the batter in a solid layer.
Bake the Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown…
Like this! Perfect. Now you can slice it into eight pieces and serve with your favorite coffee or tea.
. If you DO decide to freeze the extra pieces of your Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake, make sure they are COMPLETELY cool before wrapping them in plastic. Enjoy!
Zoe says, “I can haz coffee cake? Trade you some cuddles…”
I love that this coffee cake isn’t as overwhelmingly sweet as a lot of other recipes out there. I used half reduced fat sour cream and half 2% milk for the buttercream. I also used frozen peaches cut up small because I didn’t have any blueberries. I will definitely be making this again and trying different fruit combos! :)
This was soooo yummmy! It was so fluffy and delicious! I added a teaspoon of vanilla because I love vanilla and I’m so glad I did. Next time I will add more blueberries too. Thank you for another wonderful recipe :)
I baked this for 40 min and it turned out PERFECT. I split my 8×8 pan into 6 slices instead of 8 and calculated calories per slice to 389 calories with 27 g of sugar.
Forgot, I did use unsweetened almond milk + lemon juice to sub buttermilk.
I’m a dummy and actually cut this into 9 squares, not 6. It’s 221 calories/slice that way, just in case anyone reads this!
Just baked this in Denver! Adjusted slightly for altitude and allergies: used GF all purpose flour, egg replacer (tapioca and potato starch mixture), slightly reduced the amount of melted butter (about 2 tsps less), used Ubermilk instead of dairy and still did the lemon juice to make it curdle, subbed a little bit of coconut sugar to supplement the white sugar, and used hazelnut flour for the streusel. Also added a swirl of blackberry jam on the inside, hoping it would add some moisture. Baked in an 8″x8″ glass dish at 360 for 42 minutes. It came out great!!! Fluffy, moist, crunchy on top, a little crumbly but it is coffee cake. Thanks for the recipe! I would guess that it would work fine to make this entirely vegan by using vegetable oil instead of the butter.
Doubled this recipe and baked in a 10×15″ pan (tried to fit it in a 9×12″ and it didn’t have room to rise). Tested clean at 40 minutes and probably could have been checked several minutes earlier.
Subbed in half fine ground spelt flour, a little too strong, I’d suggest only doing a third or a quarter whole grain.
Added pecans to the streusel to make it go further. I think 2.5x or even 3x streusel for a doubled recipe would be a better ratio than just doubled. Also added lemon zest and ground ginger.
Used 1c fresh blueberries, I think it could hold a little more too, especially with the denser and drier whole grain texture.
Mine ended up looking like sponge on top once it was baked, instead of crumble. And the flavour was just plain sponge with an occasional burst of blueberry. I might make this again with some variations.
Also, why is it called coffee cake? There’s no coffee in it!
It’s actually called coffee cake because it’s traditionally a cake to be served with coffee. For brunch or breakfast.
I made this recipe with 1/2 whole wheat flour and kefir instead of the buttermilk. It was delicious, and amazingly light and fluffy! Yum!
I just made this for the week-end and it was really good. Pinned it for future use. I did double the amount of blueberries and it was fine. I think next time I will try more streusel too, but it was fine as written. (I also questioned the amount of baking powder, but followed directions!)
Can’t go wrong with more streusel either!
This is delicious but I need to make some changes next time. I forgot to make high altitude changes and decrease the baking powder. My cake rose in a weird way and absorbed most of the topping. It didn’t look like your picture but still was very tasty.
Oh no! Well let us know how it goes next time.
This was so good! I had to really question the amount of baking powder, but my husband said if the recipe calls for it, do it! The flavors were right on, it was so good! I did add a whole lemon of zest, because I love lemon! It rose beautifully and it was wonderful! I changed it to raspberries instead of blueberries because I did have those on hand. This is a keeper for sure!
I’ve made this a few times and my family loves it. I enjoyed reading through everyone’s modifications. My kids are streusel fanatics so I made twice as much streusel and used a 9×13 pan instead of an 8×8. Baked in about 23 minutes and still delicious!