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. :)
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
Servings 8Ingredients
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 8×8 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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!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…”
Wow, so good! The only changes I made were subbing Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten free baking mix and using Swerve sweetener. The texture of this cake is so amazing, even made gluten free it’s so soft and light! And it’s lightly sweet, as a coffee cake should be. Great recipe!
Thank you. my family enjoyed the cake.
I made this coffee cake and it was gone within hours! I ate a slice and then my boyfriend and two friends absolutely demolished the rest. LOVE, and thank you! Followed the recipe exactly and already planning to make a second cake soon.
Wonderful cake and so easy to make. Replaced the white and brown sugar with coconut sugar and used lots of blueberries. Found I only needed about 1/2 the topping, as I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Successfully froze about half the cake and really enjoyed it slightly warmed.
Another awesome recipe – thank you Beth.
These were lofty, moist, delicious, and Hubby approved! I used macerated strawberries/blueberries and added 1 tsp vanilla. Mine baked for 40 minutes in a buttered 8″x8″ glass Pyrex. Like mentioned, this does freeze very well so I will be making another batch tonight. This will be my go to recipe for coffee cake as it seems very customizable!
This was an epic fail for me, though I followed the recipe (using one cup sugar). The texture was not as pictured in your post – it came out sort of soupy (like a muffin batter) rather than fluffy like your pics. Any ideas on what could have gone wrong? The crumbly top sort of melted into the cake and disappeared and the center never baked up properly despite my cooking it an extra ten minutes. Don’t know why, but I have no luck at all with your baked good recipes – and this looked so good too.
Hmmm, that’s really strange! I’m not sure why it would have been soupy, unless something was measured incorrectly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve grabbed the wrong measuring cup or just misread ingredient amounts, even after rereading it five times. Unfortunately baking does need to be a bit more precise than other types of cooking so even small errors can make a big difference. :(
How does one keep the crumbly topping from melting?
Well, it should melt to some extent, but the melting butter should get absorbed by the flour and make crispy bits.
I had the soupy issue as well so I added more flour until it got a similar consistency but it never reached the same as the recipe photos Beth posted. I think my issue may have been the lack of buttermilk, I did the substitution method but i never thickened. I would also be very precise with measuring as well, maybe that was another mistake of mine. Because of the lack of thickness, the blueberries fell all to the bottom of the cake.
Also a tip, make sure you evenly distribute the topping! Especially along the edges too.
I think this recipe is fine but I can’t really speak for it as I couldn’t make it exactly as written and had issues. I prefer my cakes a bit sweeter but it was simple to make :)
I made this last night for our D&D group. Used the frozen blackberries in our freezer, My husband had put a bunch of sugar in with them when he froze them, so I omitted the 1/2 cup of sugar from the coffeecake dough. I doubled the recipe (minus 2 extra eggs, I only had two), and baked in 9×13 cake pan for the 40 minutes. It was wonderful. I was naughty and had two pieces, it was so good. Definitely making this again.
Loved this! Super easy and very yummy. I doubld the amount of blueberries with no troubles.
In the recipe you say use one cup white sugar, but in the step by step you say use 1/2 cup white sugar. I need help. I don’t know which is correct.
Wow, thanks for catching that typo!! I’t supposed to be 1/2 cup.
Thanks for clarifying! I accidentally put a whole cup of sugar in the first one because I didn’t see your response yet. I’ll let you know how this second one turns out because I’m bringing it to my family for Independence Day! The first one was still good, even with the whole cup of sugar.
The written instructions say 1 cup of sugar, but the directions with the pictures only says to add 1/2 cup of sugar in the batter. Also, is it really 1 tablespoon of baking powder?
Sorry about that! That’s a typo, it’s supposed to be 1/2 cup sugar. And yes, 1 Tbsp baking powder. A friend of mine made the recipe as written with 1 cup sugar, though, and she really enjoyed it. LOL!
Yum. I love blueberries! This looks amazing. Pinned.
I’m gonna guess it was really supposed to be one TEASPOON of baking powder? And not a TABLESPOON? That seemed like a lot….but I went with it…lets just say my results were NOT Pinterest worthy.
Beth, Beth, Beth! This “accidental” coffee cake looks just too yummy. I pinned it, of course. Happy 4th.
Oh Yum! And me on a diet! Well you gave me motivation, the quicker I loose 20 pounds, the quicker I get to bake this….
I never knew it would be so inexpensive to make such a delicious cake, I can’t wait! Thank you, I sure am glad I found this blog, d.
I don’t have buttermilk at home… I can replace it with something else?
Yep, there are instructions (and a link to more detailed instructions) up at the top of the post. :)
o gosh I totally missed it >.<
Thanks so much!!