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. :)
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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…”
Oh, and I also doubled the amount of blueberries too, which I recommend. Used frozen, straight from the freezer.
Delicious recipe and a fast coffee cake to make on a Sunday morning. Per other comments I did change the baking powder from 1 TBsp to 1 tsp–that must be a typo as my coffee cake was well risen and browned with lower amount. I also doubled the crumb topping and subbed half of the flour with finely chopped pecans. And added vanilla to the wet ingredients.
Next time I will modify the recipe to use less bowls: melt butter in large bowl in microwave, add rest of wet ingredients plus sugar. Sift dry ingredients over wet and gently stir. Fold in blueberries (because all of my blueberries ended up on top and interfered–although still delicious–with the crumb topping).
The batter swallowed up the streusel and it looks a huge mess. Wish I could share a picture
I followed the recipe to the letter except used 1 cup of blueberries. It’s in an 8″ round fluted cake pan. Baking at 350. 60 minutes so far and knife still comes out raw batter. New oven, temp is correct. 😬😢
as written, this comes out a bit bland and under blueberried. its a great base recipe though, and ive made it a ton of times with easy tweaks. so while its not my idea of a five star you-need-to-make-this-recipe, its still one i reach for because it comes together quickly and can be adapted well. heres how i adjust it: add vanilla with the wet mix (measure with my heart, probably a tsp or two), double the blueberries to a cup (half added in the dry mix before combining with wet mix, half on top like the original recipe, and double the streusel. usually i just do the double streusel on top, but right now im testing it as a layer in the middle by adding half the batter, half the streusel, other half of the batter, reserved blueberries, and finally last half of strusel. i think itll turn out nicely! its also in a loaf pan because somehow all my usual suspects for baking are full of stuff in the fridge, so we will see if that was a bad choice or not hah!
This is an excellent cake. I baked it in a 9-inch round cake mold, the quantity and the timing were perfect. I am in Europe, so I baked it at 165 Celsius, fan program, for ~45 minutes.
Like other people, I added vanilla and 1 cup instead of 1/2 cup of blueberries and was very satisfied with the result. The cake is not too sweet, which I really appreciate, and comes together really quickly. We will certainly be having this again.
While this looked visually appealing, the flavor was bland and needed more moisture. If I make this again, I will add some vanilla to the batter, along with doubling the melted butter.
To die for!! I totally loved this recipe and devoured most of this by myself this week! I used gluten flour and added 1 tsp of xanthum gum. I opted for the lemon juice instead of buttermilk (that’s just what I had at home), and used fresh blueberries. Fantastic!! Definitely will be making this one again.
budgetbytes I am loving it
love your blueberries method
This looks amazing. If I needed this to be gluten free, could I just substitute bobs red mill gf 1 to 1 baking flour – and if so would I need to adjust the amounts?
Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with that type of flour so I can’t offer a recommendation.
I’d never made coffee cake before– followed this recipe exactly as the instructions say and it came out AMAZING. The only adjustment I make now when I make it again is I add more blueberries :)
i made this with oat milk & lemon juice instead of buttermilk and it turned out beautifully!
***question: if i wanted to make this in a 9×13 pan instead of 8×8, should i multiply the recipe by 1.5 or 2? how much should i extend the baking time?
Hmm, both of those questions are tough to guestimate, I’d need to test them first before feeling comfortable offering a suggestion.
Double the recipe for a 9×13. Use a skewer to test for doness
it was wonderful. everyone loved it, husband & friends True to my cooking style I cut the sugar in half for the cake & used brown sugar.
All was good. Happy 4th of July
Great idea for the summer. I bet this would taste great with a Granny Smith apples 🍏 as well. It tastes amazing.
Beth, another hit!! What a great recipe and so quick & easy to put together!! Wish I could add a photo but it looks like yours. Thank you!!
I have essentially no baking experience and these turned out amazing. Great recipe. One question though. Any idea why my blueberries appear to have sunk to the bottom during baking?
Hmm, I’m not sure, unless your batter was not quite as thick as mine? That can happen with slight variations of measurements.
Add a small amount of flour to your berries before adding them. That should prevent them from sinking.
Can you use dried cherries I have a bunch
I haven’t tried a dried fruit in these, but it’s worth trying! You’ll only need a few. :)
Was looking for ways to use up some of my excess buttermilk and came across your recipe. I don’t usually leave reviews but…Made this for breakfast this morning at it was a hit. I accidentally put a cup of blueberries instead of 1/2 a cup but since it still worked out I’ m calling it a happy accident.
Thank you :)
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.
Soooo good! Next time I will DEFINITELY add more streusel – I didn’t realize you’d halved it and would’ve done the original amount if I’d known. (I never read picture instructions – I go straight to the list – but now I know to check for hidden details :) ) Oh, and the blueberries are good, but I associate coffee cake so strongly with cinnamon, so I may add some to the batter or try with a cinnamon swirl instead. I got buttermilk especially for this recipe and don’t regret it at all! Am def saving to my favorites and would happily recommend this to others. The crumb and fluff are divine.
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!
I made this today. I used half the baking powder because I don’t like the taste of it. I also added a quarter cup chopped pecans to the topping and about three quarters cup blueberries in the cake. I also subbed 2/3 cup yogurt whey instead of buttermilk. It all turned out so great! It’s so yummy! I think I might use a little more whey next time. But it’s so good as is. Thanks for the recipe!
This is the best coffee cake that l have ever had. We had lemons l needed to use so I also added all the zest of one lemon. OMG. I highly recommend this recipe to everyone.
I think if I were to make this recipe again, I would modify it slightly. I would fold the blueberries into the batter instead of just putting them on top. I found that the bottom of my coffee cake was dry (didn’t have the extra moisture from the blueberries like the top) and the crumble turned soggy (again, extra moisture from the fruit). I also think I would add an extract to the batter to give the bites without blueberries a little more flavor. Saw another commenter saying he used a recipe that called for yogurt instead of buttermilk, I may try that as well.
Hi
I just made this coffe cake today. It is amazing.
Not too sweet.
Thanks for the recipe
What is the macros of all your recipes?
I made these last week so I could have something to snack on all week…….My girlfriend and I ate all of them 2 days. Whoops :) Next time we will freeze them..Or eat them all. SOooooooo Good. So Happy my friend told me about this site and that I discovered how fun baking can be!
If I was trying to make a buttermilk replacement, would 1% milk work? It’s all I have in the fridge and I’m so excited to make this.
Thanks!
Yes, but the flavor won’t be quite as good as using real buttermilk and it won’t be quite as rich.
So would heavy cream be a better replacement?
It’s hard to say without testing them both to see how they turn out. Unfortunately you can’t always guess with substitutions in baking, since baking involves so much chemistry.
Make your own buttermilk substitute by adding 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup milk. Let sit for 10 minutes and it will thicken and curdle slightly. I use this method often and love the results.
A baking dish is necessary? Not a cake tin?
Thanks Kat for all the great recipes! I’ve been cooking a lot of them lately and haven’t had a failure yet!
You could probably use a cake tin. :) Just be aware that if it’s metal the baking time may change slightly since it’s a different thickness than the ceramic baking dish I used.
Made this for the second time in a week today to have for afternoon tea with friends … a real winner! Even the fuss pots loved it. I used a quarter cup of sugar instead of a half the second time, because the topping was so moorish.
I bought some buttermilk for another recipe and was looking for ways to use it up, so I had to (really, I had to!) make this coffee cake for breakfast this morning. It was fluffy and delightful! And not too sweet. And pretty easy to throw together. Thanks :)
I love all your recipes , they are fast and very tasty.
Is this your dog and is it Boston terier?
My daughter has one called Frida.
I am looking forward for more recipes.
Best regards, Sonia
Thank you! Yes, that is my dog. She is a boxer (55 lbs.), but does look like a giant Boston Terrier. :)
hi bet! long time fan, located in montréal!
i baked this coffee cake with my mom yesterday and oh boy! AMAZEBALL :)
i’m still under the spell…
i’m so glad i found your website (i don’t remember how though) a few years ago, and i’ve been eating pretty well since!
thanks again :)
Zoe is adorable! Love her!! I plan on making this for my guests who spend the night on New Year’s Eve!! My 3 kids and their spouses and kids…it will be gone, I better double the recipe!!
I just made this and it is scrumptious!! I had all the ingredients, I put the topping on halfway through the cooking time and it is delicious!
Obsessed with this site! Tried this one out today. Followed the recipe exactly and it came out perfectly. First time making coffee cake so I was a little nervous but the recipe was so easy to follow. Shared with my boyfriend and family and everyone loved it!
I make something similar with yogurt instead of buttermilk and whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose. Same topping as well.
Passing this on!
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!!