This variation on a classic crumb cake is one of my favorites for brunch. I love the combination of tender, buttery cake, sweet berries, and crisp streusel topping.
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❤️ Why you'll love it
- Easy enough for lazy weekend mornings
- Perfect with a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate for kiddos!)
- Swap in whatever berries you have on hand—fresh or frozen
Make this blueberry cream cheese coffee cake a staple at Sunday brunch. It's made with simple ingredients that create an end result tasting of pure bliss and relaxation—just how weekends should be.
🥫 Storage
My blueberry cream cheese coffee cake tastes best warm, right out of the oven. It'll last for a day or so at room temperature before getting dry.
However, if you're nervous about the cream cheese filling sitting out, wrap the coffee cake in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. Don't be surprised if the cake's already gone the next time you peek in the refrigerator!
Crumb and coffee cake recipes do go stale relatively quickly. Thankfully, however, they do happen to freeze quite well. So, if you want to save leftovers for more than a day, put the cake in a freezer-safe, airtight container (or freezer bag) and freeze it for up to three months.
In fact, if I have leftovers, I like to cut the coffee cake into squares and freeze them individually wrapped in plastic. That way, the family has a quick, grab-and-go breakfast treat!
Also, since this blueberry coffee cake recipe is quite easy, I'll occasionally double the batch, freezing the second cake. Then, we can enjoy one now, and save one for another day.
To enjoy from frozen, let the blueberry coffee cake thaw in the refrigerator, at room temperature, or in the microwave using the defrost setting. Microwave again for a few seconds on full power to warm it up.
Layer the cream cheese and blueberries over the dough.📖 Variations
- Use whatever berries you like. Raspberries and strawberries are great, too, or go for a mix!
- You can also swap in pineapple, peaches, or another soft fruit.
- Frozen fruit is fine if you can't find fresh. However, this is called a blueberry cream cheese cake, so it's best when you feature good fruit!
- If you're out of sour cream, plain or vanilla Greek yogurt works instead.
- In this recipe, you can use white or brown sugar. Just don't use powdered sugar or sugar substitutes.
- Almond extract complements the sweet blueberries perfectly, but if you don't like almond flavor, you can make up the difference with more vanilla extract.
- Or, swap the almond for lemon extract (or use a few teaspoons of lemon juice) and add a tablespoon or so of lemon zest to make a moist blueberry lemon coffee cake.
- Add an extra egg yolk if you prefer a richer, more moist cake.
- Stir white chocolate chips into the cake batter.
- Instead of pecans, you can use almonds or walnuts in the crumb topping.
- Add some rolled oats and/or cinnamon to the crumble to make a streusel topping.
- You can make blueberry crumb cake muffins by lining 2 or 3 cupcake tins with parchment paper squares and spooning the batter evenly into them. Sandwich the buttery cake batter around the sweet cream cheese filling as indicated in the recipe card below. Don't forget your layer of fresh blueberries or the crumb topping! Start checking for doneness after 20 minutes.
💭 Things to know
Expert Tip: Fresh, juicy blueberries add the best flavor. Look for firm, round, and very dark blueberries, rather than berries smaller and lighter in color.
- For best results, only use regular cream cheese.
- Whipped, blended, no-fat, low-fat, or non-dairy cream cheese versions will not work. It would be a shame to ruin the creamy, cheesecake-like filling—it's so tasty!
- Whether you're using an electric mixer or doing the hard work by hand, just combine the wet ingredients with the dry until the flour mixture disappears and you don't see white streaks.
- Stand mixers are powerful, so be extra cautious not to over-mix the batter. Avoid using a high speed in this recipe.
- Rather, opt for a low speed so you can mix just until everything is properly combined.
- Cream butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy. It should look smooth—you shouldn't see any grains of sugar remaining.
- It's more difficult to cream cold butter than room temperature, so pull the butter out of the fridge at the same time as the cream cheese. This way, they can both soften a bit while your oven preheats!
- Don't want messy fingers? No problem! Use a pastry cutter or food processor to combine the crumble ingredients.
- Use a non-stick cooking spray to easily grease your baking pan.
- On the other hand, grease the pan thoroughly with butter—don't forget those pesky corners!
👩🍳 FAQs
Coffee cake is generally less sweet and a little more crumbly than a regular sponge cake. It's meant to be paired with a cup of coffee or tea as a brunch treat/snack. Some people even like to dip the cake into their hot beverage!
Nope! There isn't any actual coffee in the cake itself. See the prior question for the origin of its name!
This easy coffee cake recipe is perfect as is, but I understand the need to sometimes swap flours. However, baking is a science, and different flours (almond flour, coconut flour, whole wheat flour, cake flour, etc.) affect the end result in many ways.
If you must replace the all-purpose flour, I would do so only after proper research. If you need a gluten-free option, your best bet is a specially formulated 1:1 replacement. However, I can't make any guarantees as to the final texture of the blueberry cake with anything other than AP flour.
If you want to pop your cake out of the pan (using the handy removable bottom) you can use a springform pan. This way, you can display it on a stand or platter without ruining the crumble on top of the cake. However, you'll have to use 2, 9-inch round springform pans to fit all the batter.
I like it with my morning coffee! However, you can serve it with tea, your daily glass of orange juice, alongside an eggs-and-sausage breakfast, or with more fresh blueberries.
Sometimes my kids will top leftovers with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and eat it for dessert—after all, the best things in life are sweet!
📚 Related recipes
- Of all the delicious recipes featuring blueberries, these Glazed Lemon Blueberry Scones take the cake. Plus, the no-fail recipe ensures they come out worthy of a bakery-shop window—every time!
- This Cream Cheese Coffee Cake has all the delicious features you crave in a brunch treat, but with a totally unique cornbread crumble topping.
- Pounds of blueberries piling up as the summer comes to a close? Use 'em up in this tangy, rich, and, best of all, EASY Lemon Blueberry Bundt.
- Is it breakfast? Is it dessert? Better yet, it's both! You'll crave these tender, flavorful Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins with every meal of the day.
🍽️ Serve with...
📞 The last word
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Print Pin Recipe SaveEquipment Needed
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 1 egg
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Filling
- 16 ounce cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 pint fresh blueberries, or your favorite fruit (pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, and peaches are all good)
Topping
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup white sugar
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup butter
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan.
- Blend the flour, baking soda, and baking powder – set aside.
- Beat 1 cup of sugar and ½ cup butter until creamy.
- Add 1 egg and beat until smooth.
- Stir in the sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract.
- Slowly beat the flour mixture into the sour cream mixture.
- Dough will be very sticky.
- Spoon half the dough into the pan.
- Beat the cream cheese, ½ cup white sugar, and egg together until smooth.
- Spoon over the dough in the baking dish.
- Sprinkle with blueberries.
- Drop the remaining dough by spoonfuls over the filling.
- Mix the topping ingredients in a bowl with your fingers until crumbly.
- Sprinkle over the dough.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Notes
- Just mix until the flour mixture is blended into the coffee cake batter and you don't see any white streaks. Don't over-mix. This keeps it tender.
- You can use raspberries, strawberries, pineapple, peaches... just about any kind of berry or soft fruit will work.
- I like pecans in the crumble topping but you can use walnuts or almonds if you prefer.
- I like fresh blueberries in this but frozen will work, too.
- If you'd like this coffee cake to be a little richer and more moist add an extra egg yolk in with the egg.
Nutrition Facts
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We'll never share your email or send you spam. Pinkie swear.First published November 17, 2017. Last updated August 31, 2022 for editorial corrections.
Fiona Baron
Love your recipes and your wit, although I’m not as big a pasta fan as you (so many pasta recipes!). Could you do us empty nesters a favor and add 1/2 quantities? I bet it would be warmly appreciated. Sent from even colder Minnesota.
Marye
Hi Fiona - did you know that you can hover over the servings in the recipe card and change to 2 servings and the measurements will change? 🙂
Suzanne
Delicious but way too many steps. The first layer of dough is almost impossible to spread evenly.
Cindy
Delicious, I also added blackberries to the blueberries. Will definitely make again !
Marye
That sounds wonderful!