Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Indulge in the ultimate treat with this Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake recipe! A moist cake laden with blueberries and crowned with a thick, crumbly streusel topping. Expert tips for picking blueberries, preventing them from sinking during baking, and reverse creaming method for a flawless bake every time.

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake is rich, moist, and laden with blueberries for the brightest of mornings. Even better? You can whip up this tasty treat in no time. Whether you serve it for breakfast, as an after-dinner dessert, or anything in-between, it's certain to be a favorite!

I adore recipes that come together so easily and taste light and dreamy. If you like blueberries as much as I do, check out my Lemon Blueberry Muffins, and Blueberry Lemon Loaf Cake, and even Blueberry Margaritas. That mighty berry!

What is great about this recipe:

• Easy to make ahead for busy mornings.
• Thick crumbly cinnamon topping that rivals any local bakery.
• Cake won’t dome or unevenly rise.
• Tips included to keep your blueberries from sinking to the bottom.
• It’s so fresh and delicious, with seasonal produce!

Ingredients and Substitutions

Full instructions, including ingredient quantities, are located in the recipe card. Continue to read along for known substitutions and answers to questions about specific ingredients.

All-purpose Flour: Wheat flour is a fine substitute but stick to all-purpose for the crumb topping, as it will change the texture.

Unsalted Butter: If using salted butter, decrease the salt by ¼ tsp. Soften to room temperature, but don’t melt. In a pinch, you can cut it into tablespoon sized pieces and pop it in the microwave for a few seconds.

Blueberries: Use fresh or frozen, but frozen blueberries tend to bleed which leads to purple muddying. Thaw frozen blueberries somewhat, rinse and pat dry.

Sour Cream: Use light or regular sour cream, or Greek yogurt.

Tips for Picking Fresh Blueberries

• Look for plump, full berries with a light gray-blue color.
• A berry with a hint of red is not fully ripened.
• On the bush, tickle bunches lightly. Only the ripe ones will fall into your hand.
• Highbush blueberries are the types you commonly find at grocery stores and farmers markets. These are larger plants that also produce larger berries.
• Lowbush blueberries are sweeter albeit typically used for making juices, jams and baked goods.

To this base, I add my never-fail streusel topping. The ingredients here are quite simple and the same products as used in the cake:

Addition Ideas

There are so many fun options to customize this recipe:

• Almonds or Walnuts: Add half cup of your preference.
• White Chocolate Chips: White Chocolate Chips work great with these flavors if you prefer to make this lean more towards a dessert style cake.
• Blackberries or Raspberries: Add fresh berries in addition to or in place of the blueberries.
• Sparkling Sugar: Try turbinado sugar in addition to or instead of the crumble topping. Sprinkle in the sugar after pouring batter into the baking cups.

Visual Step By Step

Reverse creaming produces cakes that aren’t as domed and a little denser. This method ensures the cake rises evenly since we can’t remove the crumb topping (or Heaven forbid, flip it over to cut the bottom).

1. Reverse Creaming. Reverse creaming means mixing the dry ingredients and sugars together first, instead of creaming the sugars and butter/oil together. (photo 1)
2. Wet Ingredients. Next add the wet ingredients (milk, eggs, vanilla) to the mix. Fold in 1 cup of blueberries with a spatula or spoon. (Photo 2)
3. Fill the pan. Pour out entire batter onto parchment paper lined springform or square pan (pan sides should be about 2 inches high). Smooth out the entire batter. Blueberries sink a little, so scatter the remaining blueberries on top after pouring the batter. Press in just gently. (photo 3)
4. Crumble the topping. I like a well textured topping. I usually squeeze a handful of the mixture and then break it up and sprinkle over the blueberry batter layer. (Photo 4 - ready to go in the oven)
5. Bake and Cool. The center should NOT be jiggly. A few minutes after coming out of the oven, run a knife around the edges for easy release.

Tips for Perfect Coffee Cake

• Lining the pan with parchment paper will eliminate sticking. For a springform pan, grease the sides and bottom with butter lightly, then trace the inside of the bottom circle on parchment paper. Cut out the circle and line the bottom of the pan (the butter will keep it from curling).
• For a square pan, line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. With the sides, you can make handles that will make it easier to lift out to cut.
• Works great in a bundt pan too.
• Frozen blueberries may bleed more, so pat dry before adding to the mix.

Serving and Storage

Serving: Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or an indulgent spring dessert. It’s delicious served slightly warmed or at room temperature.

Storage: I leave mine in a doomed cake travel carrier at room temperature. I store it in the microwave, mostly so I don't eat the whole cake. Stay fresh about 4 days.

Make Ahead: Because of the creaming method, this recipe stays moist and soft longer than others. So it’s ideal to make the day before for breakfast or overnight guests.