Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe with Brown Sugar Crumb Topping

by Alice Currah on July 25, 2009. Updated August 17, 2009

blueberrybucklecoffeecake

If you haven’t noticed, blueberry season is in full swing.  If you’re like me, you may have more blueberries than you can possibly consume. No fear, I have an awesome blueberry buckle coffee cake recipe for you!

What is the difference between a buckle and a coffee cake?  I asked some of my Twitter friends this very question and two very knowledgeable friends replied with varied responses. Lorna Yee of The Cookbook Chronicles had this to say, “I always think of buckle as a lot more fruit-heavy than any coffee cake would be because  it’s in the “grunt/crumble” category”.  Kim O’Donnell of True/Slant and former food writer for the WashingtonPost.com replied suggesting “if it had some type of fruit in it I suppose it would be some version of a buckle.”  So there you have it, two expert opinions on what makes it a buckle and what makes it a coffee cake.  I decided my recipe is a Buckle Coffee Cake.  There, I’ve covered my bases.

What I like about this recipe is the brown sugar crumb crust which adds texture, flavor, and sends this coffee cake into a league of its own.  Preparing it in a bundt pan also is nice because you can garnish it with powdered sugar and have the crumb crust actually be layered on the bottom.  However you decide to bake it, I present to you the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 cups of AP Flour
2 tsp. of baking powder
1 cup of sugar
1/2 stick of butter, softened
1/2 tsp. of salt
1 egg
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of buttermilk or milk
1 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries

5 tbs. of cold butter, cubed
3/4 cup of AP flour
1 cup of brown sugar
2 tsp. of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. of salt

1/4 cup of powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8×8 square pan or bundt pan with non stick spray. In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes until light in color and creamy. Add egg, and vanilla and cream for an additional 2 minutes. Add salt, baking powder, and all purpose flour and mix on med.-low speed adding the buttermilk in a steady stream. Mix batter until everything is fully incorporated, approx. 3-5 minutes. Batter will be nice and thick. Fold in fresh blueberries and pour batter into pan. Set aside.

blueberrycoffeecakeprocess

In a food processor or by hand, mix brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and cold butter until the mixture is crumbly. If mixing by hand, just use your fingertips or the back of a fork. If you are using a food processor just pulsate everything until you get a crumb mixture. Add crumb topping mixture to the cake pan and gently press everything down.

blueberrybundt

Bake in the oven for 60 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and let it sit for 8 minutes and invert it onto a plate.  Garnish with sifted powdered sugar.  Enjoy!

*For a more traditional looking coffee cake, see this adapted version using sour cream.

buttermilkblueberrycoffeecakebuckle

For another great Blueberry Raspberry Buckle recipe by Michael Natkin of Herbivoracious.com, click on the picture below.

blueberryraspberrybuckle1

Share Button
     

SAVORY SWEET LIFE Book Trailer

{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }

Panda Foodie July 25, 2009 at 2:47 am

that looks delicious! yum!

Reply

Laura July 25, 2009 at 10:27 am

Looks delish–I love blueberry buckles of any kind, even the coffee cake kind. ;) Has the crumble topping gotten soggy on the bottom? How long did it take to finish the cake?

Reply

Alice July 25, 2009 at 10:33 am

Laura,
The crumb topping wasn’t soggy, but kind of chewy and crunchy. There is quite a bit of butter so it was cookie crisp but was really nice. Hope that helps!

Reply

Mel @ bouchonfor2.com July 25, 2009 at 10:59 am

Yum much?! I want to gobble gobble it up! Fresh blueberries are nature’s candy. I can eat 2 pints in 1 sitting easy.

Reply

jenn July 25, 2009 at 1:25 pm

I love the crumb topping. I tried doing that once. But to my mistake I accidentlly left out the flour and so the top burnt like caramel.

Looks very delicious. I need to get me some blueberries.

Reply

deeba July 25, 2009 at 8:12 pm

Alice, I ♥ this Buckle Coffee Cake. Serious YUM stuff. No blueberries in India, =( , but I love the basics you got covered in there! WOW!!

Reply

Jen @ MaplenCornbread July 26, 2009 at 12:25 pm

I LOVE blueberry buckle, it was one of the first summer desserts I learned to bake as a little girl. This bundt pan idea is wonderful, will surely be trying!! :)

Reply

Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction July 27, 2009 at 3:25 pm

This looks wonderful – I love baking with fresh blueberries.

Reply

Nutmeg Nanny July 27, 2009 at 10:33 pm

Mmmmm blueberries. Your cake looks great…as always:)

Reply

Stephanie July 28, 2009 at 10:15 am

Looks beautiful and delicious!

Reply

Kamran Siddiqi July 29, 2009 at 1:06 am

I knew you’d give into baking a cake. LOL! This looks super delish too! Now, I want a piece of this cake! A bit too late for me to be baking, but I could probably have this as part of my lunch tomorrow.

Reply

Alice July 29, 2009 at 1:41 pm

Thanks everyone, I hope you have a chance to make this and let me know what you think.
Alice

Reply

Ben July 31, 2009 at 11:11 am

HI There

Really stunning food photos. First off apologies for contacting you through the comments instead of by email but I wanted to bring FoodandFizz to your attention as a great place for you to share some of your photos. We would love to feature some of your photos and hopefully send a little traffic back this way to you :) Drop me an email if you have any problems and look forward to seeing your stuff

Regards

Ben

Reply

MaryMoh August 20, 2009 at 3:59 am

That cake look so tempting. Gorgeous picture.

Reply

The Purple Foodie September 5, 2009 at 1:56 pm

YUMM! Every time I seen aything with blueberries, I so wish we got them here. had fun figuring out crumble vs. crisp with you today! :D

Reply

Monse September 6, 2009 at 11:35 pm

Just bake this cake, is absolutely AMAZING! I used frozen blueberries that I had from a previous recipe and it came out great. Thanks for sharing!

Reply

Heather @ wedding cakes November 2, 2009 at 1:58 am

That looks so delicious, the white sprinkles and the crunchy base really make it look better than 5 star quality.

Reply

erica December 25, 2009 at 8:06 pm

I made this along with the Breakfast Casserole. A perfect pairing…something sweet along with something savory. I also made the Guinness Ginger Stout Cake…which my husband equated to Boston Brown Bread – from a can, and wanted to put ham and baked beans on it. I yelled at him and made him go away.

Reply

Jenna February 14, 2010 at 2:42 am

This looks divine. I must try baking it!

Reply

KrisDot April 6, 2010 at 12:43 am

Just made this last weekend…DE-LISH! Love the brown sugar and cinnamon combination for the crumble. Will definitely be making this again! Thanks, Alice!

Reply

Julie July 3, 2010 at 1:37 pm

07/03/10 I just discovered your website today when looking for a recipe that used both BLUEBERRIES and BUTTERMILK. This recipe fit the bill, and the PHOTOS are beautiful ~ and I am in the midst of making it right this moment! I am wondering if there is an INGREDIENT MISSING? The instuctions state to add the egg, vanilla and CREAM, but the ingredients don’t list cream . . .I am going forth anyway, without any cream, but if you could ANSWER this question, I’d know better for future reference. THANKS! Julie

Reply

Julie July 3, 2010 at 1:46 pm

Okay ~ worldwideweb embarassment! Upon re-reading the recipe, I now see that this is an action to be taken, not a recipe! Duh! Too much 4th of July pre-celebration . . .

Reply

leda September 6, 2010 at 4:06 pm

The Blueberry Buckle is a WINNER!! I probably won’t use my precious 1 -1/2 homegrown cup of blueberries any other way again! It’s on my countertop and disappearing every time someone walks by!

Reply

randi March 16, 2011 at 11:59 am

I made this last night and it is a really nice cake. This recipe goes into my keeper files. I’m glad that there is not so much butter in it. makes me feel less guilty.

Reply

alice March 16, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Glad you liked it Randi!

Reply

Deb June 2, 2011 at 10:10 pm

I tried this recipe today and I have to tell you it was awesome! I made it in a bundt pan so the topping was on the bottom. Absolutely delish – glad I stumbled upon this recipe and your blog. My husband was also glad :) – thanks!

Reply

Karla February 18, 2013 at 11:59 am

These are delicious! I made a few changes. I used lemon extract in the place of vanilla and substituted almond milk for the milk/ buttermilk. I looked everywhere for a recipe for my fresh blueberries. This was perfect. Thank you.

Reply

Leave a Comment

Anti-Spam Quiz:

{ 5 trackbacks }

Previous post:

Next post: