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Sour cream blueberry coffee cake covered with light cream on white plate, coffee in background.
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4.92 from 12 votes

Sour Cream Blueberry Coffee Cake

Sour Cream Blueberry Coffee Cake has all the great qualities of your favorite coffee cake. Perfectly sweet from the blueberries and streusel topping, and just the right amount of tang thanks to the sour cream and lemon zest. You may use fresh or frozen blueberries for the recipe, and a spring form pan works well for removing the cake, but you can also use a regular cake pan and cut squares, serving directly from the pan. Excellent the next day and even up to three days after baking.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Cake, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 10
Calories: 451kcal
Author: Sally Humeniuk

Equipment

  • 1 9-inch springform pan or regular 9-inch pan See recipe notes

Ingredients

For the Crumb Streusel Topping:

For the Sour Cream Blueberry Coffee Cake:

Optional thinned sour cream for pouring over the top:

Instructions

  • Make the topping:
  • In a medium bowl, stir 1 cup flour, ¼ cup sugar, ⅓ cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1 dash salt until well blended. Add 7 Tablespoons melted butter and mix with a fork, stirring until the butter is absorbed and the dry ingredients are uniformly moistened. Set aside.
  • Make The Cake:
  • Preheat oven to 350°F, placing rack in center. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. You may use a regular 9-inch round or square pan if you don't have a springform pan.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon lemon zest, and ½ teaspoon salt.
  • In a small bowl, toss 1 cup blueberries with 1 Tablespoon of the flour mixture until the berries are coated; set aside. In another small bowl, whisk together 1 cup sour cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, or with an electric mixer, beat together 10 Tablespoons butter and 1 cup granulated sugar a medium speed until light and fluffy, for about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through. Beat in 2 eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. On low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating it with the sour cream in two additions. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries (If you mix with the mixer, some of the berries break down, which is still okay). The cake batter will be very thick; scrape it into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
  • Sprinkle all of the crumb topping evenly over the batter. Break down really large clumps, but you want some to remain.
  • Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. It really does need to be clean, or the center will collapse. Place the cake in the pan on a wire rack to cool:

If Baking in Springform Pan:

  • Cool on rack 20 minutes. Then unlatch springform and cool almost completely before serving.

If Baking in Regular Baking Pan:

  • Cool completely and cut cake, serving from the pan.
  • To serve, cut and plate portions. Heat each piece for about 15-20 seconds (if not still a little warm from oven) in the microwave, or you may reheat the entire cake in a 200°F oven for about 20 minutes. Pour or drizzle heavy cream or thinned sour cream, if using, and add additional fresh blueberries and serve. This makes a very pretty presentation and it's delicious.
  • Store leftover coffee cake, loosley covered, in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Optional topping ideas:

  • The cake is wonderful served at room temperature or heated. Top with whipping cream poured over the top just before serving with additional fresh blueberries. See next step if you'd like to try thinned sour cream.

Making the optional thinned sour cream for pouring on top:

  • Simply use a whisk, pouring ¼ cup cold milk over ½ cup sour cream, whisking until smooth. Add more milk if you want the sour cream even more pourable.

Notes

  • Crumb topping- The crumb topping seems like a lot when you top the coffee cake but it bakes into the cake perfectly. You can certainly use less if you don't like a lot of streusel on your cake or to prevent the center from falling slightly from the weight of the streusel.
  • Testing for doneness- Don't test the cake too early or the center may start to sink as it continues to bake. I usually test at 45 minutes (if you're not sure if your oven runs hot you could test at 43 minute) and if it seems mostly dry, I still bake for an additional 3 or 4 minutes. Some of the crumb topping will be on your toothpick so touch the toothpick with your finger to see if wet batter is on it too. It's not as hard to get right as I'm making it sound. And if it sinks a little in the center, it'll still taste lovely.
  • Blueberries used in the recipe- In the photos for this recipe, I used Trader Joe's frozen wild blueberries. I like the wild blueberries because they're quite small so you get more blueberries spread throughout but I've made it many times with large, fresh blueberries and we still love that.

Nutrition

Calories: 451kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 97mg | Sodium: 260mg | Potassium: 145mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 794IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 64mg | Iron: 2mg