Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake
Tender, moist lemon coffee cake loaded with blueberries crowned with a crunchy, sweet crumb topping and drizzled with a tart lemon glaze. A fun way to change up blueberry muffins. It makes a family-favorite breakfast or brunch recipe.
❤️ Why You’ll Love this Recipe: This simple but impressive coffee cake has the perfect balance of moist, cakey texture and sweet crumb topping. It’s a great make-ahead treat for brunch, breakfast, or an afternoon pick-me-up.
Update: This is one of the most popular recipes on the blog! So I’ve updated the post with new tips and a video to make it even easier for you to enjoy this lemon blueberry coffee cake ASAP.
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake
I first made this recipe as an alternative to my streusel blueberry muffins which everyone loves. It’s a fun twist that’s easy to transport if you’re bringing a baked treat for a crowd. To boost the flavor of this coffee cake, I added lemon zest to my traditional blueberry muffin recipe.
And since coffee cake is always better with a crumb topping, I had to add streusel. For the cherry on top, a sweet-tart lemon glaze. The glaze sits on top and drips down the sides for a beautiful presentation
Lemon Glaze for Coffee Cake
Make a quick and easy lemon glaze with just two ingredients: powdered sugar and lemon juice. Whisk until you have a smooth, pourable texture. When the cake is cooled, you can drizzle the glaze on with a spoon if you like. However, I prefer to use a quart-sized Ziploc bag.
Put the bag in a tall drinking glass or mug and fold the edges over the top of the mug to make a wide opening. Then fill the bag with your glaze. Seal up the bag and snip off a bit of one corner with scissors. Then simply drizzle the glaze over the top of the coffee cake.
If you want to get drips down the side of the cake, put a little puddle of glaze along the edge of the loaf. It will make a pretty little drip down the sides. If your glaze doesn’t drip nicely, you may need to thin it out a bit more.
Storage
You can store leftover coffee cake wrapped tightly in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to four days. For longer storage, keep the wrapped cake in the freezer for up to three months. You can defrost the cake overnight at room temperature to serve.
If your family loves blueberry muffins as much as my family does, they’ll love this coffee cake too. It takes blueberries to a whole new level.
More Breakfast Baking Recipes
If you love this lemon blueberry coffee cake, try these other tasty breakfast and brunch recipes next:
- Cinnamon Creme Coffee Cake is my riff on the beloved cake from Corner Bakery.
- Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake is a beautiful coiled cake with cinnamon spice and classic glaze.
- Pumpkin Sour Cream Coffee Cake has a sweet glaze and a dense, pumpkin flavor.
- Banana Bread Coffee Cake, Crazy for Crust
- Banana Streusel Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze, Shugary Sweets
- Marionberry Cherry Crumb Cake, filled with tart marionberries and dried cherries crowned with a sweet, crumbly topping and glaze.
Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
Crumb Topping
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray with flour.
- Prepare crumb topping and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and milk. Mix in lemon zest. Add flour mixture and mix just until combine. Stir in blueberries.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with crumb topping.
- Bake at 350º for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. About 210 degrees with an instant read thermometer.
- Cool 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and remove ring. Drizzle icing on cake. Cool completely before serving. (Unless you're like us and would rather eat it hot even though the cake doesn't cut as well.)
Crumb Topping
In a small bowl, with a fork mix together sugar and flour. Add butter and mix until mixture is sandy and clumps together.*
Icing
Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice to create a thin glaze.
Notes
*If your crumb topping is not crumbly after adding the butter, add a little additional sugar and flour until you get a crumbly mixture.
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Thank you for this recipe! SO delicious! I substituted almond milk and it worked out well. I didn’t have a springform cake pan so just baked it in 9X13 glass pan and it was still delicious. I accidentally put the icing on right away before waiting 10 minutes but luckily it had a positive effect! The icing kind of caramelized along the edges, and the result was lemon bar taste! Anyway, it’s going to be my go to now for potluck events! Thank you!
Thanks for the rave review and sharing your changes Cindy!
I made this last week and it lasted all of three days before it was gone. And it’s just my husband and me. I then tried it with strawberries and it is just as good and will probably be gone in three days too.Marr
P.S. I think I might try it with peaches too.
Thanks Marie! I’ll have to try it with strawberries.
Hey Barbara, I have made you recipe before, but am at the lake without my springform pan! Do you think I could use a round layer cake tin? Also, I now have a daughter who is gluten intolerant. Do you think GF flour would work? I know, so many questions, sorry:)
Kim from Winnipeg Canada
Hi Kim – yes, it will work in a round cake tin, it’s just harder to get that first piece out of the cake pan. I haven’t tried it, but there are some good gluten-free baking mixes that should work well with this recipe. Enjoy!
Thanks, I will let you know how it turns out
So good! I did half the flour as cake flour and used princess flavor instead of vanilla. Then swirled in Lemon Curd. So stinking good!!
Thanks Cassie! A lemon curd swirl sounds like an awesome addition.
Can you freeze this?
Hi Catherine – yes, it freezes very well. I’m frozen it whole and also leftover slices. Just cool it completely and wrap it well in plastic wrap.
I entered this at the county fair and got Best of Show!! So yummy!
Wow – that’s exciting. Congratulations Lindsay! I’d love to see pictures if you took some. Are you on Instagram?
Great recipient
We have a blueberry bush that produces a great deal of fruit so I am always on the look out for different blueberry recipes
My husband requested that this one becomes a regular
Thanks Barbara
Thanks Peg – How fun to have a blueberry bush!
Great recipe! I’ve made this several times after picking fresh berries! It’s “Oh so delicious”!! I’ve also used key lime juice in place of lemon and that gives it an extra tropical twist! Thanks for the Yummm….
Thanks! Lime sounds like a great way to change it up.
Can you make the batter ahead of time?
Hi Betsy – if you want to make it ahead of time, mix the dry ingredients together and make the crumb topping and the icing but add the wet ingredients just before baking.
This recipe is amazing and delicious! I have made it as the recipe shows and as muffins. The muffins are great for potlucks and travel well. Thank you for sharing
Thanks for the rave review Kellina!
I only had 1 cup of blueberries, so I added some frozen peaches (defrosted, dried them off good, cut them up and dusted with flour) and it turned out amazing! Will make again!!
Peaches sound like an awesome addition. Thanks for sharing Sarah!
Can you put weight measures in the recipe please? Much more accurate than cups (American? Canadian? Metric?)
Hi Ali – I do like using weight measurements more and more when baking. Next time I make this cake, I’ll weigh the ingredients and update the recipe.
Love your recipe!!! I had just 1 cup of blueberries and tasted amazing! I will try again with the 2 cups, anyway, my family love it!! I made it for Father’s Day and I think it will become a tradition ❤️ Thanks for sharing!!
I’m glad it was a big hit. Thanks Marcela!
Made this for mothers day. Turned out great. Delicious recipe.
That’s great to hear – thanks Chris!
Barbara, I am recovering from surgery and am restricted in what I can do for another week or so. I am able to bake however and made this cake, with lots of lemon juice and Valencia orange peel in the icing. It was tremendous, thanks. Pay no attention to the grumpy people in your comment section.
Thanks! Sounds like a great way to change it up. I hope you’re feeling better soon!
Barbara, have you ever used this recipe to o make a loaf? If yes wondering if you made adjustments. Let me know and Thank you
Hi Carol – I have made it in loaf pans without the drizzle. Here’s a link https://www.barbarabakes.com/lemon-blueberry-quick-bread/
You are nuts. With all the advertisements and other BS all over your pages I had trouble finding your actual recipe.
Hi Arthur – most blogs, including mine, have a jump to recipe button right at the top of the post that makes it easy to find the recipe. It’s a great recipe that you’re getting for free just by viewing the ads – certainly not any reason for you to be rude to me. Are you rude to people when they come to your house, or just rude to people online that you don’t know because you feel anonymous? My site is well done and loaded with lots of great information. I work hard on it and am proud of my little corner of the net.
Good for you!! I’ll add that your ads are not in the middle of the page, like most, which shifts the recipes around while I’m reading. Thank you for the free recipe and all the work you put into your site. I’m talking this to an open house tomorrow, I’m sure they will be very happy.
Thanks Kat! Your support means a lot. I’m sure the cake will be a hit at the open house.
Your really complaining about having to scroll to the bottom to get the information you obtained for free?
Thank you Barbara for sharing this wonderful recipe with us. I also found a few other recipes (while scrolling to the bottom) that I also want to try. I can’t wait to share them with my family.
Thanks!