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.
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❤️ 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.
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Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup granulated sugar 99 grams
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour 35 grams
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
Cake Batter
- 2 cups all purpose flour 284 grams
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened, 1 stick
- 1 cup granulated sugar 198 grams
- 2 eggs large
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk 4 ounces
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 cups blueberries fresh or frozen
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar 60 grams
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray with flour.
- Prepare crumb topping by mixing the sugar, flour, and butter together in a small bowl well with a fork and set aside. The mixture should be sandy and then start to form small clumps.
- 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 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The center should be 210 degrees F. with an instant read thermometer.
- Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice to create a thin glaze.
- Cool the cake 10 minutes in the pan, 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.)
Mariane
Hi there, I was wondering if I could substitute milk to buttermilk? Thanks
Barbara Schieving
Hi Mariane – you could but you’d probably have to change up the leavening, maybe used half soda and half baking powder? Since the acid in the buttermilk might change how the coffee cake rises. You can learn more in this article http://www.finecooking.com/item/12173/baking-soda-and-baking-powder
Yolanda Russo
This is a fabulous cake. You can put it together quickly. I have made it several times and it always gets rave reviews. The streusel and glaze make it special. I am taking it to a family picnic tomorrow and I have
printed 10 copies because I know it will be a hit.
Thanks a lot. Yolanda
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Yolanda! It’s so fun to know how much you love the cake. Thanks for sharing it with your family.
Kristina
This was DELICIOUS! I love the combo of streusel and glaze. It came out perfectly but I did have to bake it almost an hour. I seemed to have a lot of glaze but who doesn’t love extra?? Thanks for a good recipe.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Kristina, glad you love the cake. Bake time really can very depending on your oven and the pan you bake it in. If you use a disposable shiny pan the cake will take a lot longer to cook. Thanks for sharing your cook time.
Chuck
That looks ridonkadonk! I can’t wait to try it!
Paula Wood
I made this for a friend’s birthday and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you:)
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Paula! So glad you enjoyed it.
Juliet
This was delicious!!!!! One of the best blueberry cakes I have ever made. I doubled the crumb topping and did not use all the of the glaze.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Juliet! So glad you loved it. You can’t go wrong with double the crumb topping.
Carla
This cake is delish! I found it by Googling after my girlfriend dropped some incredible freshly picked NH blueberries off at my door. The only change I made was to add 1/2 tspn of cinnamon to the cake batter; 1/4 tsnp cinnamon to the crumb topping and split the topping sugar into 1/4 c brown sugar and 1/4c white sugar. (I love cinnamon with blueberries and always add it)
Glad to have found you and my family thanks you for this recipe. (not much cake left!)
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Carla! What a sweet girlfriend. It must have been even more delicious with fresh picked NH blueberries. Sounds like delicious additions.
Mariane
Just made one today and it tasted soooo good! I didn’t do the icing because the crumbs were already sweet. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Frankie
Delish and super simple. I made it for a birthday cake!
DebbyJay
This cake is delicious. I have also made it with blackberries. Friends have asked for the recipe.
Pam
Just made this cake today and I have to say it was the best moist lemon cake I’ve ever made. The crumble topping made it that more special. This recipe is a keeper.
Pam
Pat Yanikoski
Can this cake be frozen? Thanks in advance!
Shelby
Hey Barbara! I was curious on which blueberries you used in your recipe, did you use frozen or fresh blueberries in your recipe? This coffee cake looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it! 🙂
Barbara Schieving
Hi Shelby – I prefer to use fresh, but frozen work well too. No need to thaw the blueberries before using, your cake may take a few minutes longer to bake when using frozen blueberries. Enjoy!
Janet
Barbara, this is an amazing recipe and just made it for my family the 2nd time! And no one can wait till its cooled off! Thanks so much for sharing it! I also add a wee bit of lemon zest to the glaze! 🙂
Barbara Schieving
Hi Janet – so glad your family loves it. My family can never wait for it to cool before cutting it either.
Mary
Hello. Looks great, plan to try soon. If using a bundt pan, crumb topping would go in first? Would that change texture of crumbs? Thx
Barbara Schieving
Hi Mary – no you don’t want to put the crumbs on the bottom. If you make it in a bundt pan, you just have to serve it upside down.
Kimberley
I’m making this cake for the first time today, I didn’t have any lemon zest, so I’m substituting 1 1/2 tsp of lemon extract. I’m hoping that will do the trick!! I’ll let you all know how it goes. I’m so very excited!! 🙂
Kimberley
I also used substituted Unsweetened Almond Milk for regular milk! I knew I was forgetting something!!! 😀
Barbara Schieving
Lemon extract is pretty strong, you’ll have to let me know if that was the right amount or not. Hope you enjoyed it!
Susan Christner
I just made this recipe following to the tee… it’s baking now. My one problem was the crumble topping…. mine was not crumbly, but wet and sticky.
I used the 1/4 c. flour, 1/2 cup sugar and 3T. melted butter… it ended up as a glob. I broke it apart as best I could and spread it around the top of the cake. Suggestions for the next time??
After reading the comments, I can hardly wait to try… hopefully it works as is. 🙂
Barbara Schieving
Do you live in a humid area? You could try using less butter. Hope you enjoy it!
Chris
Oh, sooooo good! I subbed applesauce for the eggs due to an allergy, but this was PERFECT. Just the right balance of tart and sweet. I made it for a Father’s Day dinner, and it’s so good, I’m making it again a week later.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Chris! Good to know you can substitute applesauce for the eggs. Glad you enjoyed it!
Justine
I woke up Saturday and thought I want to make a blueberry lemon coffee cake and found your site. To sum up this cake in one word- wow! This was so delicious and actually quite light for a coffee cake. The lemon and blueberry were a perfect combination. My family was thoroughly impressed and I plan on making it again very soon. I love your site… Thanks Barbara!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Justine – I’m so glad you found my site and loved the coffee cake and my site. Thanks for taking the time to comment and let me know. Your comment brightened my day.
Justine
Made this cake again for a birthday on Monday. My friend had tried the leftovers from Father’s Day and made the specific request. It was enjoyed again, very much!
Barbara Schieving
You’re a good friend! Thanks for letting me know.
Christine
I just made this for Father’s Day and it turned out great. It had a light fluffy texture and a very nice flavor. It looked just like the picture, I was quite impressed! I do need a better technique to creating lemon zest though, that was quite a struggle for me using my cheese grater.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Christine – so glad it was a hit for Father’s Day. I always use a microplane to zest my citrus. It’s easy to use and not expensive to buy. I’ve added a link to the one I have at the bottom of the post. Thanks!