May 25, 2018
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I promise we eat other things besides breakfast… and yet here I am sharing my super easy blueberry breakfast cake. The thing is…I love weekends. Especially Saturday mornings. We aren’t rushed to go anywhere and I have the time to make something as delicious as this blueberry cake that my whole family will enjoy.
You all know how much I love coffee shop coffee, and once in a while, I get a little treat. I also love cranberry orange scones… but now I like my recipe better too. Plus it’s super easy to make, so there’s that! Watch the video below to see how this incredible cake is made.
One day, at my local coffee shop, I tried their reduced fat blueberry cake and all of us in the car were hooked. It’s moist, cakey, has some blueberries and overall it tastes delicious!
The only problem is that when I got home, I looked up the nutritional information for a “reduced fat” slice at it has 10g of fat. I immediately felt guilty…so off to the kitchen I went to create my version of their deliciousness. My version has 2.5g per serving.
How did I “reduce the fat” content of this recipe? I used Greek yogurt for half of the butter of my traditional coffee cake recipe. The Greek yogurt adds moisture and cuts out a lot of the fat. In fact, after I plugged in my ingredients to a recipe calculator, each of my servings had 5.5g of fat. I’d say that was a success!
I didn’t sacrifice any of the flavor, moisture or cakey-ness either. In fact, I would dare say that I like my version better. It’s also cheaper, it freezes very well and everyone loved it.
The tear on his face is because I kept telling him to wait so I could photograph the actual cake! This boy loves food.
But then again… I’ve been testing a lot of recipes this summer, both for MOMables and for my cookbook. It’s been a crazy summer with me working endless hours and every weekend, kids going to and from camp and grandparent houses… all good things… I just think we are all ready for a little routine.
Thankfully, the kids started school this week. We are slowly falling into our little routines, school activities and making mealtime family time. Which is good for you… since I’ll be posting a lot more mealtime things and not just the treats we enjoy over the weekend.
Go ahead. Bake, grab a slice, enjoy. Then… come back and let everyone else know how much you loved it.
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons + 5 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 lemon zested
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 cups blueberries
For the crumble topping:
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 5 tablespoons butter chilled and cubed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and place the baking rack in the middle of the oven. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Make the batter in the bowl of your stand mixer or a large bowl by combining the all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- To the bowl, add the Greek yogurt, softened butter, lemon zest, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on low speed until combined and there are no visible clumps. The batter will be thick. Gently fold in blueberries with a spatula.
- Pour batter mixture into the greased baking pan.
- In a small bowl, make the crumble topping by mixing the flour and sugar. Then, add the chilled and cubed butter. I’ve found that using my hands is the easiest way to turn this into a coarse, sand-like texture.
- Distribute crumble mixture over the batter.
- Bake for 50-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow cake to cool down to room temperature prior to serving.
Notes
To prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom, give them a quick toss in 2 Tablespoons of flour. Coating them with flour will prevent them from sinking to the bottom.
Quick tip: Measure all your dry and wet ingredients and place them in separate bowls. Refrigerate your wet ingredients (minus the butter, you should leave that out on the counter) and in the morning, all you have to do is quickly mix the batter, pour, sprinkle your topping and bake!
rose
Can I use blueberry flavored greek yogurt? Can I also use a springform pan? If so, what size do you suggest?
Laura Fuentes
Absolutely, use any greek yogurt you like. I have not tried a springform pan, but you’d need two 9-inch round pans for sure.
Juli LeMaster
Can you use frozen blueberries?
Laura Fuentes
Absolutely!
Gina Carroll
This is without a doubt the best blueberry coffee cake I have ever had! It runs circles around the Starbucks version. I shared a good portion with a neighbor, and she asked for a copy of the recipe. I made two variations. I substituted plain yogurt for Greek yogurt, and half-and-half for the milk. I know that some have complained about the amount of butter, and adding half-and-half only makes the fat content higher. However, I eat very healthy and mostly organic. I don’t bake a lot and eat very little sweets. This is definitely a treat. I don’t make a meal of it. Bottom line — fabulous recipe!!!
Laura Fuentes
I am so glad this was a success for you, Gina! And what a lucky neighbor that received a piece!
Karen Smith
I made this cake and it is gr8!! Of course we always have to change this or that to our preferences or larder. I cut back the sugar in the batter to 3/4 cup, forgot to put in the lemon zest, and drizzled some lemon juice and conf. sugar over the top. Check a little earlier than The bake time given, mine was done earlier than predicted. The cake is dense but still light and airy. I highly recommend that you try this recipe!
Laura Fuentes
I am so glad you enjoyed this cake, Karen!
Barbarina Davidson
Can this be divided in half? My family isn’t so large and that is a lot for us to eat.
Laura Fuentes
Sure. Use a 9×9 pan. Enjoy!
Angel
Can this be frozen? I’d like to freeze it in individual servings for work snacks. Thanks looks wonderful.
Laura Fuentes
Absolutely! Thaws out beautifully. Enjoy!
Cats
Can I use regular yogurt instead of Greek yogurt?
Laura Fuentes
Absolutely!
brinacyl
The cake turned out amazing and we had it for breakfast. I made few changes as follow to reduce few calories: semi skimmed milk, low fat greek yogurt, and reduced streusel to half. Thank you for a superb recipe.
Laura Fuentes
Amazing! Great substitutes. So glad you enjoyed it.
Cindy
Can you use sour cream in place of yogurt? I’ve made this several times and have always used Greek yogurt but my neighbor brought me blueberries and I am out of yogurt.
Laura Fuentes
You absolutely can Cindy. Enjoy!
Beth
Delicious! Since this cake has milk, yogurt, and blueberries, does it need to be refrigerated?
Laura Fuentes
You can leave it out for 24 hours in an airtight container, but yes, refrigerate for up to 5 days…if it last that long 😉
Erica
This was admittedly delicious and the family devoured it. But, unless you know of some magical butter that is low in calories, this is NOT light. There are 13 tablespoons of butter. that’s 10 grams of fat per serving before adding any of the other ingredients.
Laura Fuentes
Hi Erica, I am so glad this recipe was a succes and loved by your family. The recipe has 1/2 cup of butter, which is 4 tablespoons. That’s 5.4g per serving.
Erica
I will definitely make it again for company!
Laura Fuentes
Yes sorry, I had a mom-moment! It is 8 tablespoons, and I fixed the fat content, it is 5.4g/serving. Thanks for catching that.
CakenGifts.in
Marvellous cake!!!! It is very amazing, Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. Last sunday we made this cake, My whole family became very happy after taking it. CakenGifts.in has also such awesome Cakes. Thanks alot!!!!!!!
Pam
I made this to share at a family gathering last week. It was a big hit and, needless to say, I will be making it again. It was moist and so tasty. The lemon zest adds to the flavor and I love that you cut the fat. Trying hard to eat clean and healthy these days! Oh, and it travels well – made the four hour trip with no problem!
Laura Fuentes
I’m so glad it was a succes!
Laura
I made this for my husband and I for Christmas morning. I loved that it was not too sweet like many coffee cakes can be. Very delicious and I will be making again. Thanks
Trish
Have made this twice its delicious! Laura I noticed you’ve left out the Lemon Zest in recipe
instructions but show this in your pics. It really adds to the taste, maybe an edit to recipe will help
others who’ve missed this step.
Laura Fuentes
Yes! my bad. Thanks for the reminder Trish!!
Trish
A GREAT Recipe!! Made this yesterday and half the cake is now gone. Its so moist with wonderful
texture, just delicious. Only change I made is mix the wet ingredients first in my stand mixer then added
the premixed dry ingredients, (I’ve baked for years and always understood this is the order for best results).
Save about 1/4 cup dry ingre. to toss the blueberries in before adding. Also my berries distributed incredibly well throughout cake. Reason, fresh berries that I froze on cookie sheet then placed in freezer bags, they don’t clump. Some work but worth it. Thanks for this fantastic recipe.
LuAnn
I am visiting my cousin and we always try new recipes when I visit. This was a BIG WINNER! It was amazing! Simple. Yummy. Huge! The greek yogurt made it really nice, I think! Thank you, Laura!
Amy Hamilton
Hi, have you made it as cupcakes? My daughter wants to take it to school, and it would be so easy to take if I made cupcakes. Thanks!
Laura Fuentes
Yes. If I remember correctly, it makes 24 cupcakes. Baking time about 18 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Enjoy!
Jess F
Haven’t tasted it yet but my crumble didn’t look like crumble, more like big chunks of goo in my hands. Am not a really good cook, any suggestions on how I actually make a crumble? Thx. Love your tecipes.
Laura Fuentes
Jess, I’m not sure. The “crumble” in this recipe is definitely crumbly. There is not “wet”ingredient in it. The crumble is flour, sugar, and cold butter. Sorry!
Shelley
Made this today…delicious!!! 🙂
Laura Fuentes
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
JoAnn
So versatile! Made a new version using 2 cups fresh frozen cranberries. The result was tart, but still sweet enough for my family.
I didn’t mix the cranberries into the batter, but I did toss them in 3 tablespoons of sugar that I kept out of the batter.
I spooned and spread half the batter in the pan, then sprinkled the cranberries evenly on top. Then I topped the berries with the remaining batter before sprinkling with the streusel.
Orange zest in place of lemon would improve it even more. So would a 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts added to the streusel. Ok, I’m done now:)
Laura Fuentes
I’ve never tried it with cranberries! what a great adaptation!
Michelle
I have a huge bin of blackberries can I substitute the blueberries?
Laura Fuentes
absolutely!
Andrea R
This looks so good! My husband loves coffee cake and blueberries so looking forward surprising him with this. I just wanted to ask about how much lemon zest you use since it wasn’t added in the ingredients? I like adding lemon as well just don’t want to overpower it. Oh and fresh blueberries right or would frozen work as well?
Thanks!
Laura Fuentes
I typically add 1-2 teaspoons of lemon zest, but it’s totally optional. I use both fresh and frozen blueberries. Enjoy!
Andrea R
It was really good and agree the lemon is a keeper! I made some mistakes along the way with the kids running around so I made a note of separating the flour and sugar lol. Thanks!
Laura Fuentes
Glad everyone loved it Andrea!
JoAnn
Wow! I was craving coffee cake and thought blueberries would make it a bit healthier. So I got Googling, and stumbled upon your recipe. Tried it this morning: Amazing. I used vanilla non-fat Greek yogurt, so I cut the batter’s sugar back by 1/4 cup. Baked up in 55 mins. Looked and smelled divine. Hardest part was waiting for it to cool. Will definitely make it again!
Nicole Olivani
This was very delicious! One thing I must say is that according to my fitness pal this was 10 grams of fat per serving….following directions and using 1% milk and nonfat plain greek yogurt. I was totally disappointed in that figure wen I was thinking it would be around 2.5. Where do you think this big difference came from?
Laura Fuentes
Did you put it in as 16 servings?
Carrie
Would using frozen blueberries make a difference? Should the be thawed?
Laura Fuentes
Frozen blueberries will work great too! Just throw them in frozen. enjoy!
Christine
This looks great! A colleague at work brought some blueberries and now I want to bake with them!
Have you ever tried with plain fat free yogurt? ( That’s all I have in the fridge :S )
Thank you for your time!
Laura Fuentes
Christine, plain yogurt will work fine too! enjoy!
Naomi Peters Gardner
Woohoo! I am gluten intolerant and made this super quickly yesterday. I used Bob’s Red Mill GF flour and it came out beautifully! I added 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum and that’s it. Awesome. Thank you so much!
Laura Fuentes
thank you for the measurements! I’m thrilled this came out great for you!
Kim
Laura, looks scrumptious and I would like to make it ahead to have on hand for guests staying here for my daughter’s wedding–how do you freeze it and thaw it?
Laura Fuentes
I freeze the cake after it’s baked. It thaws by leaving it out at room temperature.
Jennifer
Do you use plain yogurt or vanilla?
Laura Fuentes
I use plain, but vanilla will work too!
Joanne
I’m trying to be gluten free- any suggestions on what to use?
Laura Fuentes
I’ve had success with Pamela’s Baking Blend for this recipe.
Marianne
Thanks for the quick reply, Laura! This is by far the best blueberry coffee cake recipe I have ever tasted! I love blueberries and Greek yogurt. Thank you for this outstanding recipe. My family and I loved it.
Laura Fuentes
Thank you so much Marianne!
Marianne
I have 2 questions about your Light Blueberry Coffee Cake. You show in your pictures a zester and lemon zest but do not mention it in your blog and the recipe. ? Next. Do you melt the butter? I added the softened butter to the liquids and had clumps/curdles . I have never made this type of recipe before and would appreciate your help. It looks divine and want to make it. Thank you!
Laura Fuentes
Marianne, the lemon zest is optional and not part of the copycat recipe. I add it because I like it (I love the blueberry lemon combo). The butter is just softened. I don’t really get any clumps but it should melt just fine when baking. Let me know how it turned out and how you enjoyed it.
Betsy
I assume the recipe calls for nonfat greek yogurt? or would you recommend the 2%?
Laura Fuentes
It will work with either. I only had non-fat available at the time. I’ve made it with whole or 2%.
lindsey
What do you think about mixing half AP flour and half whole wheat pastry flour? It seems the things i make that are more cake-like don’t taste as good when i just use ww flour.
Laura Fuentes
Lindsey, with this recipe I’d say a 50/50 mix will be fine. Especially, if you are using whole wheat pastry flour. Let me know how it comes out. Enjoy!
lindsey
Made it last weekend and it was devoured by my boyfriend and his roomates. They couldn’t tell it was half and half flour or that i wasn’t full on fatty! thanks, this will be a regular!
Laura Fuentes
I’m thrilled this was a success Lindsey!
Kristy Willette
Looks amazing, Any chance you have the Nutrition facts/info for this recipe?
Thanks
Laura Fuentes
Kristy, last time I calculated it it was around 2.5g of fat per serving. You can go to a recipe calculator and check it out.
Reema
I made a slightly different version of this cake and it was delicious. I use flax eggs to substitute and it worked great!
Laura Fuentes
Thank you for letting me know that the flax eggs worked Reema!
Lydia Walstad
Instead of greek yogurt (we have a dairy allergy) do you think I could substitute coconut oil for it? Or do you have any other suggestions?
Laura Fuentes
Unfortunately you need the yogurt thickness with this recipe. Can you buy a coconut yogurt? Oil will deflate the cake.
Mildred Powell
will try this soon. precious children, and I can see a tear drop on the baby’s little cheek.
Laura Fuentes
Thank you Mildred! Yes, he was crying because I was telling him ‘no no” to playing with the cake so that I could take a picture! 🙂
Gerry @ Foodness Gracious
I love this cake from SB as do I love the cinnamon swirl cake and the cran scones. Are you loving the new style pastries from La Boulange? (sp?)
Laura Fuentes
The cranberry scones are my favorite!!! here is my copycat recipe. I am going to have to check out the LeBoulangerie’s pastries!! hmmmm
Laura Anson
I was in charge of “breakfasty food” for our Bible Fellowship class today. Measured it last night and assembled and baked this morning. It was a cinch – and it went over SO well.
Laura Fuentes
So glad that it was a success!
Ellie
What could I use in place of the Greek yogurt, my daughter cannot have any dairy due to allergy. Thanks for any suggestions you may have!
Laura Fuentes
Ellie, I have not made this dairy free. I’ve heard of others using white bean puree.
Michele F
I baked this today and it tastes great! I can’t wait for my kids to have some after school!! I am curious, however, about the picture above of lemon zest. It isn’t mentioned in the recipe but wondered if you included that in yours. Also, do you cover and store at room temp? I’ve never had the Starbucks version but this one is quite tasty. Thanks for a great recipe!
Laura Fuentes
Michelle, I always pair blueberries with lemon zest… but I didn’t add it to the recipe since the “original” at Starbucks doesn’t have it.
Liz
I love this recipe. Thank you.
Canadian Moms Cook ~Amanda
I have never had the Starbucks version of this cake, but I totally don’t need to – your version is simply delicious! It is moist and yummy! I made mine with frozen wild organic blueberries – yum!
Laura Fuentes
YUM Amanda!
sara
Yum! This is really good
Liz
Thank you for the nice recipe. Have a wonderful week.
Canadian Moms Cook - Amanda
Guess what I’m making tomorrow morning when I get up! I just bought a bunch of fresh, wild Ontario blueberries too!! MMMmmm… Thanks, Laura 🙂
Karen
Looks yummy! I see in a lot of your recipes whole wheat pastry flour. Where are good places to purchase it? I cant seem to find it in my regular grocery store.
Laura Fuentes
Karen, I buy whole wheat pastry flour either at my grocery or online (mostly). If you buy through Amazon, check out this one and this one.
Zelma @ YoSoyMami.com
OMG!! Now I have to get up ridiculously early tomorrow to buy greek yogurt and blueberries, because I MUST make this!!! It’s all your fault….
Laura Fuentes
You are going to LOVE it.
Sal
I made this cake today as the recipe was easy and quick– yummy! This cake was absolutely so moist and delicious. My boys loved it and it was even better than Starbucks’. Highly recommend it for everyone to bake!
Laura Fuentes
Thank you so much Sal for letting everyone know!
Isra {TheFrugalette}
Aww look at his little tear! Ive been eating this cake for 7 years now! We all love it too, this is great timing to make a batch for a quick breakfast on the way to school.
Laura Fuentes
I am so glad you love this cake too!! gonna whip up another batch in the morning. it’s a winner!
Crystal
Is it possible to use buttermilk instead of the Greek yogurt? I only have that in my fridge right now. Thanks!
Laura Fuentes
Sure. Enjoy!
Monica
Do you have the measurements in grams pls? Many thanks
Laura Fuentes
I’m sorry, I do not for this recipe. They can be converted easily here.