Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe | Barbara Bakes (2024)

Published by Melissa on May 20, 2021 | Updated January 17, 2023 | 547 Comments

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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.

Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe | Barbara Bakes (1)

❤️ 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.

Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe | Barbara Bakes (2)

How to Make Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake

I first made this recipe as an alternative to my streusel blueberry muffinswhich 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 Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe | Barbara Bakes (3)

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.

Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe | Barbara Bakes (4)

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.

Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe | Barbara Bakes (5)

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

Tender, moist lemon coffee cake loaded with blueberries crowned with a crunchy, sweet crumb topping and drizzled with a tart lemon glaze.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time55 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Keyword: baking, Breakfast, fruit

Servings: 12 Servings

Calories: 324kcal

Author: Melissa Griffiths

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.)

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.

Nutrition

About Melissa & Barbara

As of June 2022 Melissa Griffiths now is the one adding recipes. So think of it as Barbara Bakes, and Melissa too! Melissa and Barbara have been blogging friends for over 10 years and when Barbara was ready to retire and spend more time with her family, Melissa took over the site. Read more...

Reader Interactions

Comments

Mandy
March 07, 2024 at 4:43 pm

Is there anything I need to do differently if using frozen blueberries? Do I thaw them out first or just put them in frozen?
Reply
- Melissa Griffiths
  March 12, 2024 at 12:58 pm
  
  Nope, nothing different needed.
  Reply
CB
January 31, 2024 at 11:05 am

This cake tastes fantastic! Easy to make, too. I make it several times a year and nobody has gotten tired of it. I just now put another one in the oven and the family is waiting for it.
Reply
Donna
January 28, 2024 at 6:17 pm

I made this today for my 90 year old father! It was absolutely delicious! I substituted buttermilk for the whole milk because it was what I had on hand. This will be a regular brunch recipe.
Reply
Lisa Declet
January 13, 2024 at 7:53 pm

Made this at High Altitude 10,000 ft. Added 2 Tbsp of extra flour. It was perfect! I recommend making this simple and delicious recipe.
I rarely follow a recipe to a T. I added an additional 3 Tbsp of sour cream, orange and lemon zest. My neighbors raved about it! The glaze was lemon and freshly squeezed orange juice, plus lemon and orange zest.
Don’t be afraid to play with recipes. This is a perfect recipe!!!
Reply
Tracy Harris
December 13, 2023 at 10:46 am

I make muffins out of this recipe. They are the best!!
Reply
Sophie Gascon
December 08, 2023 at 9:44 am

This is what my son asked for his 16th birthday cake! Put 3 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice into milk to create buttermilk. Batter nice and thick, so blueberries don’t sink to bottom when cooking.
Baked a tad longer as center wasn’t quite set. Turned out fantastic! Made extra lemon icing to add on each sliced piece. A recipe to keep!
Reply

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