Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake
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If you’re looking for a delicious, seasonal, berry cake recipe to add to your morning-treat repertoire, this buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake is perfect! The batter can be made ahead of time and stashed in the fridge, allowing you to bake the cake off in the morning. What’s more? It freezes beautifully!
Buttermilk is magic. It turns everything into gold: super-moist, super-delicious gold.
This morning I awoke needing a simple, summery, cake-like-but-not-dessert-like breakfast treat. One of Ben’s friends had crashed here last night, and I thought it only appropriate to treat him to a proper breakfast.
In other words, I was craving sugar and carbs. But regardless, who doesn’t need a good, seasonal, berry cake recipe in their morning-treat repertoire? Nobody. And I have a recipe that fits the bill: buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake. On an old photocopied sheet of paper in my mother’s handwriting, I spotted a note: “Baby Boy’s Favorite.”
Oh Baby Boy. Baby Boy is my younger brother, my parents’ favorite child, and one of the most satisfying people to cook for. If it was Baby Boy’s favorite cake, it would soon be mine, too. Lemon-scented, perfectly sweet, punctuated by juicy berries — this cake is delectable! I think you’ll like it, too.
(And if you’re looking for more fruit options, this cake is so good with cranberries.)
3 More Favorite Lemon-Blueberry Treats
- The Best Lemon-Blueberry Muffins
- Perfect Lemon-Blueberry Scones
- Lemon-Blueberry Dutch Baby (crowd pleaser!)
How to Make Buttermilk from Scratch
Scale this recipe up as needed.
- Place 2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup.
- Fill cup with milk (2% or whole is best) until it reaches the 1/2-cup line.
- Let stand for five minutes. Use as directed.
Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 to 16 pieces
Description
This cake is a long-time family favorite. My mother made it for my siblings and me when we were young, and every time I pull it out of the oven, clichè as it sounds, I am reminded of summer mornings in my childhood kitchen. It’s simple, adaptable, and make aheadable 🙂
Over the years, many questions have been asked, which I’ve answered as best as I can in the comments. I’ve answered a few FAQs in the notes below the recipe as well.
Also, if you’re new here, welcome! You’ve landed on one of the two most popular recipes on Alexandra’s Kitchen, the other being My Mother’s Peasant Bread, which led to the creation of my cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs, which includes 40 simple bread recipes and 70+ recipes for eating them up. (If you love baking, you’ll love this no-knead bread.)
Ingredients
- ½ cup (8 tablespoons | 4 oz | 113 g ) unsalted butter, room temperature
- zest from 1 large lemon
- 1 cup (214 g) sugar (set aside 1 tablespoon for sprinkling)
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups (256 g) all-purpose flour (set aside 1/4 cup of this to toss with the blueberries)
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. kosher salt (I like 1.25 tsp)
- 2 cups fresh blueberries, picked over
- ½ cup buttermilk, see FAQs below
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Using a stand mixer or hand-held mixer, cream the butter with the lemon zest and the 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon of sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the batter, and stir with spatula to incorporate. Add all of the buttermilk. Stir. Add remaining flour, and stir until flour is absorbed. Fold in the blueberries. (Leave excess flour from the blueberry bowl behind.)
- Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar—I prefer this 8-inch pan because I like the thicker pieces) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. If you have parchment paper on hand, line the pan with parchment on top of the butter. Spread the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the batter with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes — a 9-inch pan will be done in closer to 35 minutes; an 8-inch pan usually needs 40 to 45 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary, especially if you’re using a smaller pan such as an 8×8-inch. It’s not unusual for this cake to take 50 minutes, so just be patient.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
FAQs
- Can this be made ahead of time? Yes. Prepare the batter, spread it into the prepared baking pan, cover it with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge. In the morning, if time permits, bring it to room temperature for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with the sugar, then bake as directed. It may need more time if the batter was refrigerated.
- Can this be doubled? Yes. Bake it in a 9×13-inch pan … like this pan from Pyrex. Increase the baking time but begin checking at the 35 minute mark.
- What if I don’t have buttermilk? Use 2% or whole milk or make your own buttermilk: place 2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Fill cup with milk until it reaches the 1/2-cup line. Let stand for five minutes. Use as directed.
- Can this be made gluten free? Yes. I like Cup4Cup and King Arthur Flour gluten-free flour mixes, but use whatever you like, keeping in mind that all gluten-free flours absorb liquid differently, so you may need to adjust to get the batter to the right consistency.
- Should the batter be thick? Yes. As with all baking, I highly recommend using a scale to measure the flour. I have this one, which costs under $11.
- Can I bake this into muffins? Yes. Follow the baking directions on this post.
- Can I use frozen berries? Yes. No need to thaw.
- What other fruit could I use? Really any fresh fruit or berries. Around the winter holidays, I make this cranberry-orange buttermilk breakfast cake.
- Can this be frozen? Made ahead of time? Yes! Let cool completely, then wrap well with plastic wrap or other airtight wrap. Freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw at room temperature the night before serving. Reheat at 350ºF for 15 minutes before serving. If you are not freezing it, store it at room temperature for a day. Refrigerate if storing for more than 1 day.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
3,628 Comments on “Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake”
That cake looks so good! What a wonderful treat.
Cheers,
Rosa
I have all of the ingredients and am heading in to the kitchen. It is time for a carb laden breakfast sonce it is the beginning of my weekend!!!!!
This is blueberry perfection! Could not look mroe delicious.
Beautiful cake, beautiful blog!
I want to crash at your house! That looks so delicious!
I finally made this for our Independence breakfast this morning.:) It was absolutely delicious! My husband even raved about it to his mom who is one of the best cooks I know which made me feel oh so good.:) Thank you for this…it will definitely become a routine recipe of ours.
I also wanted to let you know that I absolutely love your blog. Thank you for sharing your recipes, photos, and perspective! Beautiful job!:)
I made this yesterday and it was absolutely fantastic. For a while now I’ve been trying to make something like Starbucks’ blueberry muffin that is super moist and delicious and this recipe came out very similar. Next time I’m going to put in a muffin pan and see how it goes.
Thanks thanks
Did you try it in muffin pan?
I tried them in a muffin pan, they turned out great! I baked for 30 mins just to be sure and you can bake longer as needed.
WANT!!! This looks amazing. Can’t wait.
Maybe I am dumb but how do you measure 7/8 C. sugar???
Use 3 (1/4 cups) and another half of 1/4 cup
amanda — you are not dumb!! just measure out 3/4 then just fill up your quarter cup measuring cup half way!
Thank you Emily for getting back to Amanda before I could. Amanda, I hope Emily’s method works for you. I happen to have a 1/8 cup measuring cup, so it’s easy to get 7/8, but you could also do 3/4 cup + 2 T or, even quicker, you could just measure a scant 1 cup… 7/8 cup is a little precise/fussy, but it’s what seems to work best.
Hope you find success with this recipe!
Can you use a muffin pan for this cake ?
Absolutely!
Came out absolutely amazing thanks for the recipe!
Yay!
I was wondering if you could use any other fruit (fresh or canned).
Made this tonight for breakfast tomorrow and hopefully a couple days. Tried a sliver tonight and I can’t wait till morning. So yummy! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Carol,
My mother made it with peaches and said it was delicious although she preferred blueberries, and another friend made it with strawberries and loved it as well. I haven’t tried canned fruit, but I would love to hear what you discover!
I made this recipe as muffins and they were a huge hit! I substituted a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice for 1/2 the vanilla and may eliminate the vanilla altogether next time and just go with the lemon juice. This recipe made 12 good-sized muffins. I baked them at 375 for about 22 minutes. Wonderful recipe!!
Thank you for posting this! I just decided to try this recipe as muffins and was looking to see if anyone else had tried and what they discovered.
It’s 3/4’s cup plus 2 Tablespoons. Hope that helps! This looks so gd, I cant wait to try it.
Found this through Pinterest and made it for a brunch tomorrow morning… YUM! Thanks!
Oh, I also squeezed some lemon juice inside, since I doubled the recipe and only had one lemon. 🙂
I found this via pinterest as well and just pulled my cake out of the oven! It is delicious! I never have buttermilk on hand so I made some by adding half a tablespoon of lemon juice (white vinegar works too) to the 1/2 cup of milk.
Next time I’m going to try muffins!
I just made this and it is amazing. I went blueberry picking this past weekend and was left with tons of overly ripe berries — this was the perfect way to get rid of them. I added about 1/3 cup of ricotta that I had laying around to be used up and substituted half cake flour, half ap. It’s a wonderful cake with a perfect texture. Thank you!
Blueberries freeze well! Don’t wash them – just double bag and throw in the freezer.
This just looks too amazing! I pinned it to save for later!
I just put mine into the oven. Cant wait! It looks delicious! I found your recipe on Pinterest Thanks
Just found this via Pinterest and cannot WAIT to make it. I’m about to make it evident that I am uber dumb, but in your recipe, you reference a “T” measurement- is this for tablespoon? Apologies in advance for my culinary ineptitude.
Yes, capital T is tablespoon and small t is teaspoon.
Has anyone tried putting batter together the night before and baking in the morning??
I haven’t but I think that is a fantastic idea. I’ve made muffin batter the night before so I don’t see why this batter would be any different. Report back if you do!
Dawn, T does equal tablespoon. Not a dumb question at all!
So good! I linked back to you.
https://catpatches.blogspot.com/2011/07/baking-on-friday-buttermilk-blueberry.html
I just made this and it’s the best blueberry cake I’ve ever had. I had to bake it about 10 more minutes longer though, because it was still very wet it the middle. The cake still came out very moist.
This recipe is a keeper.
THink this would freeze?
Yes, if you cut it into individual pieces first. I freeze most everything since there is only 2 of us
Has anyone made this the night before and if so, was it just as yummy the next morning. Not sure I will have time to make it in the morning, but would love to be able to serve it to a house full of visiting college students.
This cake is so delicious. I am going to share it with everyone I know. Thanks for the recipe!
Just made this tonight. No way could we wait until morning to eat it. It is SO delicious!!!