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. The truth is I’ve been craving sugar and carbs and a cake like this for months. But seriously, who doesn’t need a good, seasonal, berry cake recipe in their morning-treat repertoire?
Nobody. And I think I’ve found the recipe that fits the bill: buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake. On an old photocopied sheet of paper in my mother’s hand writing, 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. 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.)
PS: Divine Lemon-Blueberry Muffins
Five Favorite Recipes Made with Buttermilk
- One-Bowl Buttermilk Birthday Cake
- Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Simple Rhubarb Compote
- Tartine’s Buttermilk-Blueberry Scones
- Joanne Chang’s Buttermilk Biscuits with Maple and Sea Salt
- One-Bowl Buttermilk Pancakes
Bonus: Favorite Buttermilk Dressing for Slaw
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.
3,550 Comments on “Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake”
This might sound kind of silly, but what exactly do you mean by “cream” in step one?
Hi Sarah, Not silly at all. Sorry for this delayed response, but “cream” means to beat or mix together. So, in this case, it means to beat the butter and lemon zest and sugar together (ideally with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) until the mixture is light and fluffy. If you don’t have a stand mixer, a handheld electric mixer will work just fine. It really helps to have your butter at room temperature.
Hello, this looks amazing! My question what is the lemon zest for, I hate lemon flavor. Can I omit the lemon zest.
Yes, please do! The lemon zest is really nice but not if you hate lemon flavor! The cake will be delicious without the zest.
Has anyone made this ahead and put in freezer? just wondering…
This is so mouth watering and I’m sure my kids would love it but I don’t get any Blue berries in India. Any idea what I can substitute this with?
Radhika, I’m stumped. Do you have any frozen berries available? And what sort of fresh fruits do you have available this time of year? You need to educate me on what’s available 🙂 Hope I can help you out once I hear back!
I wish I had some blueberries this morning or I would make this right now. This looks super yummy and a great alternative to blueberry muffins.
This question is pretty much for anyone…
I’m making this tomorrow for my family who are coming into town for Thanksgiving. I have an 8X8 square pan and a 9X13 rectangle pan; which one should I bake this in?
Thanks ya’ll!
Use the 8×8 pan. Happy Thanksgiving!
Made this for today!! It was really good. The only thing I would do different is serve it warm. I had made if early and it didn’t get warmed again before serving. But still very good!!
This sounds yummy! I love buttermilk but I never buy it so I’m going to try using soured milk instead, see how it goes. I also might try raspberries instead of blueberries since that’s what I have on hand.
Thanks for the recipe!
Made this tonight – found if you use frozen blueberries – LET THEM DEFROST and then dry them off (roll them around a towel) before tossing in the flour. Also, I found to avoid the purple colour , to fold the blueberries in at the end. Frozen blueberries = frozen, lumpy, purple batter. NOT NICE. Had to make the batter twice, second time was a roaring sucess.
Also, don’t be afraid to put foil over this cake!
Hope that helps someone using frozen blueberries.
This is exactly what I encountered today making this for the first time! Definitely looks like Barney threw up but hopefully it still tastes delicious! Next time I will do the paper towel trick 🙂
I just found this on pinterest – totally going to make this. Also – your photography is awesome – great work!
This was perfect I didn’t change a thing and my family devoured it!
I just made this and since I do not bake much from scratch I thought I had made a mistake when the batter was so thick. But, it turned out just right and delicious. It was a big hit with my whole family! Be sure to reserve and sprinkle the sugar on top. It makes it!
Oh Goodness! I forgot to put the sugar on top! I just put mine in the oven. Going back to get it and sprinkle the sugar! Thanks for the reminder Cammi!
Hi! I was wanting to make the Blueberry Breakfast Cake and I was wondering how long it lasts before it gets stale and soggy? (:
I too found this on Pinterest, and it looked so good I just HAD to make it today. However, with a sleeping baby in the house I couldn’t go to the store to get the ingredients I was missing. So, making use of what I had I made the following substitutions: lemon juice instead of lemon zest (substitution info from allrecipes.com), frozen blueberries, and vanilla yogurt instead of buttermilk. It definitely need the full 45 minutes of baking time. I am currently scarfing down my second piece, planning on a third! Now, I don’t know what the real recipe is like to compare, but I think it turned out great. Thanks for posting such a tasty coffee cake. I will definitely try this recipe with all the correct ingredients at some point :).
Great receipe, needing comfort missing my Mom at the holidays. I will bake this with soy milk in place of buttermilk as I do not use dairy, and soy butter. Will let you know how delicious it is!
wondering…..have you ever made it with just milk??? I don’t usually have buttermilk on hand….everything else I usually have.
I haven’t, but I’m sure it would come out just fine — I make a lemon blueberry muffin which is almost identical to this one with the exception of milk instead of buttermilk. I say go for it with milk, or scroll through the comments to find “recipes” for homemade buttermilk. Report back if you make any discoveries. Happy Baking!
An easy substitution for butter milk is to add a 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar (give or take) to your measuring cup, then add the milk up to the correct amount. Let it sit on the counter while you gather everything else, and it works just about the same as buttermilk in recipes. Use it all the time for pancakes (1 tablespoon for 1 cup of milk is the normal guideline I use).
Absolutely wonderful!! I used frozen berries – caused it to take a lot longer to bake, but just put foil over the top so it wouldn’t brown too much. VERY yummy! Thank you!
Absolutely wonderful!! I made it with frozen berries and it had to bake a lot longer, but still so yummy. Thank you!
would you recommend storing this in the fridge or room temp? im making it a day ahead of time for having people over. thanks!
I think at room temperature would be just fine. I’ve left it out at room temperature for at least a day wrapped in plastic wrap, and that worked out well.
I made this for Thanksgiving morning and it was EASY & FABULOUS!!!
Say I wanted to substitute cranberries for blueberries, I’d have to add more sugar then, right?
Hmm, I don’t know. I never find the blueberries I use to be that sweet, but that said, cranberries are much more tart in general. I would maybe add a couple more tablespoons or 1/4 cup at the very most. This is a fantastic idea for the holidays! I think I might have to try this myself. Report back if you make any discoveries! I think orange zest in place of the lemon zest would be fantastic, too.
I used frozen blueberries….and drained them over night in the fridge in a colander with a bowl under to catch the liquid…..worked great!
Thanks for the great recipe!
I found this on Pinterest and knew immediately that this was a recipe I couldn’t bear to pass up. Since blueberries are not in season in my area, I decided to follow the recipe but substitute blackberries for the blueberries instead. The end result is absolutely delicious! So much so that I am planning on baking this Breakfast Cake again for two upcoming holiday parties. I cannot wait to have another piece in the morning with my coffee!
Can you use a bunt pan? I want to make this for a Christmas party and thought it would look pretty in one
Ginger — I have no idea how to advise here b/c I’ve never made it in a bundt pan, but I think it would work, especially since the cake is really moist (especially in the center.) The only concern I have is if the recipe is enough batter for a bundt pan. Some people who have posted comments have doubled the recipe and baked it in a 9X13-inch pan and had success doing so. I don’t know if doubling is necessary for the bundt pan — it might be too much batter? — but it might be worth comparing the volume of a bundt pan to that of an 8×8-inch pan. Report back if you make any discoveries!
I will try it and let you know!!
Would love to make this! I live in Scotland & we work in weights, not cups. Any idea how much the 7/8 cup of sugar weighs? Also, what kind of flour do you use? Thanks!
Hi Nicola — I don’t know weight conversions, but from looking online, it seems as though 7/8 cups of sugar would weight about 218g (7.7 oz), and I use all-purpose flour. Hope that helps!
You could do this in a bundt pan with the recipe and have a shorter bundt cake or double it and make a regular sized bundt and if you have too much batter, make a small round cake too. Baking times will vary and I can’t say exactly how long each pan will take. I usually go by my nose, eyes and touch. If you smell the cake very well and the top is browned, touch the top to see if it is soft and indents or is firm and springs back at the touch. The latter means it is done.
@Nicola, that is so interesting that weight is used in Scotland as opposed to cups and such. Some people swear you need to weigh ingredients when making breads, cakes and so on. I go by eye with most of my breads and such and never have an issue. I call it the rustic technique. I learned most of my Arabian breads from Arabian ladies and that is how they have done it for centuries.
The 9″ baking dish you used, was it a 9″ by 13″ or would I have to double my recipe? I can’t wait to try this 🙂