An important rule of travel is: when you invite yourself to visit someone, don’t show up empty handed. That is why when I went to visit my aunt and uncle in North Carolina, I brought this blueberry coffee cake. It is versatile – it can be breakfast, a post-hike snack, or dessert after dinner.
The original of this recipe came from Epicurious. However, I’m in the ‘more is more’ camp when it comes to toppings, so I added more blueberries and more brown sugar/pecan topping. This blueberry coffee cake recipe is simple to make, which means it is a good one for the kids to help with. You go from start to eating cake in an hour!
Skip to equipment note or detailed instructions.
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- Cake
- 1/4 c. canola oil
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c. milk
- 1 1/2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
- 3/4 c. sugar
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- Topping
- 1 c. blueberries (fresh or thawed frozen)
- 2/3 c. chopped pecans
- 1/2 c. brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
- 1 Tbsp. flour
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 375°. Grease 8″ square cake pan or line it with parchment paper.
- Step 2 Combine pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon, melted butter, & flour in a bowl. Set aside.
- Step 3 Whisk or sift together dry ingredients. Set aside.
- Step 4 Lightly beat egg and stir together with canola oil and milk. Stir in dry ingredients.
- Step 5 Pour batter into cake pan. Spread blueberries evenly across the top of the cake.
- Step 6 Sprinkle pecan topping evenly over the top.
- Step 7 Bake at 375 for 25-30 min.
Equipment Note
This recipe taught me that your cake pan matters. I always heard that if you use a dark colored pan your cake cooks faster. When I baked this cake using my old dark cake pan, the edge was always done faster than the center, so by the time the center was done the edge pieces were a bit dry. So, I got a silver aluminum cake pan (see picture & Amazon link) and it made a huge difference. The cake took a few minutes longer to cook, but it also cooked more evenly so the edge pieces didn’t dry out!
Detailed Instructions
Step 1. Preheat oven to 375°. Wash blueberries. Grease an 8″ square cake pan or line with parchment paper.
Step 2. Combine pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon, melted butter, & flour in a bowl. Set aside.
Step 3. Whisk or sift together dry ingredients. Set aside.
Step 4. Lightly beat egg and stir together with canola oil and milk. Next, stir in dry ingredients. Stir just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. The batter will be thick.
Step 5. Spread the batter evenly in the cake pan. sprinkle blueberries evenly across the top of the cake. I like to push a few of the berries into the batter so that I get a mix of berries in the cake and on top of the cake.
Step 6. Sprinkle pecan topping evenly over the top of the cake.
Step 7. Bake at 375° for 25-30 min. Remove when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. (See equipment note – if you use a light colored pan, it will take a little longer to cook, but cooks more evenly.)
