Blueberry Muffin Cake — This fast and easy cake tastes like a big buttermilk pancake that ran into a blueberry muffin on the way to the oven. It’s fluffy, tender, and moist from both the buttermilk and sour cream that’s incorporated into the batter!
Easy Blueberry Breakfast Cake
I was going to make blueberry muffins but didn’t want to deal with the one-by-one nature of muffins. I thought about blueberry pancakes, but didn’t want to be held hostage to the stove flipping them.
So I made batter that was a hybrid of muffin batter and pancake batter, poured it into an 8-inch square pan, and baked it as a cake. It turned out to be one of the softest, moistest, and best little cakes. And so easy.
It tastes like a big buttermilk pancake that ran into a blueberry muffin on the way to the oven.
It’s the kind of cake that I’d want served for breakfast in bed or leisurely Sunday mornings with coffee and the newspaper. Since those things never happen for me, it’s also a great Wednesday cake.
The batter comes together like standard pancake or muffin batter in 5 minutes flat. A bowl of dry ingredients and a bowl of wet. Pour the wet over the dry, stir, pour into a pan, and bake. No mixer, nothing complicated or fussy.
The cake is like a good muffin or pancake should be. Light, soft, fluffy, and tender with just enough density to give it some heft and dimension, with a springiness to it that I loved.
I loathe dry cake and muffins so I used buttermilk, sour cream, and oil to keep it moist. And boy, it’s falling apart soft and moist. That could also have something to do with the abundance of blueberries. They’re juicy and add so much moisture.
They sank a little, but I don’t mind blue walls at the bottom of my cake. A trick to prevent sinking is to roll them through flour before folding them into the batter.
However, with this cake, it’s thinner and I used a ton, so they’re bound to be near the base, no matter what tricks are used.
I’m so glad I decided not to make muffins or babysit pancakes and made this cake instead.
We polished it off in 12 hours. In our defense, it’s a small, thin muffin cake and not some big Bundt that’ll be lingering for a week.
I’m wondering what this blueberry breakfast cake would taste like with strawberries, apricots, raspberries, or peaches. I’ll have to find out.
What’s in the Blueberry Muffin Cake?
To make this easy blueberry cake, you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Egg
- Buttermilk
- Sour cream
- Oil
- Vanilla extract
- Blueberries
- Confectioners’ sugar (optional, for topping)
How to Make Blueberry Muffin Cake
Simply whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another, then combine them. Gently fold in the berries.
Pour the batter into an 8×8-inch baking dish. Bake the muffin cake until the center is slightly domed and set, golden in color, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.
Let the cake cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Can I Use Frozen Blueberries?
Absolutely! I actually used frozen blueberries in this recipe because I’m cheap and don’t bake with fresh. I save those for eating and bake with frozen.
When baking with frozen blueberries, add them into the batter frozen because they’ll run and bleed less than if you thaw them first.
Can I Double This Recipe?
I imagine so! Double the ingredients and bake in a 9×13-inch pan.
Tips for Making a Blueberry Breakfast Cake
The baking time listed reflects using ice cold, frozen berries. If you’re using fresh, the baking time could, and likely will be, dramatically less. This is definitely a recipe where you should watch your cake, not the clock. Bake until it’s done. Simple as that.
At any time your cake is beginning to look a bit too golden brown before you suspect the center will set up, tent it with a sheet of foil laid across the top.
Optionally dust the blueberry muffin cake with confectioners’ sugar or a simple glaze. This lemon glaze, this buttery vanilla glaze, this browned butter glaze, or this vanilla cream cheese glaze are all excellent, quick, and easy options.
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Blueberry Muffin Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ⅓ cup sour cream, thick, full-fat Greek yogurt may be substituted
- 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups frozen blueberries, don’t unthaw, add them to the batter frozen; see below about using fresh
- confectioners’ sugar, optional for dusting or see glaze suggestions below
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the first 6 dry ingredients (through optional salt); set aside.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the next 5 wet ingredients (through vanilla).
- Add the wet mixture to the dry, mixing lightly with a spoon or folding with a spatula until just combined. Lumps will be present and this is okay. Don’t overmix or try to stir them smooth.
- Gently and briefly fold in the frozen blueberries.
- Bake until done. I hesitate to give a baking range because you must watch your cake, not the clock. Bake until center is slightly domed and set, golden in color, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. At any time your cake is beginning to look a bit too golden brown before you suspect the center will set up, tent it with a sheet of foil laid across the top. I baked for 52 minutes total, and at the 45 minute mark, I tented with foil. Baking times will range dramatically based on if baking with fresh or frozen berries; ranging from 30 to 60 minutes depending on the temperature of the berries going into the batter and how much water they release.
- Place pan on a wire rack and allow cake to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Optionally, dust with confectioners’ sugar or a simple glaze. This lemon glaze, this buttery vanilla glaze, this browned butter glaze, or this vanilla cream cheese glaze are all excellent, quick, and easy options.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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The Best Vegan Blueberry Muffins — An avocado replaces the butter (and much of the oil) you’d typically add to muffin batter. These are fluffy, moist, and so easy to make!
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Extra Soft and Moist Blueberry Muffins — These are hands down the best homemade blueberry muffins EVER. They’re fluffy and moist thanks to the addition of sour cream in the batter. Not to mention they’re bursting with fresh blueberry flavor.
Blueberry Dutch Baby Pancake — This oven-baked pancake has the chewiness of crepes with the thickness of clafoutis, and making it is as easy as making pancake batter!
Blueberry Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping — An EASY, no-mixer cake studded with juicy blueberries and topped with big buttery streusel nuggets that are just SO GOOD!! Not overly sweet and PERFECT with a cup of coffee for breakfast, brunch, or a snack!!
I love all your recipes. Where do you find the time?
It’s my job so I better find the time :)
Looks delicious! I love cakes like this but never make them… mostly because I will eat the whole thing by myself! Will be making this for sure to share with others.
Great – enjoy!
I made this this morning. I have a huge amount of fresh blueberries to use up and decided on this recipe to use some of them. Hardly happens that I have to use up fresh blueberries but leaving town.
Anyway, this turned out wonderful! So easy and so so tasty. Great for this Sunday morning. I didn’t need powdered sugar on mine, but did put it on the for the kids. Loved it!
My husband’s fav is still the https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/04/blueberry-and-jam-buttermilk-coffee-cake-with-buttery-vanilla-glaze.html.
Thanks for trying this and so glad you loved it! I agree with your hubs – that coffee cake is truly amazing. It’s probably 2x the calories, bite for bite, so yeah, I love it even more as well :) But for a lighter cake that doesn’t taste light at all, I love the cake you made today!
I hope you guys have an awesome trip! Did you see this post, too? https://www.averiecooks.com/12-favorite-blueberry-recipes/
can you substitute the oil with apple sauce or something else?
I don’t know because I haven’t tried. I honestly love love love this cake so much, as written, and would encourage you to make it as written and view it as a treat and not try to sub with ingredients like applesauce. If I didn’t feel strongly about it, I would just say yeah sure go ahead, but for this recipe and this cake, please make as written. It’s EXCELLENT! :)
Omg…this is so so cool. Averie you are a genius, I get so many ideas that I’m lost as to what to chose. This one’s simple and yummmmy looking.
This is one of my fave cakes – so good (and easy!)
I made this yesterday and everyone loved it! But what I loved best was how easy it was to make and how clear the instructions were.
Taste is amazing, texture is amazing, I following the recipe exactly and it looked almost exactly like the pic :-)
It’s great to find a source of reliable, delicious recipes – there are so many recipe blogs out there I often can’t decide what to make. Now I know what my number one, no-fail source will be =)
Thanks for the glowing report, Jana! So glad that it turned out perfectly and everyone loved it. Glad you loved the taste and texture and that the recipe-writing met your expectations and was easy to follow. I try incredibly hard, both on my blog and in my cookbooks, to write recipes as clearly as possible with as many details as possible to give everyone the best chance for success.
I remade this cake as this
https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/07/peaches-and-cream-fluffy-muffin-cake.html
And on Wednesday (2 days) I have another version of it with berries and cream cheese. SO GOOD!
The above given recipe is really very nice. It is easy and tastes good. Thanks for such a great recipe.
Oh wow! This is too perfect :) I adore it, I bet it tastes fabulous!
One of the best (and easiest!) cakes I’ve made in ages!
Love this cake Averie….the one u were telling me about last night. Sharing on my FB page now…pinning & Google+
Yes this was the one I was talking about! And thanks for pinning, sharing, and spreading the love :) xo
Dude, this hybrid in cake form is just genius. I actually get to have an appropriate slice of cake for breakfast! :)
LOVED this cake. Girl. One of the best Ive ever made and so easy!
Perfect with a cup of coffee — yep!! Love this idea of a pancake/muffin in the form of a cake. Best of all worlds!
Hi Betty Crocker, I mean Averie :) Seriously, you bang these amazing recipes out like it’s nothing girl. This looks amazing and I honestly wish I had more time to bake all of these goodies you have been coming up with lately. I love blueberry breakfast cakes and I’m not a pancake sort of gal either. I hate standing over the stove flipping pancakes, it’s not my idea of fun! Ok, pinning this right now! ;)
Wowee Averie! Now this is looks like the perfect blueberry breakfast!
OMG, you’re a genius!! This looks SO good, I think I could eat the whole thing myself. And those pictures… are just beautiful! I love the plate with the birds on it, so pretty!
Saw it! Made it! Wonderful.
Thanks for trying it so soon and coming back to let me know it was wonderful!
This looked so good I just had to make it. I had all the ingredients and needed to do something with the blueberries I bought and thought this would be ideal. It is Delicious!! Tender, moist, and full of berries. I loved it! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Thanks for trying it, Linda! I am so glad you made it and loved it! Thanks for coming back to tell me!