Cream Cheese-Swirled Mixed Berry Cake — No mixer is needed for this easy mixed berry cake, which is as simple as making muffins! A mix of fresh or frozen fruit can be used, perfect for using up what’s seasonal or what you have on hand.
Easy Berry Cake Recipe
Baking berries into cake and getting big juicy surprise bites of fruit is so much fun. And swirls of cream cheese are an added bonus. The cake is based on my Blueberry Muffin Cake, which also spawned this Peach Cake.
I adore this cake base because it produces a soft, moist, tender cake and the batter is fast and easy to make. The cake reminds me of the Entenmann’s cream cheese coffee cakes I used to buy in college when cooking was a foreign concept.
The cake is soft, springy, and fluffy, without being airy. It’s got just the right amount of density and is so moist.
There’s sour cream (or Greek yogurt) in the batter, along with buttermilk, and a bit of oil, all of which do wonders for cakes.
Plus the cream cheese swirls and abundance of berries just add to the soft and supple factor.
The lightly sweetened cake is the perfect canvas for all that juicy fruit. I love baking with fruit and only good things can happen.
The creaminess and tanginess of the cream cheese complements the juicy fruit wonderfully well, and you can’t ever go wrong with adding a little cream cheese.
This cake base has yet to let me down. So much so, that I keep making more cakes with it. Stay tuned.
What’s in the Mixed Berry Cake?
To make this mixed berry coffee cake, you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Egg
- Buttermilk
- Sour cream
- Oil
- Vanilla extract
- Frozen mixed berries
- Cream cheese
- Confectioners’ sugar
How to Make Mixed Berry Cake
This mixed berry cake comes together with a whisk, and is as easy as making muffin batter. A bowl of dry ingredients, a bowl of wet ingredients, fold wet into dry, and pour in a pan. So easy.
I had a little bit of cream cheese staring back at me from the bottom of an almost-used container, which I swirled into the cake batter.
I didn’t go too crazy with swirling because I wanted bigger patches of cream cheese, rather than small streaks. Cream cheese seems to disappear while baking so I kept the swirls on the thicker side.
Then, it’s just a matter of baking the cake until it’s set. Let it cool for about 30 minutes in the pan before slicing and serving.
Can I Omit the Cream Cheese Swirl?
If you don’t have cream cheese on hand, just omit it. The cake will still be wonderful without it and you can instead glaze it with one of the glazes suggested in the recipe.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Yes! This berry cake recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9×13-inch pan. The bake time should be roughly the same, but I can’t say for sure.
Tips for Making a Mixed Berry Coffee Cake
I used a frozen cherry and berry blend with blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. I always bake with frozen and save my fresh berries for eating. Use whatever combination of cherries and berries, fresh or frozen, that you have.
If you’re using fresh fruit, the baking time will likely be much less, by as much as 20 minutes or so. When I used this cake base with fresh peaches, my baking time was a solid 10 minutes less.
With all cakes and baking in general, watch your cake and not the clock. Bake until it’s done. Simple as that.
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Cream Cheese-Swirled Mixed Berry Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 tablespoon for tossing with berries
- ¾ cup granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon for mixing with cream cheese
- 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
- 2 cups frozen cherries and berries – blueberries, blackberries, raspberries (don’t unthaw, add them to the batter frozen; see below in item 6 about using fresh)
- ¼ cup cream cheese, softened (light is okay)
- 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 large bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, 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; set aside.
- In a small bowl, toss the fruit with 1 tablespoon flour. The flour helps to prevent the fruit from sinking while baking.
- Gently and briefly fold the fruit into batter.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cream cheese with 1 tablespoon sugar until smooth.
- Dollop the cream cheese mixture haphazardly over the cake batter. With a toothpick, gently and lightly swirl the cream cheese. I don’t do much swirling because I like to see bigger, noticeable patches of cream cheese rather than thin streaks in my cake; personal preference.
- 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 and rosy in color, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. I estimate 50 to 55 minutes is a good range if using frozen fruit. 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 vanilla cream cheese glaze, this buttery vanilla glaze, this browned butter glaze, or this lemon 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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More Berry Desserts:
Blueberry Pie Bars— These pie bars are one of my all-time favorite frozen blueberry recipes! They have the flavors you love in a blueberry pie, but you don’t have to mess around with homemade pie crust.
Strawberry Oatmeal Bars with Crumble Topping — These buttery bars are bursting with fresh strawberries!! Just 10 minutes of prep, so EASY because the crust and crumble are one and the same, and a crowd FAVORITE every time!!
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.
Strawberry Coffee Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze – The best coffee cake I’ve ever had or made. Use your favorite fresh, frozen, or seasonal fruit this incredibly moist and soft cake batter
The Best Raspberry Bread – There are almost more raspberries than bread in my recipe for the BEST RASPBERRY BREAD!! You’ll want to make it over and over because it’s super soft and just bursting with juicy berries!!
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!!
Lemon Strawberry Bars — Imagine crossing lemon bars with a strawberry pie. These easy bars taste like strawberry lemonade! Sooo good!
Those coffee cakes always bring back memories from my childhood! Love this homemade spin on them! All the berries look so pretty!
Thanks, Laura!
The colors! This cake is calling my name. I have been wanting to make a good breakfast type cake lately. Carbs are always a good idea.
Cake/carbs for breakfast = good idea!
You’ve done it again… I know you said you use frozen, but I have a whole bunch of fresh cherries in my fridge… I can’t wait to try this
Put any kind you have to use! :)
This looks soft and delicious! Love the huge berry pieces!
Swirls make everything better! How pretty is this?!
Love all the flavors going on!
Looks stunning :) I love that it has cream cheese in it!
Such a lovely cake, I love the use of cream cheese on the top. creates a cool pattern from the dimples in the cake.
I love the dimples and hills and valleys you get when baking with cream cheese too!
What a perfect way to use up that leftover cream cheese! And those juicy fruit surprises are the ABSOLUTE best!
And thanks for the BHG pin :)
I love that you kept the swirls on the larger side. I’ve experienced cream cheese disappearing into the batter before and have learned my lesson. This reminds me of berry & cheese danish but in cake form. YUM!
It’s totally a danish in cake form! It’s so moist, it’s practically danish-like! And yes, if you don’t keep the swirls larger, they just disappear into nothing. Not as fun.
This looks amazing. Love berries and love cream cheese in baked goods! Just had the best pound cake the other day that tasted so good and turns out the secret ingredient was cream cheese, it adds such a creamy dairy flavor/tang, I imagine with the juicy berries it must be lovely.
I ONLY will make (or eat) pound cakes with cream cheese https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/06/mini-cream-cheese-pound-cakes-with-vanilla-cream-cheese-glaze.html It takes what can be such a prone-to-dryness cake and turns it much better. The one you’re talking about sounds truly amazing!
I used to love those Entenmann’s cakes! Of course yours looks WAY better
Barely. These photos were a beast. The glare of all that cream cheese was not super easy to work with but whatever :)
Those cherries and berries in the cake are gorgeous! Like little fruity bombs of goodness; and your cake base – with the cream cheese swirl – looks interesting, I must try it out.
Thanks, Kim! Lmk if you try it!
This cake looks just scrumptious, and cherries and mixed berries are such a great combination!
I was looking to make something with cream cheese in it last week and I couldn’t decide. This recipe sounds amazing and I like the big chunks of fruit in it! :)
If you have a cream cheese craving, this will handle it! :)
Oil, buttermilk, and sour cream?! This cannot be anything but incredibly moist…and delicious. This looks like such a great potluck brunch recipe – easy and a total crowd pleaser.
I meant to tell you that I was at a friend’s house and they made apricot clafouti. It reminded me of your clafouti post from so long ago. No one really knew what it was, but it sounded good based on the recipe.
Oil, buttermilk, and sour cream — and don’t forget the cream cheese and the fruit! SUPREMELY moist! Can’t even tell you!
And ironically Ive had 2 comments this week on people making the clafoutis recipe from like 2.5 yrs ago! Maybe the concept is catching on!
Stunning!!
Your swirls are gorgeous and those bursted berries? Oh my gosh, they look like heaven! Such a gorgeous cake!
Thanks, Tieghan!