Blueberry Muffin Cake

As far as blueberry recipes go, I’m hard-pressed to pick favorites. BUT, if I had to narrow it down, my blueberry muffin cake is a top contender. Maybe it’s because cake recipes don’t get much simpler than this. Or maybe, as someone whose kids are obsessed with blueberry muffins, making a giant version seemed like too good an idea to pass up.

The batter? A breeze. The flavor? Next-level. Muffin pan? Nowhere to be seen. This easy, one-bowl cake recipe makes a delicious coffee cake, and it’s a bit like a blueberry buckle when you add the crumbly, buttery streusel topping.

If you love this blueberry muffin cake as much as I do, I can recommend my blueberry muffin cookies with streusel next.

Why This Blueberry Muffin Cake Is a Favorite Dessert

• Like a muffin, without a muffin pan. This cake has all the fresh blueberry flavors and buttery topping of a bakery-style blueberry streusel muffin. No special pans needed.
• No mixer necessary. If you have one, super! Otherwise, the batter comes together easily enough without an electric mixer. Just one bowl and a whisk. You don’t even need to cream the butter and sugar first.
• Fresh or frozen blueberries. Make the cake in the summer when blueberries are at their finest, or use frozen, thawed blueberries if fresh ones are out of season.
• Cake for breakfast. I mean, technically it’s a giant muffin, so…

Ingredients Needed

Here are the important ingredients in this delicious blueberry crumble cake. You’ll find the full recipe with ingredient amounts when you scroll to the recipe card below the post.

• Room-temperature Butter – Salted or unsalted to combine with sugar, flour, and cinnamon to make the streusel. You’ll need additional butter to use in the cake.
• All-purpose Flour – Measure the flour for baked goods with a kitchen scale (first choice) or the “spoon and sweep” method. Spoon the flour into your cup measure, and level it off. Scooping directly from the bag packs down the flour, and you’ll end up with too much and a dry cake.
• Sugar – Regular granulated sugar or light brown sugar both work well.  For an even deeper caramelized flavor in the streusel, use brown sugar.
• Milk and Egg – Also at room temperature. In place of regular milk, you could use buttermilk (or a buttermilk substitute) if you’d like.
• Baking Powder – Make sure to check the expiration date on the baking powder. If it’s expired or has been open in the back of the pantry for a while, I recommend buying fresh so the cake rises properly.
• Blueberries – Fresh or frozen can be used. Rinse and dry fresh blueberries. If you’re using frozen berries, thaw them and pat them dry with paper towels before adding them to the batter. The cake may also need a few extra minutes in the oven if it’s made with frozen berries, since they hold more moisture than fresh ones. To help keep them from sinking in the batter, toss the blueberries with 1-2 tablespoons of flour.
• Powdered Sugar – Optional, to mix with vanilla and milk to make a simple sweet glaze, as I use for my blueberry bundt cake. Otherwise, you can dust the top of the cooled cake with powdered sugar before serving, or skip the extra topping altogether.

How to Make Blueberry Muffin Cake

When it comes to pan choices for this blueberry cake, you have options. I use a 9-inch springform pan because it’s easy to remove the sides. You can absolutely bake this cake in a 9-inch round pan with higher sides, or even a 9×9-inch baking dish.

• Prepare to bake. Get the oven preheating to 375ºF while you coat your pan with cooking spray or shortening.
• Make the streusel. Meanwhile, mix up the topping by combining the crumble ingredients and cutting them together with a fork or pastry cutter. You’re looking for a sandy, clumpy texture.

• Mix the cake batter. In a separate bowl, add the cake ingredients, apart from the blueberries for now. Stir the batter just until no streaks of flour remain (don’t overmix). Now, you can fold in the blueberries. The batter will be very thick.

• Bake the cake. Spread your muffin batter… I mean, cake batter… into a prepared pan. Sprinkle the streusel evenly on top. Bake this blueberry cake at 375ºF for 40-45 minutes. To test the cake for doneness, insert a toothpick into the middle. If it comes out clean, it’s done!
• Cool. If you’ve baked this in a springform pan, cool the cake for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges. Remove the sides of the pan.
• Glaze the top. Lastly, whisk the glaze ingredients and drizzle the smooth icing over the still-warm cake. Slice right away, or keep this blueberry muffin cake covered at room temperature until it’s time to serve. See below.

Keeping the Blueberries From Sinking in the Cake

As you can see in the photo above, the blueberries sank ever so slightly when I photographed the cake the first time. The batter for this cake is thick, so I usually stir the blueberries in as-is. If you’re concerned about them sinking, toss the blueberries in 1-2 spoonfuls of flour, just enough to lightly coat them, before folding them into the batter. Problem solved! The flour helps the blueberries stay suspended in the batter so they don’t sink to the bottom of the cake. 

This baking tip applies to fresh or frozen berries in recipes like blueberry banana bread, blueberry banana muffins, and strawberry bread.

Tips for the Best Blueberry Cake

• Use room-temperature butter. Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes ahead of using it. Trust me, softened butter is much easier to smash into the crumble.
• Don’t overmix the batter. Overmixing deflates the batter, which in turn deflates the cake.
• Grease the pan. Spray the bottom and sides of your cake pan with cooking spray or coat them with shortening to prevent sticking. If you’re using a springform, cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of the pan for even easier removal.
• Check the cake for doneness. The exact baking time varies depending on things like your oven and altitude, so I suggest checking the cake at the earliest recommended baking time. The cake is done when a toothpick stuck into the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few stray crumbs.

Variations

• Add vanilla extract. For a vanilla cake, add up to 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (not imitation) into the batter.
• Add lemon zest. Zest one lemon into the cake batter for flavor. Use a microplane or citrus zester (or the small holes on your box grater, in a pinch). If you love lemon and blueberry together, you can add up to 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the batter and substitute lemon juice instead of vanilla in the glaze.
• Switch up the fruit. Just like a batch of homemade muffins, you can adapt this muffin cake to whichever fruit is in season. Instead of blueberries, make this with strawberries, cherries, raspberries, peaches, or even diced apples in the fall. Or, use a combination of fruit, like peach-blueberry or mixed berries. Just make sure the overall amount of added fruit doesn’t exceed 2 cups.
• Double the topping. Love streusel? Go ahead and double the crumble topping recipe. I mean, is there really such a thing as too much crumble topping?

Can I Bake This Recipe as Muffins Instead?

Yes! I’ve actually heard from readers who have baked this cake recipe as blueberry muffins. The consensus is that it makes enough batter for about 18 standard muffins, baked for 20-25 minutes at 375ºF. These are some other quick pan guidelines based on reader questions:

• 10-inch pan. If you’re using a 10-inch round pan instead of a 9-inch, bake for less time since the cake won’t be quite as thick.
• Loaf pan. If you bake this recipe in a loaf pan, you may need to increase the baking time as the cake will be thicker. Start at 45-50 minutes and add time as needed. You might also love my blueberry cobbler bread.
• 9×13-inch pan. To bake this recipe in a 9×13-inch baking pan, increase the recipe by half. You may also need to increase the baking time slightly.

Storage

• Keep it covered. Store this blueberry muffin cake airtight for up to 3 days. You can stretch the shelf life by a day or two by keeping the cake in the fridge, though I recommend bringing it back to room temperature for serving.
• Freeze the cake. You can freeze the baked and cooled cake whole, so it won’t dry out, ideally before adding the glaze. Wrap the cake tightly in two layers of plastic wrap and freeze it for up to 2 months. Allow the cake to thaw on the counter when you’re ready. If you’d like, add a drizzle of glaze before serving.

More Blueberry Dessert Recipes

• Blueberry Cobbler
• Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins 
• Blueberry Shortcake
• Lemon Blueberry Blondies
• Blueberry Crumble Bars