Blueberry Crumb Cake
Updated May 1, 2025
- Total Time
- About 2 hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 5tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼cup sugar
- ⅓cup (packed) light brown sugar
- ⅓cup all-purpose flour
- ¼teaspoon salt
- ½cup chopped walnuts
- 1pint (2 cups) fresh blueberries (preferably fresh, or frozen, not thawed)
- 2cups plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- ¼teaspoon salt
- ¼teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ⅔cup sugar
- Grated zest of ½ lemon or ¼ orange
- ¾stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2large eggs, at room temperature
- 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½cup buttermilk
For the Crumbs
For the Cake
Nutritional analysis per serving (14 servings)
284 calories; 13 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 39 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 21 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 207 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8x8-inch pan (Pyrex is great for this) and put it on a lined baking sheet.
- Step 2
To make the crumbs: Put all the ingredients except the nuts in a food processor and pulse just until the mixture forms clumps and curds and holds together when pressed. Scrape the topping into a bowl, stir in the nuts and press a piece of plastic against the surface. Refrigerate until needed. (Covered well, the crumb mix can be refrigerated for about 3 days.)
- Step 3
To make the cake batter: Using your fingertips, toss the blueberries and 2 teaspoons of the flour together just to coat the berries; set aside. Whisk together the remaining 2 cups flour, the baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Step 4
Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the butter and, with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar with the butter at medium speed until light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for about 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla extract. Don’t be concerned if the batter looks curdled — it will soon smooth out. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately, the flour in 3 parts, the buttermilk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients). You will have a thick, creamy batter. With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the berries.
- Step 5
Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top gently with the spatula. Pull the crumb mix from the refrigerator and, working with your fingertips, break it into pieces. There’s no need to try to get even pieces — these are crumbs and they’re supposed to be lumpy and bumpy and every shape and size. Scatter the crumbs over the batter, pressing them down ever so slightly.
- Step 6
Slide the sheet into the oven and bake 55 to 65 minutes, or until the crumbs are golden and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool just until it is warm or until it reaches room temperature.
- Serving: Like all good coffee cakes, this needs nothing but coffee — or tea.
- Storing: Best served the day it is made, the cake can be wrapped well and kept overnight at room temperature.
Private Notes
Comments
I see a lot of complaints about baking time -- Covering with foil, too much browning, not done at 55 min.
May I suggest investing in an oven thermometer? All ovens run at a variable rate -- gas or electric, some are hotter than the temp set; many are colder. I bake professionally in people's homes and always bring thermometer. It's amazing to see the 100 degree swings in ovens. PLEASE. They're not expensive, and they'll save your recipes more often than you realize.
I use yogurt in place of buttermilk in almost all cases. I almost always have plain yogurt.
Mark Bittman* tells how to “sour” regular milk by adding 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to 1 3/4 cup of milk that is at room temperature. (I use a waterbath; a microwave is okay, too.) Let mixture sit for about 10 min. until it clabbers (thickens with lumps). For this recipe, I added just -3/4 tblsp. to a half-cup milk. My “buttermilk” gave a wonderfully moist zing to this most delicious of crumb cakes. [*How to Cook Everything]
Delicious cake, all the family loved it! I didn’t have any buttermilk so used yogurt instead, worked beautifully. Will definitely make again!
Didn’t see the notes about pan size and used a 9 inch cake pan instead of the suggested pan. Almost overflowed. Had to bake for almost 80 minutes. Will try bundt or large springform next time. Flavor is really nice - not too sweet. Will try again when local nj blueberries are in season.
Mark Bittman* tells how to “sour” regular milk by adding 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to 1 3/4 cup of milk that is at room temperature. (I use a waterbath; a microwave is okay, too.) Let mixture sit for about 10 min. until it clabbers (thickens with lumps). For this recipe, I added just -3/4 tblsp. to a half-cup milk. My “buttermilk” gave a wonderfully moist zing to this most delicious of crumb cakes. [*How to Cook Everything]
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