Blueberry & Cream Cheese Coffee Crumb Cake
With the birth of our 3rd baby fast approaching I’m finding myself trying everyday to accomplish things that will make the transition easier. Having all the laundry cleaned and put away, keeping the kitchen well stocked (and relatively clean) for our older kids for when we’re in the hospital and someone else is watching them, washing newborn clothes for a girl and a boy, checking my hospital bag daily to be sure I haven’t forgotten anything, and going through my lists of baby names to narrow it down. But what do I decide is the most important? Making this coffee cake, of course. Baking is a great way to procrastinate, don’t you think?
I saw this recipe for cream cheese coffee cake from Shugary Sweets on Pinterest and immediately knew I needed to make it. With a pint of beautiful blueberries in the fridge it became blueberry cream cheese coffee cake because there was just no other option.
So I put this together, baked it, and let it cool. No big deal. And I had a little corner of it in the evening before I went to bed. It was delicious. In the morning I cut myself another square for breakfast. Something wasn’t right. It seemed a little underbaked. I had baked it 5 minutes longer than instructed, so I was surprised. As I cut a little more into the center I saw that it was mostly raw goo. I was real bummed about it. I tried to save what I could around the edges, but then I had to do one of the hardest things a sweets loving girl can do. I had to scrape all of that goodness right into the trashcan. Heartbreaking.
Later in the day I restocked on blueberries, cream cheese, and butter and came home and did it all over again. Because I’d originally misread the ingredients and messed up the streusel topping I was glad to have a second chance at it. So I guess it was kind of a good thing that I underbaked it the first time? Regardless, I wound up with this lovely cake when all was said and done and that makes it all worth it.
This breakfast dish is delicious and quite decadent, but the blueberries make it good for you! It’s fruit! The berries also add a nice pop of color and a lovely tartness to each bite. The cream cheese filling is amazing, and the crunchy streusel topping is the perfect counterpart to the smooth cake and creamy filling. Enjoy!
Blueberry & Cream Cheese Coffee Crumb Cake
Ever so slightly adapted from Shugary Sweets
Serves 12-16
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 1/2 cups of flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
Cream Cheese Filling
- 2 packages cream cheese, room temperature (low fat is fine)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 pint of blueberries, rinsed and dried and tossed with a tablespoon of four (the flour keeps them from sinking all the way down in the batter)
Streusel Topping
- 1 stick of butter, melted
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups flour
Directions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325°F
- Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
- Beat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt with the softened butter until combined.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition.
- Add in buttermilk and vanilla. Cream for 3-4 minutes until mixture lightens in color and is fluffy.
- Spread half of the batter in to the prepared pan.
Filling
- Beat cream cheese, sugar and egg together until creamy.
- Spread evenly over the cake batter.
- Sprinkle the berries over the cream cheese layer.
- Spread the remaining cake batter over the berries.
Streusel
- Combine both sugars and cinnamon.
- Add in the butter and mix to combine.
- Add in a cup of the flour and, using clean hands, mix together until crumbly. Add in up to 1/2 cup more flour if it seems too wet.
- Spread evenly over the batter.
Bake
- Bake for 1 hour, until toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a few crumbs attached.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting and serving.
