Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Why this blueberry cake is perfect for breakfast 

• The cinnamon blueberry combination is so delicious! 
• It’s one bowl, and takes about 10 minutes to put together 
• It’s low on sugar, has better-for-you fats; ideal for breakfast (although tbh it tastes great with brown butter too!) 
• You can make it with oat flour to make it gluten free, and even more breakfast friendly! 

Recipe origins

I started testing this one based on this lemon berry muffin recipe and later tied it in with some lessons learned from my everyday butter cake,  so you’ll notice a few similarities. The major changes I made to adapt it into a cake were to: swap the lemon zest for cinnamon, swap the sugar for brown sugar.

Recipe Ingredients 

Brown sugar: use light or dark. If it’s clumpy, press the clumps between your fingers or against the bowl with the back of a spoon. 

Eggs: three large eggs.  You can do it with less but it will be denser. 

Cinnamon: This gives the cake a lovely, warm (an almost autumn-like) flavor. You can leave this out if you don’t like cinnamon. 

Oil: I use avocado oil which is flavorless and keeps the cake moist.Grapeseed or canola oil work well too. As does melted or browned butter (if you are doing brown butter, just brown one stick or 113g, you’ll get close to 90g, and you can use that in place of the fat.) 

Buttermilk: Gives the cake a fluffy, wonderful texture. You can also use kefir or a plain yogurt (not greek).  

Flour: All purpose flour. But I’ve also tested this with oat flour and it worked well. Just swap for equal amounts. 

Blueberries: Fresh is best because they won’t drop any more water that’s in the berries themselves. Frozen berries tend to have ice crystals around them which melt into the batter and cause an excess of water. 

How to make Blueberry Breakfast Cake 

First, whisk or beat together the eggs and sugar: 

Add the vanilla and salt and whisk. You’ll see noticeable color changes as you whisk. It’ll turn a much lighter shade of brown and become rather fluffy. 

Add the oil slowly, mixing as you pour it in (in this photo I’m using browned butter): 

Slow is important so that the oil emulsifies into the egg & sugar. 

Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder): 

Then add the buttermilk and whisk until you can’t see any more flour bits. It’s ok if it’s lumpy! 

Fold in the blueberries and then pour the batter into the pan, and sprinkle on some sugar for the topping: 

I like to add more blueberries on top: 

Bake until a cake tester comes out clean or until you can press the middle top and it springs back.

Modifying this Blueberry Cake Recipe 

Can I use a different berry for the cake? 

Sure, I think raspberries would be wonderful here too! 

Can I make this in a different cake tin? 

You can make it in a round or square cake pan but it should be 9” inches wide. 

Can I make this gluten-free? 

Use a 1 to 1 gluten free flour substitute. 

Can I make this dairy-free ? 

To make a dairy-free blueberry cake I’d use dairy-free yogurt and thin it slightly with water. 

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Quick, one bowl, fluffy blueberry breakfast cake made with fresh blueberries and ground cinnamon.

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 30 minutes mins

Yields: 1 9" cake (round or square)

5 from 3 votes

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Ingredients

• 150 g or ¾ cup brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 70 g or ⅓ cup canola avocado or grapeseed oil (flavorless)
• 180 g or ¾ cup kefir or buttermilk
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 260 g or 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
• 2-4 tablespoons organic granulated sugar or turbinado sugar

Method

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9” square or round baking pan. .
• To mix you can either use a hand mixer or a whisk:
• Place the brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, salt and vanilla in a bowl. Whisk or beat until very light and fluffy, the color will change from a darker brown to light and fluffy.
• While whisking, slowly pour in the oil then whisk/beat until it is well incorporated (at least another minute if using a whisk).
• Sift in the flour, add the baking powder and then slowly pour in the buttermilk, while mixing. Whisk until you have a thick, shiny cohesive batter. Fold in the blueberries. If your batter is on the thin side, put some batter in the pan first then add the blueberries (this way they won’t all sink to the bottom).
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle the sugar on top.
• Bake the cake for about 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean (when you look at the tester ignore the blueberry bits, they will be gloopy).
• Let the cake cool in the pan, then use the parchment sling to remove it to set on a cooling rack.
• Cake is best eaten day 1 but stays moist for 2 days after.
• Store cake in an airtight container.

Notes

If doubling the recipe bake in a 13 x 9" baking pan and check for doneness at the 30 minute mark. 

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