Easy Blueberry Cake

Name: Easy Blueberry Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 cup flour (AP); 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum-free); 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 2/3 cup sugar; 1/4 cup butter; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 cup buttermilk; 1 egg (large ); 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen); 2/3 cup powder sugar; 1/8 teaspoon vanilla; 3-4 teaspoon milk

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4.58 from 7 votes

This Easy Blueberry Cake with vanilla glaze with be the star of any brunch, or make yourself a special breakfast. Simple to make from scratch with pantry ingredients.

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🫐Ingredients
👨‍🍳How to Make Blueberry Cake
Variations and options
⬆️How to make a larger cake?
Storage of leftovers
❓FAQs
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
📖 Recipe

Call it breakfast cake, coffee cake, or blueberry buckle; you will love this simple blueberry cake. A delicious treat from fresh or frozen blueberries with common pantry ingredients

This simple and easy blueberry cake recipe uses buttermilk for tenderness with a common pantry ingredient and frozen or fresh blueberries. Melt in your mouth tender—it's perfect for breakfast, brunch, dessert, or a snack. Use it like a coffee cake or scones.

Check out some other great blueberry recipes. Start the day with some Baked Blueberry Pancakes, Healthy Blueberry Scones, or Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake. Or end the meal with Blueberry Cobbler or Blueberry Crumb Pie.

🫐Ingredients

Blueberries—fresh or frozen. Pick over looking for stems. No need to thaw frozen, but do rinse and pat dry.
Buttermilk—low-fat or regular. A substitute may be used.
Pantry Ingredients—AP flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract, egg, milk

👨‍🍳How to Make Blueberry Cake

Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar for about 2 minutes and then beat in egg and vanilla.
Mix in about ⅓ of the flour mixture and ⅓ of the half cup of buttermilk. Repeat twice more.
Pour the batter into a prepared pan and sprinkle with blueberries dusted with flour.
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean—about 30 minutes.
Optional glaze. Combine powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix until smooth—it will be a thick liquid. Then drizzle over the cake.

This is a summary of the steps and ingredients. See the recipe card or the step-by-step photo instructions below for complete instructions.

Variations and options

Topping variations—use a streusel topping or sprinkle the top with sugar and chopped pecans or walnuts. Or skip the topping—it is delicious without any topping.

Use different berries, like fresh raspberries or blackberries. A frozen berry mix will also work.

⬆️How to make a larger cake?

This recipe is baked in a 9-inch round, 8 by 8, or 6 by 9 inch baking pan. I call this 8 small servings, although it is more like 4 generous servings. This is a good "cooking for two" size. There are leftovers, but they may be stored easily.

Follow these simple steps for a double recipe for larger needs, like a "take a dish" party.

Use the recipe card and adjust the servings from 8 to 16.
Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
Use a 9 by 13 inch cake pan to cook.
Cooking time will be 5 to 10 minutes longer. Use the toothpick test to determine the end point of cooking.

Storage of leftovers

Store tightly wrapped with plastic wrap or aluminum foil at room temperature for 3 days or frozen for 3 months.

❓FAQs

How to prevent the berries from all dropping to the bottom of the cake

Be sure the berries are dry. Rinse and dry with paper towels, even if frozen.

A light dusting of flour will help keep the berries suspended.

And lastly, do not mix the berries into the batter. Just spread on top.

What pan size to use?

A 9-inch round pan is what I generally use, but an 8-inch square or 6 by 9 inch oblong dish.

A double recipe is best in a 9 by 13 standard cake pan and may take a bit longer to cook, so go by color and the toothpick test.

What to substitute for buttermilk?

Buttermilk has an acid pH which will activate more rise for the baking powder and soda—leading to a softer and more tender cake. You can make it with regular milk or a milk substitute if you wish but with less rise.

If you don't have buttermilk, you can make a substitute by using ½ cup of milk, remove 1 ½ teaspoons, and add 1 ½ teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice (my choice). Allow it to set for 5-10 minutes before use.

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This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

Breakfast Recipes, Dessert Recipes

Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°. Pick over the blueberries for stems and rinse. Pat dry.

Prep a 9-inch round baking pan with a coat of butter and dust with flour with paper towels.

Mix the dry ingredients—flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the wet ingredients using an electric hand mixer to cream ¼ cup of butter and ⅔ cup sugar—about 2 minutes. Add 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the butter/sugar mixture and mix in.

mix in flour and buttermilk with hand mixer

Add about ⅓ of the flour mixture and ⅓ of the half cup of buttermilk. Mix well. Repeat twice.

cake batter in pan topped with blueberries.

Place the batter into the prepared pan—smooth the top. Sprinkle on 1 cup of blueberries. Sprinkle the top with 1 ½ tablespoons sugar if not doing the glaze.

Bake on the middle rack until a toothpick comes out clean—about 30 minutes. Allow to cool in a pan for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge and invert on a rack to cool more.