Blueberries are one of my favorite fruits; I love them in yogurt, in all kinds of baked items and of course plain. Because of my love of blueberries, I often buy them too early in the season and too late, meaning I often end up with a pint of not the sweetest or most flavorful ones.

Recently I ended up with one of these sad, unripe pints and was trying to decide what to make, when I remembered that I had sour cream that also needed to be used… So I asked Mr. E what he thought of coffee cake and he said he couldn’t remember what that tasted like (yeah right 🙂 ).

It’s been awhile since I made a coffee cake and with our upcoming trip to Wisconsin, I knew I wanted to make enough for two cakes so that I could freeze one and take it on our trip. Mama J and Papa F always pick us up the best biscotti from their local Italian bakery, but I thought this time it would be nice to take them something homemade.

One thing I love about this batter is it has delicious hints of vanilla and lemon zest that really compliment the blueberries. The cinnamon streusel topping is extra yummy with the chopped pecans, but if you’re not a fan of nuts it would be just as good without.

One tip is to line each pan with foil and then greased the foil; I found this made the cakes easy to remove from the pan after baking.

The coffee cake was a big hit with the family and thawed perfectly!

Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

Yields two 8 inch rounds

Batter:

¾ cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed

 

Topping:

¾ cup flour

6 tablespoons brown sugar

4 tablespoons white sugar

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons melted butter

½ cup pecans, roughly chopped

 

Preheat oven to 350°. Optional step is to line the baking dishes with foil and then grease; I found this to help with removing the cakes after baking. If you don’t want to waste the foil then just grease each baking dish.

 

In a mixing bowl blend butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition. Add sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest and mix until thoroughly combined.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture a 1/3 at a time mixing well after each addition.  Gently fold in the blueberries.

 

To prepare the topping – in separate bowl mix flour, brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter and mix until combined. Then add chopped pecans.

 

Divide the batter in half and pour into each of the prepared pans. Divide the topping in half and sprinkle on top of the batter; lightly pressing down.

 

Bake 45-50 minutes until toothpick inserted into the cake comes out almost clean.  Remember, there will be some crumbs if you insert the toothpick through a blueberry.

 

Enjoy!