Blueberry Lemon Crumb Cake

 A New York Style crumb cake bursting made with blueberries, lemon zest, and greek yogurt topped with buttery crumbly topping just as thick as the cake itself! This blueberry crumb cake is perfect for a breakfast or brunch!

When it’s summer and berries abound, you need to take advantage. You could eat them all just as is. Sure, you could. I would much rather put them in a cake and top it with a buttery brown sugar crumb topping. You agree, a much better idea right?

This recipe is adapted from this Bon Appetit recipe from 2010. I am sure it is delicious as is. However, berries abound right now.   Besides the addition of blueberries and the zest of a couple lemons, I also made one other change.

Instead of using sour cream, I subbed in greek yogurt in its place. Besides being packed with protein, it is also much lower in calories. Ok, so does that mean we can call this cake diet food? Hmm, ok maybe not.

But a girl can dream.

If you’re whipping up a brunch for Mother’s Day this year, I’ve got a wonderful collection of recipes just for you – from scones to cinnamon rolls, cakes, and more! Check out the full list of recipes here: 20 Mother’s Day Brunch Recipes.

Ingredients Needed

The ingredients for this cake are similar to my apple crumb cake (that’s adapted from Epicurious’s New York Style crumb cake). But I added in a few different ingredients to make this a summer favorite. Here is what you need to round up from the pantry:

• Light brown sugar
• Granulated white sugar
• Cinnamon
• Salt
• Unsalted butter
• All purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Eggs
• Greek Yogurt
• Vanilla Extract
• Blueberries
• Lemon

How to make this blueberry crumb cake – step by step 

Make the topping. Mix both sugars, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl and whisk to blend. Add warm melted butter and stir to blend. Add flour and toss with fork until moist clumps form (topping mixture will look slightly wet). Set aside.

Prepare the pan. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. 

Sift the dry ingredients. Sift the rest of the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into medium bowl.

Mix Blueberries With Flour. 

Once it’s sifted I take a tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss it with the blueberries. This helps to keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake when it bakes. 

Cream the butter and sugar. Using electric mixer, beat room-temperature butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 

Add remaining wet ingredients. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Add greek yogurt, vanilla extract, and lemon zest and beat just until blended.

 Add the flour gradually. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, beating just until incorporated after each addition.

Fold in chopped blueberries. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries into batter. 

Add crumb topping. Transfer cake batter to prepared baking dish; spread batter evenly with rubber spatula or offset spatula. Squeeze small handfuls of topping together to form small clumps. Drop topping clumps evenly over cake batter, covering completely (topping will be thick).

Bake the cake. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and topping is deep golden brown and slightly crisp, about 1 hour. Cool cake in dish on rack at least 30 minutes. Drizzle with icing if using. Cut cake into squares and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Tips

• Measure your flour. Be sure to measure your flour correctly if you are using dry measuring cups or you can use a kitchen scale for best accuracy.
• Soften Your Butter. You want properly softened butter so that you can cream mixture properly. The sugar punches holes into the butter creating air pockets, which helps to aerate and help the cake to rise. Here are 3 quick ways to soften your butter. 
• Bring your eggs to room temperature.  You don’t want cold eggs being added to your creamed butter mixture. It will seize up the butter. So place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using them. 

Recipe FAQ’s

More Blueberry Recipes To Try

• The BEST Blueberry Streusel Muffins
• Blueberry Lemon Scones
• Blueberry Crumble Pie
• Sourdough Blueberry Muffins
• Blueberry Banana Bread
• Lemon Cookie Recipe

Blueberry Lemon Crumb Cake

A crumb cake bursting with blueberries, lemon and made with greek yogurt then topped with a crunchy cinnamon crumb topping!

5 from 7 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 squares

Calories: 518kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

For the crumb topping

• ▢ 1 cup packed light brown sugar (213 g)
• ▢ ½ cup granulated sugar (99 g)
• ▢ 1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 cup (2 sticks, 227 g) unsalted butter melted
• ▢ 2 ½ cups (300 g) all purpose flour

For the cake

• ▢ 2 ½ cups (300 g) all purpose flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 cups blueberries
• ▢ ¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks, 170 g) unsalted butter room temperature
• ▢ 1 ½ cups (296 g) granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 large eggs room temperature
• ▢ 1 ¼ cups plain greek yogurt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 Tbsp lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

Instructions

• For the topping: Mix both sugars, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl and whisk to blend. Add warm melted butter and stir to blend. Add flour and toss with fork until moist clumps form (topping mixture will look slightly wet). Set aside. 1 cup packed light brown sugar (213 g) ½ cup granulated sugar (99 g) 1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup (2 sticks, 227 g) unsalted butter 2 ½ cups (300 g) all purpose flour
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. 2 ½ cups (300 g) all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ¾ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt
• Combine 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture and blueberries in a small mixing bowl. Set aside. 2 cups blueberries
• Using electric mixer, beat room-temperature butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Add greek yogurt, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat just until blended. ¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks, 170 g) unsalted butter 1 ½ cups (296 g) granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 ¼ cups plain greek yogurt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 Tbsp lemon zest
• Add flour mixture in 3 additions, beating just until incorporated after each addition. Gently stir in the blueberries. Transfer cake batter to prepared baking dish; spread batter evenly with rubber spatula or offset spatula.
• Squeeze small handfuls of topping together to form small clumps. Drop topping clumps evenly over cake batter, covering completely (topping will be thick).
• Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and topping is deep golden brown and slightly crisp, about 1 hour. Cool cake in dish on rack at least 30 minutes. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool completely. Cover and let stand at room temperature.
• Cut cake into squares and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Video

Notes

• Make Ahead/Storage: This cake will be fine at room temperature, covered with either plastic wrap or aluminum foil, for 2 days.
• Freezing: You can also freeze this crumb cake if you wanted to. To freeze the cake, you can cut it into slices, and then place in a sealable plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months. The cake will thaw at room temperature quickly. You can also warm up a slice of this cake in your microwave for a few seconds before enjoying. 
• Blueberries: Fresh or frozen is fine. If using frozen, do not thaw. 
• Greek yogurt: You can also use sour cream if needed.
• Measure your flour. Be sure to measure your flour correctly if you are using dry measuring cups or you can use a kitchen scale for best accuracy.
• Soften Your Butter. You want properly softened butter so that you can cream mixture properly. The sugar punches holes into the butter creating air pockets, which helps to aerate and help the cake to rise. Here are 3 quick ways to soften your butter. 
• Bring your eggs to room temperature.  You don’t want cold eggs being added to your creamed butter mixture. It will seize up the butter. So place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using them. 

Nutrition

Calories: 518kcal | Carbohydrates: 77g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 75mg | Sodium: 235mg | Potassium: 132mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 45g | Vitamin A: 660IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 2mg

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