Adam and the kids are always begging me to make coffee cake, but I just can’t get too excited about the white flour, overly sweet rendition that I usually associate with the term. But then I realized that what they really want are those layers of cinnamon-y crunchy sweet nut streusel in the middle and on top of the cake — and that’s definitely something I can get on board with. Especially when it’s in my new favorite spring cake (this one) that I’ve literally made 4 times in the past month.
The inspiration from this cake came from the Blueberry Cake in Alison Roman’s fab cookbook Dining In. It’s one of those cookbooks where every single recipe is reliably amazing, and this one’s no exception. I love that it uses a mix of almond flour and all-purpose flour that gives more depth of flavor, and Alison refers to her version as:
“basically one giant muffin top in sliceable cake form.”
I turned it into a coffee cake by making a streusel-y mixture of toasted walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, then layered it in the middle of the cake and on top before baking. And though I love Alison’s original, I have to admit that the coffeecake rendition is pretty darn next-level and just as redolent of those old-school breakfast favorites.
I prefer to use frozen blueberries in this recipe because they hold their own a little more when you fold them into the batter and don’t turn the entire cake blue. I also keep them always on hand in the freezer so I can make this cake whenever cravings strike. Oh, and one more bonus: this cake is so moist that it keeps for at least 3 days wrapped in foil without drying out. Just gently warm slices in the oven before topping with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Yum! Scroll on for the recipe…
Blueberry Almond Coffee Cake
Serves 10
This Blueberry Almond Coffee Cake is the Spring Dessert of Our Dreams
Categories
Ingredients
- nonstick spray
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup almond flour
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups frozen blueberries
for the streusel topping:
- 3/4 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, chopped
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray.
- Make the streusel by stirring nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a small bowl.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl between additions. Add both extracts, and beat on high until mixture is very light yellow and increased in volume, for 5 minutes.
- To the bowl, add both flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, and mix them together with a fork before turning mixer on lowest speed. Beat for just about 20 seconds until you can't see any more flour. Gently fold in 1 1/2 cups blueberries.
- Transfer half the batter to the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel all over the top, then top with the remainder of the batter. Add the remaining 1/2 cup blueberries, and the rest of streusel to the top of the cake, then pop into the middle rack of the oven.
- Bake until the cake is golden brown and the edges pull away from the sides of the pan slightly, about 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool before releasing from the springform pan. Slice and serve with a dollop of whipped cream!
Are you using salted or unsalted butter?
After I added the frozen blueberries they caused the dough to harden so it was difficult to smooth layers of batter. Should the blueberries have been defrosted? The cake is in the oven now so my fingers are crossed things will even out while baking.
Nope, I add them frozen so that they don’t “bleed” purple all over the cake. It should come together just fine!