This tender blueberry sour cream cake is bursting with juicy, plump blueberries and a soft, delicious cake and it’s exactly what I make when mum comes round with a bag of juicy, sweet blueberries she’s just picked from her very own blueberry bushes. It’s simple and flavoursome and the most blueberriest of blueberry cakes.
The cake itself is soft and moist and very light. And of course it’s absolutely loaded with blueberries. It’s such a gorgeously rustic cake too helped along by a scattering of sugar on top. And if all that isn’t enough, it’s so incredibly quick and easy to make. Great for an afternoon tea treat.
This recipe was adapted from my almond cherry crumb cake and later, this sour cream rhubarb coffee cake came along.
This recipe was first published here on November 8th, 2018 and has been updated with new images and step by step photos.
Never Miss a Recipe!
Get the latest recipes straight to your inbox.
Ingredients
It starts with some classic baking ingredients like plain flour (aka all purpose flour), eggs (I always use large in my baking), sugar and unsalted butter. Other than those;
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions.
- Almond meal / almond flour: This is just finely ground almonds and they add moisture and texture to the cake.
- Blueberries: Baking with blueberries has never been simpler. This cake uses fresh blueberries that are both mixed through and piled on top of the cake and become all plump and soft in the oven. You can use frozen if you like but keep them frozen until you need to add them to the batter. I’ve used two punnets of blueberries (about 250g / ~9oz).
- Baking powder and baking soda: Don’t confuse the two as they work very differently.
- Sour cream adds a tenderness to the cake texture and keeps it moist. I use light sour cream in this recipe as it’s what we keep in our fridge, but you could just as easily substitute it for full-fat sour cream. You could also swap the sour cream for Greek yogurt.
- Lemon zest is a delicious addition since it goes so beautifully with blueberries. You won’t need any lemon juice here but you can squeeze your lemons and freeze the juice for other baking or for drinks.
Using Sour Cream in baking
The real magic in this cake, if not those gorgeous blueberries, is the sour cream. This, combined with some light brown sugar, keeps the cake part beautifully moist and delicate. I often use buttermilk in my cakes and cupcakes for the same reason. The sour cream also makes this batter quite thick, suspending the blueberries throughout the batter.
How to make blueberry sour cream cake
Making the blueberry cake is a very easy process of beating together butter and sugar, then eggs. There’s a little lemon zest for extra tang, then add the sour cream and dry ingredients, finally folding through the blueberries.
The centre of this cake will sit lower than the edges due to the extra blueberries that get piled into the centre.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Make the blueberry cake batter
Start by making sure your butter and eggs are at room temperature and take the sour cream out of the fridge about 15 minutes before you start so that it’s not stone cold when you start. Beat together the butter and sugars until creamy and lightened. I like using my stand mixer for this but a handheld electric mixer will work fine too.
Add the eggs and beat just until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the lemon zest and half the dry ingredients to the batter and either use the spatula to gently mix or use the stand mixer on the lowest setting until 90% incorporated. Now add the sour cream and stir that in. Finish by stirring in the remaining dry ingredients.
Add half the blueberries and gently fold them in with a spatula, being careful not to break them.
2. Bake the cake
Now, tip your thick blueberry cake batter into a prepared springform pan and sprinkle over the demerara sugar (turbinado). Bake the cake for 20 minutes, then pile the remaining blueberries on top and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top and baked through.
Baking with blueberries
Another note on the blueberries: Baking with blueberries can often end in the blueberries staining the batter in places ranging from purple to pink to blue. You can stop this to a certain degree by mixing the blueberries with a little flour (2-3 teaspoons) to coat them, before adding them to the batter.
If you use frozen berries, this step is a must but fresh blueberries don’t stain quite so badly so I don’t bother with this step as I quite like the little streaks of colour here and there.
Variations
Try blackberries or pitted cherries in place of the blueberries. If you try raspberries, frozen might be easiest to mix in without staining the batter. Or, skip mixing them into the batter and instead, press them into the batter after you’ve already added it to the pan.
A teaspoon of vanilla extract would also be a lovely addition, as would a little ground cinnamon.
Storage
Store your blueberry sour cream coffee cake in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. It’s best eaten at room temperature or even slightly warmed.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Did you try this blueberry sour cream cake recipe? Show it some love in the comments below.
Hungry for more? Subscribe to the newsletter for free recipes straight to your inbox. Also, follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
Ingredients
- 130 g plain flour (all purp flour) (1 cup/~4 ½oz)
- ½ cup almond meal (almond flour/ground almonds) (55g/2oz)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 113 g unsalted butter softened (½ cup / 1 stick)
- ⅓ cup white granulated sugar (66g/~2 ½oz)
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar (66g/~2 ½oz)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup light sour cream (125ml)
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon demerara sugar (turbinado sugar) (notes 1)
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (250g/~9oz)
Optional, to serve
- icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- whipped cream
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- 8 inch spring form cake pan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. Grease and line an 8 inch spring form cake pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment or in a large bowl, using a handheld electric beater, beat together the butter and both sugars until pale and creamy.
- Add the eggs and beat on low to low-medium, scraping the bowl as needed, until it just comes together.
- Add the lemon zest and half of the flour mixture and gently stir together until 90% incorporated (or use the standmixer on the lowest setting being careful not to overmix).
- Now mix in the sour cream, followed by the remaining flour mixture, again until just 90% incorporated.
- Add 1 cup of blueberries to the cake batter and gently fold through until just combined. Make sure not to over-mix.
- Tip the thick batter into your prepared baking pan then spread to the edges and level out the top a little.
- Scatter over the demerara sugar.
- Bake for 20 minutes, before carefully piling the remaining blueberries in a single layer over the top of the cake. Then, bake for a further 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing the outer ring, then allow to cool completely on the base of the tin.
- Serve the cake dusted with icing sugar and / or with freshly whipped cream.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- This cake will have a sunken centre due to the weight of the blueberries there.
- For best results you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- All ovens vary – test for doneness 2-3 minutes before the recipe suggests.
- You can use frozen blueberries but don’t take them out of the freezer until you are ready to add them to the cake batter, then bake the cake straight away. Mix the frozen blueberries with flour (2-3 teaspoons) to stop the colour from running into the cake batter too much.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission for my referral, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sugar Salt Magic.
10 Comments on “Blueberry Sour Cream Cake”
Hiii… Your cake looks beautiful. I was wondering if it would be possible to bake it in a loaf pan? And if so, would you happen to know what temp and how long should I bake it for? Thank you so much in advance and stay healthy.
I haven’t tested it in a loaf tin but if you do, I would keep it at the same temp. Mix more of the blueberries into the batter than on top since there will be a smaller surface area on top. The middle may take slightly longer to cook.
Perfect work you have done, this website is really cool
with fantastic info.
Thanks so much Alphonso 🙂
Beautiful cake and easy to make. I love the addition of the fresh blueberries to the top of the cake too. The batter has a lovely flavour. I’ve made this cake 5 times now and always great results. Everyone who’s tried this cake has loved it.
So great to hear Katrina. Thank you for letting me know ?
I have baked it and tasted it ! Its the best bluberry cake ever! Cant wait to try your other recipes ?????
Thank you for the kind words Fransisca. So glad you enjoyed it ?
Hello Marie, although I don’t comment your posts regularly, I must say that your pins I add to my boards are so very much popular 🙂 You rock, girl 🙂
oh, thank you so much 🙂