Sometimes, the best part of a coffee cake is the crumble topping that sits on top of it. Other times, the cake itself is so tasty that the coffee cake actually needs no topping at all to be good. I would put this Blueberry and White Chocolate Coffee Cake into the latter category. It is a moist, tender and flavorful cake that, despite the fact that it has only a sprinkle of sugar to top it off, is definitely the perfect accompaniment to a good cup of coffee.
This cake includes fresh blueberries and white chocolate chips, which pair together very well. The sweetness of the berries is only enhanced by the sweet vanilla flavor of the white chocolate. You can use fresh or frozen berries in this coffee cake, but prefer to use fresh berries because they don’t “bleed” into the cake as defrosting, frozen berries do, resulting in a much prettier finished product. If you do use frozen, simply toss the still-frozen berries in about a tablespoon of flour before folding them into the batter to minimize the purple “bleed” of the berry juice.
The finished cake is sweet, with a great combination of almond, vanilla and buttermilk flavors in the batter, setting off the bright blueberries scattered throughout. The white chocolate chips (or use chopped up chunks of your favorite good-quality white chocolate) almost melt into the cake, adding another layer of creamy vanilla flavor. A sprinkle of sugar on top of the cake gives it a slightly crisp crust, rather than adding more sweetness to it. The cake keeps extremely well when stored in an airtight container, so it can be made a day before you intend to serve if you you’re planning to bring it out for brunch. Don’t forget the coffee!
Blueberry and White Chocolate Coffee Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips
1 1/2 tbsp coarse sugar
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla and almond extracts until smooth. Stir in about one half of the flour mixture, followed by the buttermilk and then the rest of the flour mixture. Stir only until just combined. Fold in berries and white chocolate chips to evenly distribute them. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool completely before slicing.
Serves 9
Justeen @ Blissful Baking
March 28, 2011The combination of flavors in this coffee cake sound wonderful! My roommate is having a rough week, so I’m going to bake this for her to cheer her up!
Pattyann
March 28, 2011Oh, I really want to try this one! It looks amazing.
d.liff @ yelleBELLYboo
March 29, 2011This looks amazing! I’m a HUGE white chocolate fan, but everyone always combines white chocolate with raspberry – literally the only berry I don’t like. Thank you so much for a white chocolate BLUEberry recipe. Now blueberries I can eat by the carton! (I did grow up just a short drive from Maine!) 🙂
Caroline
March 29, 2011I want a slice of this right now to go with my coffee. White chocolate and blueberries? Count me in.
Natalie@ DeconstructingTheHome
March 29, 2011I’m always looking for ways to add blueberries to our diet since they have so many benefits. One of them is faster brain power, which I can always use a little help with 😉
Courtney
March 29, 2011This sounds divine! I am going to make this over the weekend- it sounds like a perfect spring time sweet treat!
Jin
April 2, 2011I made this recipe and it was delicious! However, I used 1/2 cup (1 stick or 1/4 lb) of butter, not just 1/4 cup. Half a stick of butter is not enough for this recipe, since it calls for 2 cups of flour and a full cup of sugar. Is that a typo?
Nicole
May 23, 2011Jin – Glad you liked the cake! That said, 1/4 cup isn’t a typo – that really is all the cake needs! Of course, an extra 1/4 cup isn’t going to hurt it any and will just make the cake even more tender.
Rebecca
November 21, 2012Hi Nicole,
I love your recipes and loved this one in particular….i live in India and so its hard to come by fresh blueberries. Instead I tried using a blueberry jam layer in the middle and the cake tastes amazing only the batter pushed its way up the top crust of sugar…can u help suggest something to make it look prettier…. it tastes amazing…only was sad to see the beautiful golden sugar top crack…
Thank you again…..bcoz of your website…i garner so much praise…little do they know the credit belongs to the person who wrote the recipe !!
Would love to see more white chocolate recipes…