I’m not in the business of cakes that aren’t moist, and I’m not in the business of cakes that aren’t easy. Luckily, this Blueberry Eggnog Coffee Cake is both – because when we’re doing winter flavors, an easy baking technique is a must.
It’s cold, you’re spending time with friends and family and there’s simply no time for an ultra-complicated coffee cake recipe. So if you want to make a holiday treat but are short on time and energy, don’t worry, this recipe has your back. It’s soft and moist and has that perfect spiced edge balanced by the sweet blueberries. It’s the holiday baked good of my dreams, and for good reason!
Table of contents
What makes this coffee cake taste like eggnog?
For this eggnog coffee cake, we’re not using actual eggnog, but using all of the spices that go in eggnog instead. This is because eggnog yields a texture that just isn’t quite right, and that’s where the yogurt comes in. The yogurt (or skyr!) in this recipe ensures that the coffee cake will come out perfectly moist, so you don’t have to worry about pulling a dry coffee cake out of the oven.
The spices in this coffee cake, which are clove, nutmeg and cinnamon, are not only found in the batter but in the blueberry mixture and the crumble topping as well. Spicing up every element of this coffee cake with cinnamon makes it taste like the holiday season. (Hence this is an eggnog-inspired recipe!) We don’t skimp on festive flavors here.
Why does this recipe use frozen blueberries?
Well, first you might be wondering why there are blueberries in this recipe to begin with. That’s because I can’t get enough of blueberries in baked goods, even when it’s nowhere close to summer. Blueberries bring that perfect sweet and slightly citrusy element to this coffee cake that just completes the whole thing. Think: blueberry muffins, but make them Christmasy.
And since it’s winter, fresh blueberries aren’t in season. Not only that, but you’ll find that in many of my blueberry-centric recipes, I use frozen blueberries. This is because frozen blueberries tend to melt into the batter as they bake, giving that perfect gooey texture that you crave out of a blueberry muffin. When fruit is frozen, the water in the fruit expands which bursts the cells and releases the natural sugars in the fruit. This is why frozen fruit often tastes sweeter and takes on a softer texture in baking than fresh fruit.
It does depend on the recipe, (like for these blueberry muffins, I use fresh blueberries!) but I find that certain recipes are best made with frozen blueberries for the sweetness and the texture. Plus, it allows you to bake with perfect blueberries all year long!
How to make the perfect crumble topping every time
The key to a great crumble is making sure that your butter is cold throughout before adding it to the flour and sugar. This is crucial! If your butter is slightly at room temperature in the center, it can melt in your fingers and lead to a gloppy mess.
To ensure that your butter will be cold before making the crumble, I suggest letting it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This may seem like overkill, but it’s better to edge on the side of safety. It will make your life easier!
If you add your butter to the flour and sugar mixture before it’s cold enough, don’t freak out! Right when you notice the butter melting in your hands, pop the whole bowl in the fridge for a few minutes to make sure that all of the butter cubes are chilled. After a few minutes, you can continue forming the crumble.
Bringing this coffee cake together
This coffee cake is layered, which sounds harder than it is. I love the layers in this coffee cake because it comes out of the oven steamy and when you pull a piece apart. You get little bites of extra blueberry or cinnamon crumble. Here’s how to layer this coffee cake:
- In a parchment-lined 8 by 8-inch baking dish, add half the batter. Then cover the batter with the blueberry filling. Carefully spread the remaining batter on top and scatter the crumble mixture on top. Dot the crumble mixture with the remaining frozen blueberries.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until you can no longer hear the cake “bubbling” (if you use the toothpick method, you’ll come out with some blueberry goo).
Looking for more holiday baking recipes?
‘Tis the season for cozy baking!
And that’s everything for this Blueberry Eggnog Coffee Cake!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Watch the recipe here
The video may not fully represent the recipe. For best results, follow the instructions as written.
Blueberry Eggnog Coffee Cake
Equipment
- 1 large whisk
- 1 8 by 8-inch baking sheet
- 1 sheet of parchment paper
Ingredients
For the eggnog cake batter:
- 2 large eggs
- 113 grams butter melted and cooled, 8 tablespoons
- 150 grams granulated sugar 3/4 cup
- 120 grams greek yogurt or skyr 1/2 cup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 210 grams all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cup
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon each of ground clove, cinnamon and nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 60 grams milk of choice 1/4 cup
For the blueberry filling:
- 200 grams frozen blueberries 1 1/2 cup
- 15 grams dark brown sugar 1 tablespoon
- 1/2 teaspoon each of ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon
- 10 grams all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon
For the crumble topping:
- 105 grams all-purpose flour 2/3 cup
- 60 grams dark brown sugar 1/4 cup
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 85 grams salted butter chilled, 6 tablespoons
- 70 grams frozen blueberries 1/2 cup
Instructions
- Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add in the butter, sugar, greek yogurt and vanilla and mix until smooth.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, ground clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and stir to combine. Add splashes of milk at a time, using it to help mix the batter into a smooth, thick consistency.
- In a small bowl make the blueberry filling. Add the frozen blueberries, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour. Mix until all the blueberries are evenly coated in the sugar, spices and flour.
- In another small bowl, make the crumble topping. Add the flour, sugar, and cinnamon and whisk to evenly combine. Add the cubed chilled butter and toss it in the flour mixture, coating all pieces. Use your hands to work the butter into the flour mixture, pressing and flattening pieces until you have a crumbly texture with big pieces throughout. Set aside.
- In a parchment-lined 8 by 8-inch baking dish, add half the batter. Then cover the batter with the blueberry filling. Carefully spread the remaining batter on top and scatter the crumble mixture on top. Dot the crumble mixture with the remaining frozen blueberries.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until you can no longer hear the cake "bubbling" (if you use the toothpick method, you'll come out with some blueberry goo).
- Let cool until you can handle it with bare hands before slicing.
Hi Justine! This recipe looks beautifully delicious. What do you think about using blackberries or raspberries in this recipe instead of blueberries? I have some ready to go in the freezer!
Hi there! That should work, but blackberries have pretty intense seeds, so I would opt for raspberries if you can!
This was so quick to put together and tasted so warm and cozy! I ended up using buttermilk because that was all I had and I’m not mad about it. Thank you for this recipe!
So SO happy you liked it!
The crumble on top was perfection. This cake came out very moist, and the flavor is spot on. The appearance came out beautiful, so this would be a dish I would feel proud to bring to a get together! I reduced the sugar by half for the batter but next time, I won’t do that (or cut just by a quarter) because the consistency came out more bread like (but still tasted amazing). This is the second recipe I’ve made from this site, and I’m looking forward to making more. Thank you, Justine, for pouring out your creativity and talent. Your FB videos have infused joy into my cooking again.
Your recipes never fail me, and this one is no different. It’s perfect! Thank you!!
This coffee cake was inedible due to the frozen blueberries in the batter. They made the cake soggy and undercooked in the center, even after baking it for an additional 15 minutes. Also, the recipe calls for an 8 x 8” “baking sheet”, which obviously should be a baking dish. There’s also no mention of grating the frozen blueberries for the topping, as mentioned in the blog post. Very disappointed. It all went in the trash.
You probably didn’t dust the blueberries well enough, also I didn’t zest blueberries on top and it came out good
This recipe was so easy to put together and exceptionally delicious! I was chatting with family while I measured this so I accidentally doubled the crumb topping, I’ll likely repeat the mistake next time and add some extra berries.
This was delicious, Justine! In homage to your blueberry muffin recipe, I added some ginger into the for a little zing and the flavor was great.
A question – the top layer of the cake was a bit soggy, though the bottom was cooked through. I wondered if that might have something to do with the buttery crumble? Could also have been an underbaking issue. Just curious if you encountered that during your testing of this recipe.
Cheers!
Hi! First, thank you for your kind comment <3 Secondly, I actually had myself and my assistant test this, so I have good feedback on this! The crumble can become a sand-like texture if you work it too much, and when the chunks are small they might melt into the cake, which is probably what happened here! The easy fix is to make the crumble into big chunks next time. However, both my assistant and myself describe this as a dense cake, so it could just be the fact that the moisture levels were a bit high and it needed a few more minutes in the oven. I hope this helps!