This sourdough blueberry crumb cake, made with sourdough discard, is the perfect breakfast treat. With an easy make-ahead topping, browned butter, and a rich sour cream base there’s no way you’ll pass on a second slice!
Cake for breakfast?! Yes please! Inspired by the classic coffee crumb cake recipe, this moist and tender sourdough version will enhance any breakfast, brunch or snacking situation. The blueberries add a delicious touch. If you love sourdough, cake (or both!) you’re gonna love this easy, sourdough discard recipe.
Sourdough Blueberry Crumb Cake: A Few Upgrades
At first, I wasn’t sure what direction to take this cake. Butter? Oil? Sour cream? Most crumb cake recipes are very similar and they all look SO good. But after several recipe tests, including one major flop I wish to eradicate from my memory, I’ve settled on the following 3 recipe upgrades.
- Salted Butter. If you’re not baking with salted butter, you’re really missing out. I’ve been using salted butter almost exclusively these days, and it makes all the difference in the world especially for cakes, frostings, and chocolate chip cookies. Also, for a nice touch, I like to lightly brown the butter before adding it to the batter. I did this by accident when first testing this recipe, and it was so yummy, I decided to keep it.
- Leftover Sourdough Starter (Discard). Baking with leftover sourdough discard (the stuff you remove and discard when when feeding it), is one of the best ways to get creative with something you’d otherwise throw away. As long as it’s been recently fed, smells yeasty (not like gym socks) and doesn’t have any dark liquid on top, it will add a wonderful depth of flavor to this crumb cake. Paired with tangy sour cream, the texture becomes rich and decadent too.
- Make-Ahead Crumble Topping. This is THE BEST time-saving tip: make and freeze your crumble topping ahead of time. Just take any crumble topping recipe (it doesn’t even have to be mine) and store the rubbly bits in a ziplock bag. Use directly from the freezer when ready to assemble desserts like apple crumbles, peach crisps, pies, cakes, etc. It will last in the freezer for several months and there’s no need to let the crumbles come to room temperature before using.
Tip: For best results, use leftover 100% hydration starter. This type of starter is fed with equal parts flour and water by weight, and has a consistency similar to thick pancake batter. If you need a sourdough starter, you can create one here (it takes about 7 days and up to two weeks).
My Thoughts On This Cake…
This sourdough blueberry crumb cake is sweet, fluffy, tangy, juicy…. and I’m telling you, that lightly browned salted butter is just to-die-for.
Also, fyi: the blueberries are mixed into the crumble topping, instead of folded throughout the batter. This way, they won’t sink to the bottom and you’ll get a burst of warm, blueberry goodness in every bite!
Finally, your best bet is to make this cake fresh and serve it on the same day. The prep takes about 15 minutes from start to finish, and the frozen make-ahead crumbles shaves off even more time.
Enjoy it for brunch, overnight guests, holiday gatherings, weekend treats- the list goes on! And if you like this recipe, move on to my famous sourdough banana bread, these crumbly scones or my homemade sourdough muffins!
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Sourdough Blueberry Crumb Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55-65 minutes
- Total Time: 70-80 minutes
- Yield: One 8x8-inch cake 1x
- Category: Sourdough Discard Recipes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This sourdough blueberry crumb cake is the perfect treat to make for brunch and weekend breakfasts. With an easy make-ahead topping, browned butter, and a rich sour cream base there’s no way you’ll pass on a second slice! Don’t forget to check out my notes below for best results. Enjoy!
Notes & Tips:
- For best results, use leftover 100% hydration starter. Its batter-like texture is the perfect match for this crumb cake. If you’re using a thicker, low hydration starter you will have to add more liquid to the cake batter, such as milk. Otherwise the cake might become too dry.
- Weigh your ingredients for best results! Alternatively, be sure to spoon and level the flour into measuring cups to avoid over packing, and thus a denser cake.
- When adding the crumble topping and blueberries, make sure to evenly cover the surface of the batter, especially the corners. Otherwise, the batter will puff up in certain spots, which could lead to uneven baking.
Ingredients
For the Blueberries
- 1 heaping cup of fresh blueberries
- Powdered sugar, plus more to serve
Crumble Topping
- 1/4 cup (50g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups (180g) all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- Rounded 1/2 tsp cinnamon (use 1 tsp for more flavor)
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 8 tbsp or 1 stick (113 g) salted butter, cut into small cubes, cold
Wet Ingredients
- 8 tbsp or 1 stick (113 g) salted butter
- 1 cup (200 g) sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (120g) leftover sourdough starter discard (see note below)
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F/176 C. Lightly oil an 8×8-inch pan and line with parchment paper. Smooth the bottom and sides of the pan so the paper is flat.
- Add the blueberries to a small bowl. Sift a a tablespoon of powdered sugar over the top and gently toss to combine. This will prevent the berries from sinking into the cake. Set aside.
- To make the crumble topping, add all of the ingredients to a medium-sized bowl. Mix into crumbles using your hands. The butter should be well blended into to the flour; some larger pieces are OK. If using frozen crumble topping, remove it from the freezer now.
- In a small skillet, melt the butter until light golden brown around the edges (you are not fully browning the butter). This will only take a few minutes, but do not walk away from the pan- it will burn quickly! Set aside to cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, using a stand mixer, beat the sugar, egg, and sourdough starter on medium-low speed, about 1 minute. With the machine running, gradually pour in the warm melted butter.
- In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Add to the wet ingredients, and mix on low speed until just combined. You should still see specks of flour in the bowl; do not over mix. Add the sour cream and mix until smooth. This technique will give the cake a soft, velvety texture. The batter will be thick.
- Spoon the batter into the pan. In an even layer: scatter 1/2 of the crumbles over the top first, then layer 1/2 of the blueberries on top. Repeat to finish all of the crumbles and blueberries.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted (I use a dried piece of spaghetti). For me, 60 minutes is the sweet in a shiny metal pan. Please check at the 55 minute mark to see how things are going.
- Cool completely before serving.
- Dust with powdered sugar if you like, and cut into squares.
Comments
Christine says
Hi! Super excited to try this out and wondering if I could add strawberries to the crumb topping also? Think it might be too wet? If anyone has thoughts please let me know!
I want to make it for Memorial Day weekend and it would be great to have the red, white and blue!
Emilie Raffa says
Hi there! I think it might be too wet! Maybe cut up and serve some fresh on the side with vanilla sugar?
Erin B says
This crumb cake was an excellent use of starter discard! Due to supply issues I had to make some substitutions, but we all loved the velvety texture, and the flavors I ended up with were actually really good! To the topping I added a big, heaping handful of sliced almonds, a few drops of almond extract and about 1/2 teaspoon of flaky Maldon salt. I didn’t have blueberries so I peeled and chopped two Honeycrisp apples. I tossed the apples with lemon zest, cinnamon, the powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice. I had no sour cream so I used full-fat Greek yogurt. I folded about a third of the apples into the batter, a third on top of the batter and the final third tossed in with the crumb topping. It was awesome! I really like apples and almond together, so even though I can’t wait to get my hands on some blueberries to try the real version of this cake, the version we ended up with was also a winner! Thanks so much!!
Emilie Raffa says
Erin, this sounds so ridiculously good. I love almond extract. And paired with apples? Girl did you save me a piece?! xx
Dylan says
Hello! I’m one of the new quarantine sourdough bakers- got my starter from my mom’s friend. I really love your guides and recipes. So far, this crumb cake and your sourdough cinnamon rolls are a massive hit in my household. It took me 3 tries and some starter troubleshooting (thank you SO much for your “Why won’t my bread dough rise” page- extremely helpful!), but I finally got a beautiful loaf of bread just this morning.
Regarding this crumb cake- if I were to substitute fresh blackberries for the blueberries, are there any adjustments I’d need to make? I don’t know enough about baking to understand how the bigger berries would affect something like water content or bake time.
Thank you so much!
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Dylan! Welcome! To be honest, fresh blackberries might be too juicy for this recipe making the cake a bit wet. I would have to experiment in order to provide more specifics re: bake time etc. To start, you can try using half the amount and see how you go with that.
dylan says
Used your recommended 1/2 amount of blackberries- worked very well! Probably could have used the entire full cup of them, as the blackberries were very sparse in the crumb topping, but that is for my next try to experiment with! Thanks for your advice and recommendations!
Emilie Raffa says
Ahhh! Thanks for circling back to let us know. Love it!
Sue Cohen says
LOVE this cake! I’m always on the hunt for recipes that use my discard. I substituted frozen(thawed and drained) cherries and added a little vanilla extract. The texture and the taste were amazing! I will definitely tag you on my insta @want.and.need
Sue Cohen says
Arrgghhh… spell check!
Insta is @want.and.knead
Emilie Raffa says
Sounds amazing. Thanks Sue!
katharoni.and.cheese says
I just made this today! Followed the suggestion of many and baked it in a 9×12″ pan (or maybe it was a 9×13…) and mine was done at 50 minutes. (instead read thermo said 210 F). I also used frozen blueberries that I kept frozen until adding on top rather than fresh. They didn’t get mushy or bleed into the cake at all. I found that the full amount of crumb topping was great, and would not have wanted less. When I make it again I will likely sprinkle & stir a few blueberries into the cake batter as they all stayed on top with the crumble, and I wanted some blueberry action in with cake itself. Overall a fantastic recipe and a great way to use up starter. The batter raw tasted very sourdoughy, but the flavor completely mellows out once baked! So if you taste the raw batter and are a little put off by the tang, fret not as it bakes out!
Emilie Raffa says
Excellent! Thanks so much for your feedback re: baking time! And all of your tips, so helpful… you never know with frozen blueberries, lol. x
Tamara says
Soooo YUMMY!!! Did not have blueberries or sour cream so used apples and yoghurt. So moist and the crumble just toped it off. Thank you Emilie
Emilie Raffa says
Tamara, this sounds absolutely incredible. I’m going to try this myself… sounds like a French yogurt cake!
Tamara says
Well I do live in France!!!! Oh and thanks for putting all measurementin grams!!
Emilie Raffa says
Ahhh great taste :) And you’re welcome!
Annie says
Hi! I’m a huge fan of your book Artisan Sourdough Made Simple! I’m trying many of the different of the recipes and love it! For Easter I made Tear and Share Rolls – with my spent starter made your Blueberry Crumb Cake for dessert. Turned out great! I used 6 tablespoons butter in each part of the crumble and wet ingredients. I did need to bake it longer – 1 hour total. I’m in Denver – so not sure if it’s our altitude. Will make it again! Will use 8 tablespoons in the crumble next time and will freeze half of it for later.
I love any leftover starter recipes- I make your waffles almost every Sunday after making our bread for the week – my family loves them!
Emilie Raffa says
Hello! Wow, this sounds fantastic! I love hearing new tips from fellow bakers. Such a great community here. Glad you like the book too. Thanks again, Annie :)
Dawn says
Delicious. I would use a bigger pan for sure next time (9×12) at 60 mins in the outside was fully cooked and the middle still needed more time.
Children said it’s a keeper
Emilie Raffa says
Thanks for your feedback, Dawn! xx
Jen says
I can NOT thank you enough for having the weight of the sourdough discard! So many recipes have the measuring in cups. Great recipe :)
Diane says
Frozen blueberries okay d’you think? And yes, I like the lemon zest idea – I have added lemon zest and dried blueberries to a sourdough loaf to make a not overly sweet tea bread I liked.
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Diane! You know, I’d go with fresh blueberries for this recipe. The frozen ones can be too watery/mushy sometimes and I wouldn’t risk it!
DEcarmine says
Same problem as Dawn, center not cooked
enough after 50 minutes. Will try the 9 by 12
pan approach. My batter filled most of the 8by 8
pan. Then the crumb was over the top. I
could have made just half a topping recipe
and used a 9 by 12 pan.
I bake a lot, felt it was too much for the pan.
Went ahead as this was a first time. I never
get pinched by my first try. Lovely flavor.
The outsides had nice Cakey texture.
Center too soft for me. Too much crumb topping
I am more of a chiffon cake person. Will report again try #2. Thank you Emilie
Emilie Raffa says
Hi there! Thanks so much for your feedback. Let us know if the 9×12-inch pan worked out better! Glad you liked the flavor ;)
Gail says
Would it be ok to use half the sugar in the cake?
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Gail! In my opinion, I wouldn’t halve the sugar in this recipe. It will change the overall texture, and perhaps it might not be sweet enough. But you are more than welcome to experiment and see how it goes :)
Rosa says
Hello,
Can I use unsalted butter for this recipe? And also substitute cherries instead of blueberries? Sounds so delicious! Can’t wait to make it this weekend!
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Rosa! Yes! Just make sure to add additional salt to the recipe to make up for the flavor difference (perhaps 1/4 to 1/2 tsp?). Regarding the cherries: I haven’t tried it myself so I cannot advise with specifics. But with that said, it doesn’t hurt to experiment. Please let me know how it goes :)
Dawn says
Next time I’ll use a 9×12 pan! It took 65 minutes to get the center done otherwise it’s a lovely coffee cake.
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Dawn,
Oh wow! Thanks for you feedback! This can happen as all ovens are different :)
Margaret says
This is absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Margaret,
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Anna says
I just made this! After my weekly grocery trip, which included blueberries for this recipe, I realized I only had one stick of butter left! I really had my heart set on this so to make do I used the butter for the crumb and 1/3 cup oil for the batter. Instead of cinnamon I used lemon zest and added a little lemon zest and juice, and vanilla to the batter. I also used half whole wheat and half AP flour for the batter. This turned out great! I only ended up using about half the crumb so in the future I know if I only have on stick I can use half of it in the batter.
Emilie Raffa says
Oh my goodness, Anna, this sounds awesome. Love the whole wheat and lemon zest variation- must try! x
kelly says
Ahh, the softness and beauty of these photos … so nice to see you back at your art lovely. I’ll pop over later this morning for a slice and cuppa in the sunshine, x