This blueberry streusel coffee cake is like getting a great big old bear hug from your Grandma. It is warm and comforting and just puts a huge smile on your face with every single bite. It's not fancy, or hard to make which makes it perfect for beginner bakers!
This recipe is absolutely ideal when you do not have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. All it takes is 20 minutes of prep time and in it goes into the oven. Just a few bowls to clean, and then you can go about your business for about an hour while it bakes. You do have to plan for the cooling time. Just make sure you allow the cake to cool for about 1-2 hours before serving.
So if you have any spontaneous guests popping by one afternoon, then you can easily whip this up. While it is baking and cooling, you can finish up your crazy hectic cleaning, get a workout in or just relax on the couch. I managed the first 2, which is pretty impressive.
Actually we found out at about 10pm that my in-laws would stop by around noon the next day. I knew I had to bake something exceptionally delicious, but my morning was already booked. I took the day off to spend with my daughter since she is on spring break from school. We planned to send my youngest daughter to daycare and then we could have the whole morning, just the two of us. We wanted to workout together and then do a little shopping. She has been saving up her money for months and couldn't wait to hit the shops.
Well... we didn't cancel our plans, but we did manage to get everything done even if it was a tad rushed. While I took my youngest to daycare she ran to the neighborhood grocery store and picked up some blueberries for me. I love Germany! Totally normal for 7 year olds to run errands and grocery shop by themselves within their villages. Independent kiddos are the best!
By 8:15am I had already brought my youngest to daycare AND got this coffee cake into the oven. Seriously amazing! By 8:30 my daughter and I were working out in our basement and we watched this amazing under the water documentary on Netflix called 'My Octopus Teacher.' Seriously fasantating- great for both kids and adults.
In between sets of lifting weights, I did run up to my kitchen just to double check that this cake wasn't on fire or anything. And it wasn't, of course. It slowly rose and the streusel topping started to crisp up. The air in the house smelled so sweet and I knew I needed to do an extra set of weight lifting if I wanted to have an extra large slice later that afternoon.
I honestly could have had my 7 year make this recipe, but she wanted to clean her room... No arguments here! There really isn't much technique to this dessert, except for making sure the blueberries do not sink to the bottom of the cake. That's the worst. You want to have blueberries evenly distributed.
TIP: Coat your blueberries in flour before adding them to the cake batter.
Then add only about 2/3 of your blueberries to the batter. Use a spatula and not a wooden spoon to incorporate them. Very gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
Finally, pour the batter into your springform pan. Take the rest of your blueberries and place them directly on top.
Lightly press them down into the top of the batter.
Then you can add your streusel topping on top. Streusel topping is basically a mixture of white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter. There are several variations but this mixture creates a crumb topping that adds some nice texture to your soft coffee cake.
I love the addition of oats. I love oats in any shape or form! Oatmeal, oatmeal cookies, Müsli (German cereal which is a mixture of oats and dried fruits and nuts and sometimes other grains), you name it, if it has oats, I'll eat it.
Here are the oats that I used. They are not really instant but they are considered a smaller cut. You can also use the bigger cut oats.
Then once you add your butter to the streusel topping it will look like this.
Use your fingers and really try to rub the butter into the dry mixture, breaking up the butter into smaller pieces.
Then of course you have to really have some patience because the house will smell incredible. You will want dive right into this dessert!
Once it has cooled you can pour the glaze on anyway you like. I did both, because why not? I first made a cute design like this:
And then I tried to pour on the glaze a bit thicker. Making it look a tad more rustic and casual.
However you decide to pour on your glaze, this coffee cake will be a winner. While we sat as a family at our dining room table mid afternoon we couldn't stop smiling. It might have been pouring rain outside, my youngest was getting a new molar and super crabby, but all of that seemed to disappear once this blueberry coffee cake was served. Then all of a sudden my 7 year old was super confused. She took a bite of the cake, and then asked, 'Can I eat this cake? It has coffee in it, right?' Um... yes, of course you can eat this cake. There isn't any coffee in it. Just blueberries. 'Then why do you keep calling it coffee cake, Mom?'
Bilingual kids are the best!
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