It’s not like I need an excuse to eat cake in the morning, because I’m an adult and I can do what I want, but I just feel so much better when I have a legitimate reason to eat sweets for breakfast. Does that make sense? I feel like this Blackberry Lemon Coffee Cake is the perfect excuse. There’s fresh fruit baked right in, so I know it has to be good for me. At least that’s what I’m telling myself, while I’m on my third slice. Coffee cake has got to be one of my biggest weaknesses, mainly because of the crunchy crumb/streusel topping. I can eat of bowl of that stuff by itself any day, forget the cake part. I’m like that with a lot of things now that I think about it; the crusts on pop-tarts, the crust on pies, the skin on fried chicken, the list can go on and on here. This cake is one of my latest contributions to GO BOLD WITH BUTTER, and I think it happens to be the perfect summer weekend baking project. Chances are you already have most of the ingredients at home. Go to your local farmer’s market or grocery store and pick up an berry that’s in season or whatever looks good to you and use that in this cake. It’s versatile and so easy to make. Cheers to the Weekend, my friends.
Let’s start by making what I believe to be the best part to any and all coffee cakes; the streusel topping! In a bowl, combine the flour, sugars, salt and cinnamon.
**Tip: Because this cake is flavored with lemon, you could add poppy seeds to the streusel, because lemon and poppy seeds go so well together! You could also add any kind of chopped nuts if you’d like!**
Pour in the melted butter and stir until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set it off to the side until ready to use!
**Note: It doesn’t have to be even at all, so don’t worry about making it look too perfect. Larger pieces of clumps are great because it’ll create a textured topping!**
Let’s turn our attention to the cake itself now. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. You can either whisk the ingredients together or sift them into the bowl.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
**Tip: If you want a perfectly textured crumb on a cake, and also want the ingredients to blend in smoother, I recommend letting your eggs come down to room temperature before adding them to the butter!**
In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, and sour cream until smooth.
**Tip: Whenever I make any cake of any kind, I ALWAYS use buttermilk because it makes the cake super moist and tender. The sour cream in this recipe helps do the same thing, but adds the slightest tang to it! If you don’t have sour cream on hand, you can swap it out for yogurt.**
Add the dry ingredients, alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry. Make sure to mix *just* until incorporated after each addition. You don’t want to over-mix the batter at this point or else you’ll get a dry tough cake.
Gently fold in the fresh blackberries into the batter. Again, you don’t want to over work the berries or else they’ll break up too much into the batter.
**Note: If you can’t find fresh blackberries or they aren’t in season, feel free to use either blueberries, raspberries, sliced strawberries or even pitted cherries! They all would be great in here and pair well with the lemon!**
Transfer the batter into a greased and floured 9×13-inch baking pan and smooth out into an even layer, using an offset or straightedge spatula.
Sprinkle the top completely with the streusel topping you made earlier. Again, make sure the topping is in an even layer and you don’t have any spots of batter peaking through.
Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing and serving.
**Note: We all love warm coffee cake, including myself, and you can slice it while it’s still somewhat warm but just know that it’ll be harder to remove from the pan!**
Any leftover cake can be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.
**Tip: If you want to make sure the cake doesn’t dry out and lasts a little bit longer, I recommend wrapping each slice individually in plastic wrap and then placing them in a large ziplock bag.**
This is the perfect cake to try if you love to get up early on the weekends and try your hand at baking. It’s fool-proof and completely delicious. If you don’t have fruit on hand, plain and classic is just as great! This is the same recipe for my classic sour cream coffee cake! It’s calling out your name, can you hear it?
**Thank you for your continued support of the occasional sponsored post on this site. They help keep the blog going, allowing me to continue to share my recipes with you on a weekly basis. I never want my sponsorships to feel forced, which is why I only partner with companies I feel very passionate about and actually use on a regular basis.**
This looks so good! Trying this tomorrow morning.