Blueberry Coffee Cake (aka Boy Bait)
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This tender blueberry coffee cake topped with a crunchy cinnamon streusel is cleverly named for its habit-forming effect on boys.
This old-fashioned blueberry coffee cake comes with a darling name and story. In 1954, a 15-year-old girl from Chicago named Renny Powell submitted a blueberry coffee cake recipe to the Pillsbury $100,000 Recipe & Baking Contest (the precursor to today’s Pillsbury Bake-Off). Renny took second place in the junior division for her recipe, cleverly named “Boy Bait” for its habit-forming effect on young men.
Tender, easy to make, and jam-packed with berries, boy bait has been popular ever since. My version is updated with lemon zest to complement the flavor of the blueberries and a crunchy cinnamon streusel topping. You certainly don’t need to be a teenage boy to enjoy it, but I can attest that this 14-year-old loves it — so maybe Renny was onto something ?.
What You’ll Need To Make Blueberry Coffee Cake
Fresh blueberries are ideal for this coffee cake, but frozen will work, too. If you’re using frozen berries, stir them into the batter without thawing, otherwise they’ll turn the batter purple. If you have extra blueberries on hand, or find them on sale at the market, you might also enjoy my blueberry pancakes, blueberry cobbler, or lemon blueberry pound cake – all family favorites!
How To Make Blueberry Coffee Cake
To begin, make the streusel topping by combining the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.
Using your fingers, mix until no lumps of brown sugar remain, then add the cold butter.
Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture reaches a crumbly state. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Next, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating well after each addition.
Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, beating on low speed to combine.
The batter will be quite thick.
Add the berries to the batter.
Fold gently with a spatula until evenly distributed. Do not over-mix.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly.
Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the batter.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and a cake tester comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan on a rack for about 20 minutes, then serve right from the pan. Enjoy!
You May Also Like
- Best Blueberry Muffins
- Blueberry Cornbread Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake
- Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Cinnamon-Walnut Swirl
- Blueberry Cobbler
- Crumb Cake
Blueberry Coffee Cake (AKA Blueberry Boy Bait)
This tender blueberry coffee cake topped with a crunchy cinnamon streusel is cleverly named for its habit-forming effect on boys.
Ingredients
For the Streusel Topping
- 6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into ½-inch chunks
For the Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon packed lemon zest, from 1 lemon
- ½ cup milk
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen may be used but do not defrost)
Instructions
- Make the streusel topping: Combine the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Using your fingers, mix until no lumps of brown sugar remain. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it reaches a crumbly state. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a 9-inch square pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
- Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, beating on low speed to combine. Add the berries to the batter and fold gently with a spatula until evenly distributed. Do not over-mix.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a rack for about 20 minutes, then serve right from the pan.
- This cake is best served on the day it is made. Leftovers will keep well for a few days wrapped in foil and stored at room temperature.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cake can be frozen for up to 3 months. After it is completely cooled, double-wrap it securely with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place it in heavy-duty freezer bag. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (16 servings)
- Serving size: 1 piece
- Calories: 223
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 31 g
- Sugar: 15 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 169 mg
- Cholesterol: 47 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Comments
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Hey Jenn, great recipe. I made it l, it tastes great, but all of the streusel on the top sunk while baking… I was actually second-guessing whether I even put the streusel on top before I put it in the oven! 🙂 any idea why this happened so I can correct it next time?
Hi Charlotte, That is very odd! Did you by chance make any substitutions or use an alternative flour?
No subs or alternative flour (I did the scrape method for the flour, it might have been a LITTLE less flour used as one of my cups maybe wasn’t completely full – my bad). From Cooks Illustrated…
“During testing, we noticed that the streusel at the edges of the cake sometimes appeared to sink into the batter. Eventually, we realized that it was actually the cake batter and not the streusel that was on the move. As the batter at the edges of the pan heats up, it becomes more fluid and rises, eventually flowing over the topping. To solve the problem, we added extra flour to stiffen the batter and prevent it from climbing up and over the streusel.“ they’re lucky it was only the edges that sunk in! 🙂 so it very well could have been my rush to get the cake in and not paying more attention to flour measuring. There’s always next time!
Oh, and that was for a CI separate recipe, had nothing to do with your recipe which is on point!!
Oh, glad to hear that! 🙂
Lemon zest in a blueberry coffee cake? OhMyGosh DELISH! Excellent recipe, everyone LOVED it. I did omit the salt from the crumble topping, not sure it’s needed, is there a reason for adding it?
Hi Tracie, So glad you liked this! The salt in the crumble just helps to balance out the other flavors, but glad to hear you found it perfect without!
Absolutely delicious! Used a 9×13 brownie pan lined with parchment and baked for exactly 20 minutes. For the liquids, used 1/4 c. of sour cream and 1/4 c. of milk. SO moist and flavorful. Thank you!
I made these and oh my gosh it was amazing! I was missing starbucks coffee cake and saw we had blueberries, so I felt like I had to make this recipe. Great instructions so anyone can do it. The taste of the coffee cake is incredible. Please make this🤩
I made this tonight to take to a friend’s house and everyone absolutely loved it! It was so great! Thanks for the amazing recipe. Will be making another batch for my parents tomorrow.
This is such a lovely recipe!! We could only find a 9 x 5 baking dish, so we baked for longer (around an hour or so). It rose beautifully and turned out delicious. We will definitely be making this again with our frozen blueberries from last season!
Amazing! Completely homemade deliciousness! Easy to follow steps! If only have 8×8 pan just cook a little longer😉
I made this amazing coffee cake this morning for breakfast. I followed the directions except I mixed both eggs into the batter at once. I mixed half the flour addition with the hand mixer on low then switched to hand mixing with a spoon for the rest. I substituted orange zest for Lemon. I cooked it for 50 minutes and used a 9x 7 glass casserole to bake it in.
I was not willing to wait 20 minutes before cutting into. Way to scrumptious to delay. It was moist, fluffy and just sweet enough, not too sweet. I love this coffee cake. Yum.
Thank you so much Jenn. I look forward to cooking several of your other recipes.
This coffee cake is the best I’ve ever had and I’ve made quite a few. Thank you so much for this.
Another absolutely perfect recipe from Jenn. Followed the clear and concise directions and it is AMAZING!!