Lightly sweet and subtly spiced, this low-fat blueberry coffee cake can be made with fresh or frozen blueberries for a treat you can make year-round.
Confession: My freezer is full of bulging gallon bags of the blueberries that we picked this summer, and rather than feel grateful that I’ll have blueberries all year round, I often feel pressured just to eat the darn things up so I can have my freezer space back. I want to be making Octobery desserts with the two exotic pumpkins that I just bought but feel compelled to use blueberries every chance I get.
Last weekend I made this blueberry coffee cake for my daughter E and her friend’s breakfast, and when E saw it she said, “Why didn’t you make a pumpkin cake?” It looks like being ungrateful for what you have runs in the family!
Still, E and her friend ate the whole cake, except for the 3 pieces D and I managed to grab. It’s a breakfast or coffee cake, so it’s not supposed to be super sweet (though try telling that to E, who poured agave nectar over hers because she thought it wasn’t sweet enough).
If you have blueberries in your freezer, you can enjoy this little taste of summer when it’s cool enough to want to turn the oven on. Who wouldn’t be grateful for that?
Coffee cakes traditionally have a crumb topping made crunchy/crumbly with oil or butter. For my oil-free, vegan coffee cake, I replaced that topping with some crunchy raw sugar (such as turbinado or demerara) mixed with cinnamon. It adds a nice crunchy texture and some sweetness without any fat.
More Coffee Cakes (Cakes to enjoy with coffee)
Blueberry Breakfast Cake
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 cup quick or whole oats (not instant)
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup vegan sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Ener-G Egg Replacer or substitute
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Blueberries:
- 1 1/4 cup blueberries divided
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
- 2 tablespoons coarse sugar such as turbinado or raw sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly spray or wipe the bottom and sides of a 8 X 8-inch glass baking pan with oil or cooking spray. (You may use metal, but the baking time will vary.)
- Put the oats into a blender and grind until they are fine. Stir a couple of times to make sure that they're uniformly ground.
- Mix the oat flour with the other dry ingredients. Stir in 1/4 cup of the blueberries.
- Put the remaining cup blueberries into a blender or food processor with the water. Pulse (quickly turn on and off) to coarsely chop the blueberries, but do not completely puree. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in blueberry mixture and other wet ingredients. Stir until moistened and completely combined, but don't over-mix. Pour into the prepared pan (batter will be thick). Mix together the coarse sugar and cinnamon topping, and sprinkle it over the top.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes. Eat and celebrate!
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share:
Christy
October 8, 2010 at 11:48 amMy daughters will love this! Can’t wait to make it with them this weekend! Might just turn into a birthday breakfast tradition. Little one turning 3 and she LOVES her BBs! Thank you for all you do to help our vegan family!
Lisa
October 8, 2010 at 11:55 amWhat a great recipe! Is there any way to use the usual mixture of ground flax seeds and water to substitute the egg replacer? Will it work the same way?
I don’t have potato flour, so it is somewhat problematic to mix my own…
SusanV
October 8, 2010 at 1:27 pmIt won’t work the same way, but there’s enough other leavening in this recipe that it will probably come out okay. Let me know if you try it.
Lisa
October 8, 2010 at 10:54 pmIt was great! I added ground flax seeds, used soy milk instead of water and added 2T of canola oil. I liked the fact that it wasn’t too sweet as a lot of desserts are. And actually my cake turned out purple 🙂
Allison
October 8, 2010 at 11:56 amThis looks a-MAY-zing – can’t wait to try it when my hubby gets back to town. Two questions:
1. What do you mean by vegan sugar – I’m assuming that means anything other than honey, but liquid sugar vs. granulated can be quite different in measurement so I want to make sure I know what’s called for here.
2. Can you just use oat flour rather than grinding oats? And, if so, would the measurement be the same or a little more than one cup?
Thanks so much! And, not to be jumping on the ungrateful train, but it would great to get a pumpkin breakfast cake recipe. I’m not doing pumpkin pie for T-giving this year (found an interesting recipe for Maple Bundt Cake and will be doing that instead) and thought starting the day with a pumpkin breakfast cake would be fun! 🙂
SusanV
October 8, 2010 at 1:32 pm1. Granulated sugar. I used demerara, which is a coarse, raw sugar, but white sugar will work too. Some sugars are processed using bone char, which is why I specified vegan sugar.
2. The measurement will be a little different for oat flour. I’m guessing you should use about 3/4 of a cup. If the batter seems too thin, add a tablespoon or two more.
I’m definitely going to do a pumpkin breakfast cake, but in the meantime, have you tried my Pumpkin Spice Bread? It’s delicious!
Allison
October 10, 2010 at 1:24 pmThanks, Susan! 🙂
Allison
October 10, 2010 at 1:55 pmArgh! I have one more question. How many eggs are being replaced with the substitute? I like to use flaxseed mixed with water rather than Ener-G. Thanks! 🙂
Losang Dechen
October 8, 2010 at 12:37 pmI do not know where to start. I am a vegan and on a weight-loss mission and it is no lie when I say that your recipes, especially the scrumptious cake and muffin ones, keep me sane! Thank you so much!
upstatelisa
October 8, 2010 at 12:41 pmthanks for the recipe! we loooove blueberries at our house. Unfortunately, the blueberries were not plentiful in upstate NY this summer because of a late frost so our chances of picking were foiled 🙁
Lea @ Healthy Coconut
October 8, 2010 at 12:43 pmHi Susan,
Do you think I can substitute maple sugar (liquid form) or brown rice syrup for the vegan sugar?
That will change the dry and liquid ratio of the ingredients, but I think it should be ok.
Your thoughts?
SusanV
October 8, 2010 at 1:36 pmLea, I would really hesitate to substitute a syrup for the sugar in this recipe without making some other changes. You can decrease the water a little and increase the flour a little, but I’m afraid that it still won’t come out like the original. Syrups have a way of making cakes gummy.
Lori
October 8, 2010 at 2:34 pmThis came in divine timing, I’m having a birthday party for my son tomorrow, and so family will be here from out of town, I have a whole bag of whole wheat flour that I didn’t know what to do with since we are now gluten free. My family is going to love this!!! Thank you thank you!!!
Ana
October 8, 2010 at 5:43 pmThe cake looks amazingly good! I also have frozen blueberries picked during the summer but I have to say that I managed to make a huge dent on my stash in the past couple months. I love smoothies for breakfast and have them daily during warm weather. Since blueberry season is super short around here by August I am already getting deep into my frozen berries!
I will definitely make this cake sometime soon!
Ana
Paula
October 9, 2010 at 3:33 amthis looks so delicious!
have a nice time!
Paula
Free Recipes Online
October 9, 2010 at 11:13 amwow I just love the blueberries. I would love to try this recipe. I think I’ll do it tomorrow morning. Thanks for sharing.
Jennifer @ Maple n Cornbread
October 9, 2010 at 3:18 pmWhat a fabulous breakfast cake! Love the whole grains and health kick!
MC
October 9, 2010 at 3:42 pmWhat a delicious way to start the day! I too still have bagfuls of frozen blueberries picked over the summer. I’ll definitely give this cake a try…
Mary (What's Cookin' with Mary)
October 9, 2010 at 11:01 pmOne of my most favorite fruits is the blueberry! This sounds like a great recipe I need to put in the ‘try me’ pile. Thanks Susan!
Debbie
October 10, 2010 at 2:00 amThis looks so delicious!
Cherine
October 10, 2010 at 5:07 amWould love to have a piece of this cake with my morning coffee! Looks delicious!
Jen
October 10, 2010 at 1:21 pmCould you replace the applesauce with pumpkin?
Racheli
October 11, 2010 at 10:10 amThis cake looks absolutely divine and delicious! I always have such a hard time with my breakfasts (so sick of cereals), and this recipe is a wonderful new option.
I do have one question, though: as there are no fresh blueberries around here and the frozen ones are very expensive, is there any other fruit I can use instead?
Thanks,
Racheli
SusanV
October 11, 2010 at 10:14 amIf you like pineapple, check out my Pineapple Coffee Cake, which this one is based on. Also, any other type of berries should work.
Sagan
October 11, 2010 at 1:43 pmMmmmm! Love the looks of this one.
BlessedMama
October 11, 2010 at 3:25 pmI can totally relate to using up food to get your freezer back. What I need is a huge freezer, so I can take my time on eating our food. Recipe looks delicious.
MyVeganJournal.Com
October 11, 2010 at 6:39 pmoh my GOSH that looks Scrumptious!! 😀 I love blueberries & I love cake!! 😀
The Sweetest Vegan
October 13, 2010 at 8:50 amIt must be nice to have your own blueberries. I feel like I paid a fortune for frozen blueberries at the grocery store. I plan on making blueberry cobbler late this week
Ana
October 13, 2010 at 4:27 pmHi Susan
I wanted to send you an e-mail regarding a recipe but I couldn’t find one on your main page so I am writing here in the comment section of this recipe.
I was looking for an apple cake recipe and found your “appley apple cake”, I have a question, is it really 12 cups of chopped apples that goes on that cake?
Thanks!
Ana
SusanV
October 13, 2010 at 5:08 pmHi Ana, Actually, that isn’t my recipe–it’s one of the ones submitted to my site–so I don’t have personal experience making it. It does have a good rating, so it does seem to have worked for at least one person. There’s also an applesauce cake which I have made, and it’s very good.
Ana
October 13, 2010 at 6:27 pmThanks Susan, I appreciate your quick reply!
I will check out your applesauce cake, I loved all of your recipes I have tried!
Ana
CZ
October 14, 2010 at 6:33 amSUSAN:
I made this cake last night and while yours looks brown with the berries on the bottom, mine is well, purple! My kids asked why I was baking a “smurf cake”! How did you get yours to look like that!? (Color aside, it was delicious!)
Thanks,
C
SusanV
October 14, 2010 at 7:28 amHmmm. I think mine was more purple on the inside than it looks in the photo. The outside probably just looks brown because of the brownish sugar and cinnamon on top. I also used white whole wheat flour, but I don’t know if that would make a difference or not.
GemueseGirl
October 14, 2010 at 7:14 amTried this and am impressed with the fluffiness. There is a slight bitter aftertaste. Could that be the baking soda? Would it taste better with baking powder?
I left off the sugar topping and instead smeared some low fat tart lemon frosting on top. Got rave reviews – including from me 😉
Susan, your site is great. Discovered it last year when Dr Esselstyn’s book got me started. One of my favorites is the crustless mini quiche recipe. Always a hit. Keep up the good work and thanks for all the great recipes. I am spreading the word whenever I can.
SusanV
October 14, 2010 at 7:31 amYou shouldn’t taste the baking soda; the lemon juice activates it and helps with the fluffiness. Could the blueberries have been bitter?
The low-fat tart lemon frosting sounds great. I’d love to have that recipe! And thanks for recommending the site. I’m a big fan of Dr. Esselstyn, too.
CZ
October 14, 2010 at 2:03 pmThanks, Susan. I used the white whole wheat too. I did leave out the topping. Maybe that was why mine was purple 🙂
thanks again
C
VeganNutritionista
October 14, 2010 at 2:07 pmGreat recipe, Susan! What about a pumpkin blueberry cake? Or pumpkin blueberry muffins?! I’m thinking something with cinnamon (which I love with blueberries in oatmeal, so why wouldn’t it be good in a muffin?) and in place of chocolate chips in a muffin/bread. Mmmm!
Bonnie
October 17, 2010 at 7:47 pmI baked this cake tonight, and it was the best tasting dessert-type recipe I have made from your site! My trying-hard-to-be-a -vegetarian teen daughter couldn’t get over how good it is. I did not defrost my berries, so I assume that is why my cake was purple. Also, the toothpick was clean after 25 minutes, but the center was not completely done. It tastes great, but I will bake it at least 5 minutes longer next time.
Fort Lauderdale Divorce Lawyer
October 19, 2010 at 9:09 pmThis recipe looks really good. I love coffee cake type things and we always have frozen berries, especially blueberries, in the freezer. I have already got my mom on board to try this recipe so I’m very excited to do so.
Amandah
October 19, 2010 at 10:13 pmAhhh, I’m all about blueberries and this looks scrumptious!:)
http://anditsvegan.blogspot.com – just started this up, let me know what you think!
Jacqueline
October 24, 2010 at 10:36 amThis is the BEST breakfast cake I have ever made. I checked the nutrition facts twice becuase I didn’t believe the calories could be so low.
I love the pastries at the coffee shops and am now not even tempted becuae this cake is so much better. Thank you so much. I am now going to try your other cakes too.
Franny
October 26, 2010 at 6:21 amWOW! This came out totally perfect, even though I accidentally blitzed the blueberries so they were totally puréed, I think it just made it taste fruitier! Great recipe!
Jaye
October 28, 2010 at 12:20 amHi, Susan…I am writing in the comments section because I don’t see any other way to contact you with a question. I used the search feature to find a vegan quesadilla, but the box came up empty. So, I’d like to send you a vegan quesadilla recipe of my own that’s easy and good, but I don’t know how to send it to you. (A techie I am NOT!) If you want the recipe, I should warn you that it doesn’t include dietary/nutritional information. It is not gluten-free because I use whole wheat soft tortillas, but they are almost fat-free (96%) and have no trans fats. The other ingredients are healthy, too. You can probably dress the recipe up a bit to make it fancier. I’m a lazy cook, so easy works fine for me. If you send me an email, I can attach the recipe (on a Word document) and send it back to you. I just typed it down after I made it the first time so I wouldn’t forget the ingredients. No photos.
I also made up a pasta/cannelini bean/Italian green bean soup that I really enjoy, and I did happen to make a photo of it because it’s colorful. My photography can in no way compare to yours, but it would give you an idea. If you’re interested in that recipe, you’re welcome to it also. Actually, I can only give you ingredients, because I never measure anything when I make soup. I just keep adding to the pot until it’s nearly full, then simmer.
The blueberry breakfast cake looks delish, and I keep frozen blueberries and other fruits in my freezer all the time. I will give this recipe a whirl real soon. Thanks, Jaye (P.S. Since I wrote to ask you those questions above, feel free to edit all that out of this comment or even delete the entire thing.)
April at Kitchen Blender Reviews
November 11, 2010 at 9:30 pmHi Susan,
Every Christmas morning we eat breakfast at my folks and I have signed up to bring the ‘breakfast’ cake. I am scouring your blog for healthy cakes. You were the first site I thought of with great tasting and healthy foods. My family is not vegan, but they will never know they are eating a vegan cake.
I like this recipe, and also the blueberry cake too…not sure which one to bring…
Thanks!
SusanV
November 11, 2010 at 9:49 pmHi April,
Honestly, I prefer this one or the pineapple coffee cake over the blueberry-chocolate cake. Whichever one you choose, I hope your family enjoys it.
Ariana
November 13, 2010 at 1:25 amHI! So I made this cake this week and let me tell you it turned out absolutely amazing. I loved the banana brad consistency of it, especially the day after. I used frozen blueberries, but it probably would have been even better with fresh blueberries. Instead of the Ener G egg replacer, I used 1 tbsp ground flaxseed and added 1 tbsp water. You used 1 1/2 tsp Ener G egg replacer which I assumed was for one egg, which calls for 2 tbsp of water. 1 egg = 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water so that’s why I added the extra water.
I will be making this again…but may also try your blueberry banana bread next. Thank you, Susan!
Angela
November 15, 2010 at 5:35 pmWe also have freezer space taken up by blueberries. This looks wonderful and I believe we already have all of the ingredients here. Can’t wait to try it!
Patty Moore
November 23, 2010 at 12:15 pmI made this wonderful cake and served it to all non-vegans-aka-carnivores. It was such a hit and we loved the texture and the fact it was not sugary sweet. I used 1tbsp. flax meal and 3 tbsp. water and put in the food processor. I could see no problem with the finished product and it is purplish due to the blueberries. Thanks for this great goodie.
J
November 25, 2010 at 3:24 amThanks for the recipe! i made this but did a few substitutions – i used 1/4 cup of blueberries (mixed through the dry ingredients) but then instead of the other cup of berries i used 1 cup of stewed apple, and also added 100g of chopped walnuts. It turned out great. I didn’t do the topping either, although i may put icing on it as i’m taking a few peices to work for some non vegans who are probably used to much sweeter cake.
jessica
December 13, 2010 at 11:15 amHi! Would it be ok to use two cups of oats instead of the wheat flour? Thanks 🙂
SusanV
December 13, 2010 at 12:09 pmIt won’t really form a cake with just oat flour. It’s best to use some wheat flour or a gluten-free flour to get a cakey texture.
Phoebe
December 21, 2010 at 5:56 amThis looks delicious! I love blueberries and I will certainly try and make this cake 🙂
Elyssa
January 11, 2011 at 9:59 amThis is fabulous!