Blueberry Pecan Crunch Cake

Blueberry Pecan Crunch Cake
Ryan Liebe for The New York Times
Total Time
1¼ hours
Rating
4(1,598)
Notes
Read community notes

Topped with coarse Demerara sugar and chopped pecans, this might just be the crunchiest coffee cake you’ve ever made. It’s also one of the easiest, as it’s quickly whisked together in just one bowl. Soft, juicy blueberries dot the cinnamon-scented batter, making jammy pockets in the tender crumb. It will keep at room temperature for up to three days, though the topping does lose a little texture the longer it sits. But this cake is so good, its keeping qualities may be beside the point.

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Ingredients

Yield:8 servings
  • cups/337 grams sour cream
  • ¾cup/170 grams unsalted butter (1½ stick), melted and cooled
  • 4large eggs
  • 1tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1teaspoon kosher salt
  • cups/250 grams granulated sugar
  • teaspoons baking powder
  • ½teaspoon baking soda
  • 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • cups/312 grams all-purpose flour
  • cups/200 grams blueberries
  • cup/85 grams chopped pecans (or walnuts or almonds)
  • 2tablespoons Demerara sugar
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

636 calories; 36 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 12 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 71 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 38 grams sugars; 10 grams protein; 435 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-by-9-inch metal pan.

  2. Step 2

    In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, butter, eggs, vanilla and salt until everything is well combined. Whisk in sugar. Add the dry ingredients in this order: baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon, whisking well in between additions. Then, whisk in the flour until just combined. Fold in blueberries.

  3. Step 3

    Using a spatula, scrape the batter into the pan, smoothing the top. Sprinkle with the nuts and Demerara sugar. Bake until the top is golden and puffed, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer the cake to a rack, and let it cool in the pan.

Ratings

4 out of 5
1,598 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Made this last night to have ready for breakfast and packed school/work lunches today. Baked up beautifully golden-topped and impressively tall in the 9X9 pan - which I worried about being too small but worked swell. I used local frozen brusnika berries as it’s not yet berry season here. Tart berry/pecan combo great. Rave reviews from all family members this morning. Crunchy top remained even after letting sit in pan overnight. Light and not overly sweet - a nice treat for breakfast or coffee!

Glass conducts heat really well, so glass pans get hotter than metal pans. A lot of baking cookbooks recommend that if you use a glass pan, the oven temperature be reduced 25 degrees (i.e., make it 25 degrees lower than the temperature specified in the recipe). I do the 25-degree reduction when I bake in a glass pan and it usually works out well. It's an especially good idea to do it if the recipe includes fruit which blackens and burns easily.

Another winner from the reigning queen! I decreased the sugar to 200g because I don't like things very sweet and my berries were more sweet than tart and it was perfect for me! I also added a little almond extract and subbed sliced almonds for pecans because that's what I had. This came together super quickly and was a satisfying treat that made the house smell like heaven and hope, which we could all use a little more of.

Ridiculously easy and very good while still warm. If you use an 8x8 inch pan, add 10 minutes on the time.

LairaC if you toss the blueberries in a light coating of flour before adding to the cake they will be less likely to sink

Substituted whole milk yogurt (not Greek) for the sour cream and used just 200g white sugar in the batter with brown sugar and pecans on top. Done in 55 min. Moist, light and sweetly delicious. So easy to put together too.

This is a large coffee cake, rising well above the rim of the pan. Be careful to butter the pan up onto the rim. That being said, this is delicious and easy to prepare. Moist but not heavy.

If you like this recipe, try Melissa’s Pantry Crumb cake on this website. We love it! It’s a high, moist crumb cake. I’ve also added blueberries to it and last week used rhubarb. Several folks told me it reminds them of their youth.

why don't you try making it as written, no substitutes in either ingredients or process. You're missing out on a treat. ingredients sequencing can actually make a difference in the final product. There are various techniques and they produce different results - not every recipe follows (or needs to follow) the traditional process you outlined.

It’s not helpful to recommend skipping when you haven’t actually made the recipe. You made something different. When you substitute it’s just not the same.

Quick and easy! Cut sugar by half to 125 grams and its still plenty sweet. . Baked in a 10.5" (10-15 cup) for 50 minutes. Generously sprayed and floured the bundt and let it set in the fridge for 15 minutes. Sprinkled demerara sugar and pecan mixture on the bottom of the pan and a few pecans stuck to the bottom when I flipped the cake over. I simply scooped up the crumble and topped off the cake. Keeper.

I second the idea of using a larger pan so that the "crunch" is in proportion to the cake. As is, it's too much moist cake and not enough pecans. This took more like 80 minutes to cook all the way through.

I used full fat greek yogurt in place of the sour cream because that's what was in my fridge. This is def not a "sweet" cake it reads more like a fruit bread than a cake. It was delicious, and man it gets tall!

This is a great, flexible recipe for a fruit-studded, crunchy-topped, one-bowl cake. Substituted strawberries for the blueberries (and used 300g instead of 200g). Following other comments, I cut the sugar to 200g and the cake was plenty sweet. Also, I used mostly buttermilk and a bit of yogurt instead of sour cream, since they can all pretty much be subbed for one another in this type of recipe. I toasted the pecans (more flavor, more crunch). Delicious cake!

Try a coffee crumb cake topping: brown sugar, butter, flour and cinnamon, or a crumble with oats as a substitute for nuts. Definitely recommend cutting sugar in the cake if you bake a brown sugar topping.

Oh my goodness this is amazing. I had only 8x8 pans; after reading the comments I baked mine in a Longaberger pottery 8x8 pan at 325 for about 85 minutes. Perfection.

I use 0% fat Greek yoghurt, 1 C of sugar, no demerara, and just pressed the chopped pecans and walnuts into the batter before baking in a 9x11 ceramic dish and everytime it comes out perfect. It never lasts longer than 24 hours in my house!

I used a bundt pan as well, liberally greased and floured it, 50 minutes on the nose. Some of the sugar and pecans (which I toasted) stuck to the pan so I scraped them out. This cake had a great flavor. Not dense but substantial. I also did equal parts nonfat plain Greek yogurt and sour cream.

Needs more zing as others have said. Good but not great and I followed the recipe exactly. I live at 3500’ altitude in a dry climate, and it also needs adjusting for the altitude. Mine collapsed in the middle. King Arthur Flour and Colorado State University extension service websites both have excellent directions for how to do this. I’ve used better blueberry snack cake recipes.

This is extremely good but yikes!! Take a look at the calories. One and a half sticks of butter makes for a very rich but highly caloric cake. Melissa has made less caloric ones.

Thanks for a simple recipe. I made as written, buts nice to know that you can switch up the spice, the nuts or the fruit! it’s not out of the oven yet - but I can tell it’s going to be yummy!

I turned this into muffins after trying it as a coffee cake. My first pan I used half with papers and half as spray oil. I will use papers in the future. I froze the muffins and then took them on vacation where everyone, grandparents to young children, liked them. One of the teenagers asked what bakery made the muffins.

Delicious, moist, everything a coffee cake should be. Made as written and baked in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish for 45 minutes total; first 15 at 350 degrees, last 30 minutes at 325 degrees. Perfection.

I used my 8" x 3" round pan, sprayed with PAM, & lined the bottom with parchment. The tester came out dry after 65 mins -- cooled it completely on a rack, inverted, then re-inverted onto a platter. I put sliced almonds & turbinado sugar on top -- also added lemon zest but it needed more of that (or something) to punch up the flavor a bit. I did increase the berries to 2C & dredged them in a little of the flour, so they were well disbursed throughout the cake. Guests loved it, very handsome!

I made this exactly as the recipe said and brought it to my book group meeting and everyone loved it! The good news is that I brought home the leftovers and can't wait to have another piece with my morning coffee tomorrow.

This is amazing! I upped the blueberries ( I used a full pint) and I used walnuts because that's what I had. This is a great, moist cake, easy to put together and not too sweet. It may have just replaced blueberry muffins at my gouse!

An ok coffee cake, but I prefer Dorie Greenspan’s Blueberry Crumb Cake. That’s the one where people always ask for the recipe. I have frequently doubled it to take places

Followed recipe as written. I used a 9x13 glass pan at 325 degrees. Turned out great!

As suggested by several writers, made this with extra blueberries (floured so as not to sink), extra pecans & extra brown sugar in 9x13 pan. That size was good for cutting normal-size pieces. However, the cake seemed to me no more than fine, not exciting at all. I agree with the writer who said some grated lemon rind might help it along. (I am someone who often finds Times recipes need a little more flavoring/spice...)

This is a delicious light cake with a gorgeous balance of flavors. I used light sour cream and walnuts, as it's what I had on hand. My friend asked for seconds, and my neighbors looooved it. This would be great as a coffee cake, and I could see it with other berries for sure. Go on, make it!

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