This vegan blueberry coffee cake is tender and fluffy with the most delicious streusel topping. Perfectly paired with your favorite coffee or tea.
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I can’t say I ever loved coffee cake growing up, but as an adult I love it and this vegan blueberry coffee cake is no exception. It has the perfect crumb layer and it’s soft and fluffy structure is something that you’ll want again and again.
For many around the world coffee cake is literally cake that has been flavored with coffee. However, in the United States, it’s more of a sweet cake that is meant to be enjoyed as an accompaniment to your tea or coffee (or hot chocolate in our house and maybe yours).
This cake in this post is the Americanized version. It does not actually contain any coffee. Rather, it’s a single layer cake, made with a streusel topping that crumbles around your plate as you eat it.
Some believe that this version of cake is actually a variation of a German cake called kaffekuchen without using yeast.
We hope you enjoy this vegan version.
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Ingredients and Substitutions:
Let’s gather our ingredients:
Flour – The star of the show, we only used all-purpose flour here because we wanted this recipe to be as accessible as possible for everyone.
Substitute: Cake flour could be swapped for all or half of the all-purpose flour. Also an all-purpose or 1:1 gluten free flour could be used.
Blueberries: Fresh blueberries are a delicious addition to a coffee cake and a must try.
Substitute: Any fresh berry will work for this.
Sugar – Cane sugar is what we are using. If you want to learn more about why your sugar may not be vegan, you can learn more by clicking on the link.
Substitute: While we haven’t tried, you could replace this with a coconut sugar or date sugar
Salt – to help the flavors pop and really bring our the cinnamon and richness from the vegan butter
Vegan butter– Oil helps the moisture in your cake but also helps by slowing down the formation of gluten that yields a very tender and fluffy cake – isn’t that what we all want! The butter in the streusel is for richness
Substitute: Melted coconut oil could also be used here and it is normal for it to resolidify when mixing. It will melt back down again when baking.
Dairy Free Milk – Using milk instead of water adds more flavor into the recipe. We have tried this with both oat and almond and there’s not much of a difference honestly. Use either unsweetened plain or unsweetened vanilla flavored milk, but you don’t want any sweetened milk in this already sweet recipe.
See below for the full ingredient amounts.
Tips for the best vegan coffee cake:
- Follow the instructions pretty please. Cake baking is a science, especially when making a dairy free/vegan cake. Every step has a purpose to ensure the perfect vegan coffee cake.
- Spoon the flour into the measuring cups for accurate measuring, then you a butter knife to evenly level the flour. This ensures the right amount of flour has been added.
- If you are new to baking or it’s not your favorite thing, we highly recommend sifting the ingredients into the bowl. This loosens the ingredients and make sure there are no clumps leading to a more airy cake.
- Do not just add the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients. Again, you want an airy cake and you get this by properly combining ingredients first.
- Make sure to line with parchment paper and/or grease your pans. No one likes a cake that can’t come out of the pan. It’s one of the most frustrating things and doing these two things will help.
- When the cakes are cooked, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack to allow the cakes to cool evenly.
- Let the cakes cool as instructed. DO NOT RUSH. Let it cool completely.
Other must make vegan cake ideas:
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Vegan Blueberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- ½ cup all purpose flour (60g)
- ⅓ cup vegan cane sugar (70g)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons plant-based butter, melted
Cake Batter
- 1 cup plant-based yogurt (225g)
- ⅔ cup cane sugar (135g)
- ½ cup plant-based butter, melted (but not hot)
- ⅓ cup plant-based milk (75g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour, sifted (300g)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg, (optional)
- 1 ¼ cup blueberries, fresh or frozen and thawed + more for topping (optional) (180g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F (190˚C) and prepare an 8 or 9 inch springform pan (can use a regular round cake pan as well) with parchment paper and greased sides.
- For the Streusel: Add ½ cup flour, ⅓ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ⅛ teaspoon salt to a bowl. Whisk together until well combined and no large chunks remain. Add 4 tablespoon melted butter and using a spatula, fold just until you have a paste looking dough form. Place in the fridge until ready to use.
- For the Cake: To a large bowl, add 1 cup yogurt, ⅔ cup cane sugar, ½ cup melted butter, ⅓ cup milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Whisk together until sugar is dissolved and no chunks of yogurt remain.
- To the same bowl, sift in 2 ½ cups all purpose flour, then add 3 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg (if adding). Using a spatula, fold together just until almost combined (okay to see a little flour – batter will be thick).
- Add 1 ¼ cup blueberries and stir just until all flour has been combined. Cafeful not to overmix. Pour into prepared pan and level out into an even layer. Top with another ¼ cup or so of blueberries if desired. Evenly crumble the streusel mixture over the top.
- Place in oven and cook for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let sit for 30 minutes before cutting so it sets properly. Cut and enjoy. Store leftovers in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes! Use any safe for you non-dairy milk. For the butter, use a soy free version like Flora or Earth Balance soy free. And finally, use a gluten free 1:1 flour blend, like King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill. You want to make sure to use a blend and not just almond or oat flour.
You can absolutely make this into cupcakes. Simply make the recipe as normal and then instead of greasing a loaf pan, spray a cupcake pan or liners. Fill each one up ¼ of the way, then some streusel, then ¼ way more, the sprinkle more streusel on top. You’ll want to reduce the cooking time to 15-20 minutes.
We would not recommend making this completely oil free. There is oil in the streusel topping and in the actual cake. You could replace some of the cake oil with applesauce, but note that the more you replace the more dense your cake will be.
A vegan coffee cake is better for animals and the environment; however, we still use flour, sugar, and oil in this recipe. We are not claiming that this is a healthier alternative to a cake that contains dairy based milk and traditional eggs.
We’ll let you in on a little secret. You can’t even tell the difference. In fact, we’ve served vegan cake to many non-vegans and they had no idea!
❤️
Enjoy!
Very tasty, delightful texture, not too sweet, and perfect with a cup of any favorite beverage.
Thank you Andrew and Larisha and the girls who say cake is for breakfast for every princess or queen. (Well maybe just not everyday : )
hahaha, they’d love cake for breakfast everyday
I’ve made this cake at least 5 times and it’s a huge hit each time!! It tastes as if it were so complex to make, but I find that the recipe is so easy to follow. Baking 2 of these for a friend’s baby shower soon! 🙂 Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Love that! So happy to hear
This looks delicious, it would be great if you could include metric measurements. As you say, cake baking is a science, so using metric measurements makes it more accurate.
We just added metric for this recipe!
Great recipes! You are right, all of them do contain pantry staple ingredients, how convenient. Thanks for the simplicity. I LOVE them.
You’re so welcome
Love your recipes, any chance you could add metric measurements for all of us that don’t live in the US?!
Added for this!
I made this last night and it is delicious. My family loves this tasty treat!!
Love when the whole family has a treat to enjoy!
amazing easy and delicious!!
yay!