I had baked a bunch of things last week and took pictures of them so I could post recipes on my blog. But when I sat down to actually post one of them, none of them seemed interesting to me anymore. I was complaining to a friend about it and she asked what I wanted to bake. I have this apple cinnamon coffee cake that I love making, but lacked apples. After going back and forth, her asking what fruits I did have, I decided to try out a blueberry lemon coffee cake. Basically, the same cake batter, just a different flavoring.

There are quite a bit of ingredients to this recipe and it seems like there’s a ton of little parts that you have to do. Once you start mixing everything together, it’s not as intimidating as it seems and it comes together fairly quickly. I used fresh blueberries since it is summer here in the US and they’re in season, but use frozen whole berries if you can’t get the fruits fresh.

You start with creaming together the butter and white sugar. Then you mix in your egg and vanilla, followed by baking powder, salt, and flour. Stir in milk until the batter is smooth, then add the lemon zest.

After you have the batter made, you mix powdered sugar with lemon juice and use that to coat the blueberries. The mixture will add more lemon flavor than just the lemon zest alone, but the powdered sugar will also help the juices that come from the berries thicken up while the cake bakes.

Then it’s time to layer everything together. Why layered instead of mixed in? I think it looks prettier and is purely a presentation reason. Half the batter goes into your cake pan first, followed by the blueberries and powdered sugar mixture, sprinkle on the almonds, then top it off with the rest of the batter. It might be a struggle to cover everything with the last bit of the batter, but don’t stress about it too much. If some almonds or berries are peeking through, it’s perfectly fine.

After baking in the oven for about 25 minutes, you’ve got a golden brown cake that’s moist and tender with crisp, chewy edges and a bit of textural crunch from the almonds. It’s sweet with a slight tartness from the lemon and just enough blueberries to flavor each bite without going overboard. In my opinion, it tastes like summer.

Pixie’s Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake with Almonds

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ½ cup milk (I use whole milk)
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ¾ cup whole blueberries
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Prepare your 9-inch round cake pan with non-stick spray or by greasing with butter and dusting with flour.
2. Cream together the butter and white sugar until smooth and fluffy.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla, mixing until well combined.
4. Stir in the baking powder, salt, and flour until just combined. It will be a stiff dough at this point.
5. Mix in milk until the batter is well combined and smooth.
6. Stir in lemon zest.
7. In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth and no dry powdered sugar is left.
8. Pour over the blueberries and mix until well coated.
9. Spread half of the cake batter into the prepared pan, making sure it’s an even layer.
10. Distribute blueberry and powdered sugar mixture over the batter.
11. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the blueberries.
12. Pour the remaining batter over the top, smoothing to ensure that it’s even. If the batter doesn’t cover all the berries and almonds, it’s okay – just make sure it’s even.
13. Bake in the oven for 25 minute, until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the middle will come out with a few moist crumbs.
14. Let cool in pan for at least 20 minutes before serving.

If you don’t like almonds, or are allergic to almonds, you don’t have to use them. The cake will still be just as delicious.