Like many people, we tend to get into ruts where breakfast is concerned. This problem is even worse for non-morning people, like myself, because we are not going to get up earlier–even by 10 minutes–to add cooking time to our morning routine. Nor are we capable of much thought, let alone creativity, for a good hour or 2 after waking. So our breakfasts tend to be very routine and often made ahead of time. My personal favorites are oatmeal and whole grain toast with peanut butter. I wake up craving sweet carbs, I won’t lie.
So anyway, when Alex complained that she was tired of our current breakfasts (you can add eggs for the mornings John feeds them), it was hard to blame her. John started talking about English muffins and bagels, at which point I declared I’d rather have a homemade whole grain cake with fruit than commercial bagels and English muffins (not because they are bad, but rather because they are certainly not any healthier in which case I can get a lot more excited about a streusel topped homemade cake). And into the kitchen I went.
I had been staring at this cake in Lou Seibert Pappas’s Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet, and Savory
for quite some time; remembering that it was made with whole wheat flour it seemed like a great place to start–and the search ended there as well. I made a few adjustments, white whole wheat flour for regular whole wheat, pecans for walnuts, basically just changing things around to our personal taste. The cake was a huge hit; I borrowed a trick from my mother’s book and had the girls eat a spoonful of peanut butter (for protein) before heading to school. We were all sad when it was gone, especially because we are almost out of local blueberries since we were not home last summer to freeze any.
- 2 T cold unsalted butter, diced
- 2 T AP flour
- 2 T white whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 t Ceylon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup (4 oz) pecans, chopped
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 cup AP flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 t baking powder
- 1 t baking soda
- 1/4 t fine sea salt
- 1 cup buttermilk Pappas says you can also use low fat yogurt
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries I recommend only using fresh in season, do not thaw if frozen
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Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with an oil/flour combo, such as Baker's Joy. Set aside.
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Whisk together the flours, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Using your hands, rub the butter into the flour mixture. Add the pecans and continue to mix with your hands until it is a crumbly mixture, the butter pieces no larger than the size of a pea. Set aside.
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Begin by whisking together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
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Using a whisk or hand mixer, mix together the oil, sugars, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk in 3 and 2 alternating increments, respectively, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until smooth.
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Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Scatter the blueberries over the batter (adding them this way will prevent the berries from sinking too much). Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter.
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Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, the cake pulls away from the edge of the pan, and a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then remove the sides of the pan. Let cool completely.
As always, affiliate links were used in this post, but only to link to products I would be linking to anyway.
This sounds super delish, but I have a question: what exactly is white whole wheat?
It’s a strain of wheat, it does not have that tannic strong flavor that whole wheat has–which I do not like. Health benefits are the same. King Arthur sells it.
You know whats better then Coffee Cake?
Nothing, except Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake! Thats right, I said it.
I have an addiction to coffee cake and Blueberries. But put them both together and I’m in heaven. 😉
Thank you for posting this fabulous recipe and I will be trying it this weekend when we have a family reunion. Because all of my children, my grand children and my great grand children will all be under one roof. So, I’m really excited and will look forward to serving it to all of them this weekend.
Now, I just need to go to the store and get all of the ingredients to make several of them.
Take care,
Grandma Kat
XOXOXOXOXO
I’m not a regular breakfast eater — but I would make room in my morning for a big slice (make that a wedge) of this…with a coffee of course! Theresa
I love coffee cake and can’t wait to try this one. 🙂
I am definitely going to try this soon. Would make a great addition to a “special breakfast”. Thanks!
This looks like a yummylicious cake. Thanks for sharing.
Oh my goodness, this blueberry streusel coffee cake is so delish looking. And the recipe looks soooo easy. Must bookmark this so I can bake it once I get my hands on Jersey blueberries over here. Will let you know how it all goes down. Thanks for sharing, Laura !