This Sourdough Blueberry Breakfast Cake comes together fairly quickly, tastes amazing, and is a great way to put sourdough discard to good use. Isn’t it just lovely to have something slightly sweet and full of good carbs to snack on early in the morning with a cup of coffee? A reward for waking up early! The house is quiet and the sun is just starting to flood the sky with color and light. The sting of yesterday’s worries has faded and the morning is full of new mercies waiting to be received. This is my favorite time of day. This time of day deserves to be celebrated. Celebrations almost always have cake!
Many of the breakfast cake recipes I reviewed in my research called for buttermilk. I do love baking with buttermilk, but I find that it’s just not an easy ingredient to keep on hand. Unless you have your own cow and are routinely churning cream into butter, you’d probably have to make a special trip to the store just for that ingredient. I wondered if sourdough discard, which is acidic like buttermilk, could be a substitution in this case. It worked out very well. So instead of using buttermilk, I used a combination of whole milk and sourdough discard. The acidity is needed to react with the baking powder, which helps the cake rise and have a lighter, softer crumb.
The tang of the blueberries and sourdough discard balance out the sugar really well here. The cake is not overly sweet. But do be sure to sprinkle that tablespoon of sugar over the top of the batter before baking. For simplicity’s sake, I decided not to add any kind of streusel or crumb topping to this cake. Though it would be delicious, it’s another stick of butter, more measuring cups, and another dirty bowl. No thanks, not today. That sprinkle of sugar over the top bakes up with a nice crackled shine.
I used frozen blueberries in this recipe, though fresh ones would be just fine if you have them. I love the blueberries in the frozen section labeled “wild”. They tend to be smaller and more flavorful in my experience. If I see them, I stock up so that I have them in the freezer for baking. To keep the blueberries from all sinking to the bottom, this recipe calls for a coating of flour before folding them into the batter. I still find that they sink some, but there’s still blueberry goodness in every bite so it’s okay.
Be careful not to overmix the batter for this recipe. I like to cream the butter, sugar, and eggs together with an electric or stand mixer, but then once the flour is added, I mix by hand. A Danish dough whisk is such a great tool for mixing batters and doughs. If you don’t have one, it’s a really inexpensive kitchen tool that you’ll find yourself reaching for often.
I hope this Sourdough Blueberry Breakfast Cake finds its way into your kitchen, and that you enjoy a little early morning celebration (solo or otherwise) as I do. Happy baking and cheers (coffee mugs clink together) to a great day!
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Sourdough Blueberry Breakfast Cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Sourdough Blueberry Breakfast Cake comes together quickly, tastes amazing, and is a great way to put sourdough discard to good use!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons salted butter, softened
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cups sourdough discard
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a 9 by 9 inch baking dish by lining with parchment paper and spraying with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and 1 cup of granulated sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, and mix until smooth.
- Measure out 1/2 cup of milk, and stir in the sourdough discard and vanilla extract. Pour the milk mixture into the mixing bowl and mix at medium-low speed until incorporated.
- Switch to hand mixing, using a wooden spoon or danish dough whisk, to add the flour mixture into the mixing bowl. When most of the flour is mixed in, stop mixing.
- Add blueberries to the empty bowl that had the flour mixture in it, and add another 1/4 cup all-purpose flour. Toss the blueberries around in the flour to coat them evenly. Add the blueberries (and leftover flour) into the mixing bowl and gently fold them in.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and then sprinkle 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar over the top of the batter evenly.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 48-53 minutes. The top will be golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean.
- Cool completely, and then cut into squares to serve. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 179
- Sugar: 16g
- Sodium: 183mg
- Fat: 5.5g
- Saturated Fat: 3.1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.8g
- Trans Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 30g
- Fiber: 1.2g
- Protein: 2.9g
- Cholesterol: 35mg
Donna LaVanture says
I tried this a modification of this recipe tonight to use up some sourdough discard and it was SO good! I’ll be making this again. I’m veganized the recipe by using Ener-G Egg Replacer, and since I ran out of white sugar I used 2/3 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup coconut sugar. My oven tends to run a bit cooler so I baked it for 55 minutes.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
TM says
What about the other cup of sugar and half cup of milk???
Ysa says
The cup of sugar called in the recipe is creamed with the butter. There isn’t any more in the recipe (I read it twice) and the 1/2 cup milk called in the recipe as well is mixed with the sourdough. There is no mention of “extra” cup of sugar or another 1/2 cup milk.
Sarah says
Delicious! I added frozen blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Next time, I will try only blueberries. I like the crunch of the sugar topping.
Tena says
The ingredient list and the instructions don’t match. Ingredients 3 1/2 c flour, 2c sugar 1 cup milk. Instructions 1 1/2c flour, 1 c sugar, 1/2 c milk. There is no way all the ingredients will fit in a 9 x9 pan. 4 eggs is alot for 1 1/2 c flour. I think this recipe needs to be corrected and republished.
Julie says
Hi Tena, thank you so much for visiting my recipe site. You have mistakenly pressed the 2X button that is just under the word INGREDIENTS in the recipe. You can see three squares that each say 1X 2X 3X. This is so that if you wanted to know how much ingredients to use without doing math, the buttons would change the recipe for you. It does not change the numbers in the instruction section however, so that is why they appear not to match. If you click on the square that says 1X, the recipe will go back to its original form. I have made this recipe several times, and it is sound. I hope this is helpful.
Sofia says
I’ve made this a couple times and it’s delicious. The issue is I keep it outside and it doesn’t last long. How do you store the rest ? Freezer?
Amy says
This cake was delicious. I used organic cane sugar and rubbed the zest of one lemon into the sugar before creaming it with the butter. It’s a great recipe for using up your sourdough discard.
Taylor says
Delicious!! Reminded me of a cobbler! I also added some raspberries and blackberries!
Anita says
Do you have the ingredients list as well as weight? I find this a lot more convenient?
Diana says
Great recipe. I’m wondering if you can refrigerate overnight (a portion or all) to increase health benefits before baking. Thanks in advance for any input!
Kennedie says
I would love to make this, but I would much prefer to have the weight of the ingredients instead of the cups. Would it be possible for you to add this in? Thanks!!