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
Sydney Paver says
Can you the give the “buttermilk” recipe? Thank you from someone who always has buttermilk, but not starter.
Julie says
Hi Sydney, I have not made this exact recipe, but it looks similar. Hope this helps! https://alexandracooks.com/2011/06/29/buttermilk-blueberry-breakfast-cake/
Karen says
This recipe is a winner! Not too sweet with plenty of juicy fruit. I didn’t have fresh or frozen blueberries but I did have dried which I plumped up with some hot water. The recipe turned out just great. I love the tang of the sourdough starter. This will be a recipe I come back to again & again
Julie says
Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you. I’m glad the dried blueberries worked out so well. So nice to have them on hand.
Cheryl says
What a wonderful recipe!! Only issue I had was with the blueberries sinking to the bottom even after following your directions exactly as written….certainly didn’t affect the cake….but wished they were throughout!
Julie says
Thank you so much Cheryl! I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake. The only trick to keep the blueberries from sinking other than coating the blueberries with flour before mixing them into the batter, is to add half the blueberries to the batter, and then the other half of the blueberries after the cake has been in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. So you would sprinkle the blueberries on top of the half baked cake… The batter will have more structure by that time, and the second half of the blueberries theoretically shouldn’t sink.
Barry says
I did not see how to leave a direct comment. This recipe makes a delicious blueberry breakfast cake. It’s not cake, though, but something with more substance (probably because of the sourdough starter from rye flour). It’s really quite good, but needs only 1/2 cup of sugar.
Linda Troia says
I loved it! Just the perfect texture and amount of blueberries and sweetness. Made this for dessert and my family really liked it!
Pam says
I am always looking for sourdough discard recipes and this one was excellent! Not overly sweet but the cake had lots of flavor. I loved the sugary crackle glaze. I plan to try it with different fruit (small diced rhubarb will be next). Thanks so much!
Dana says
Made this yummy cake this morning and it was a hit! I subbed honey for the sugar to at least trick myself into thinking it was appropriate to eat for breakfast. 3/4 of honey for the 1 cup of sugar and omitted about 2-3 tablespoons of milk. It was delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Dana says
3/4 a cup of honey is what I meant!
Meredith says
I made these simply because I had the ingredients on hand and had guests coming last minute- they exceeded my expectations! Absolutely delicious. I love the amount of sweetness, I usually have to cut down sugar in recipes, I may have left a little out but the sweetness with the sour tang of starter and berries was perfectly balanced. So tasty warm out of the oven but almost even better after chilling in the fridge! Needless to say these will be made again and again in our house.
Thank you!
Alia says
Question: Could you leave the batter for a few or several hours to ferment the grains before baking it? Wondering if that would work/how that would affect the result. Thank you!
Amber says
Alia, a YouTube vlogger/blogger I follow does this. She ferments it first to make it better for the gut. The seasonal homestead on YouTube. Can’t remember her website or how long she ferments but you could find it if you go to her channel.
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a great brunch idea for the weekend!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Does it freeze well?
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a great breakfast meal prep for the family for the week!
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a fun treat to make for kids!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Emily says
Have you tried freezing this? 🙂
Hannah Cairns says
Wow, this turned out so well! I had to bake it quite a bit longer than the recipe said- but it was worth the wait! I want to try subbing honey next time. Thank you for the recipe!
Rachel says
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I substitute 1 cup of maple syrup in place of the sugar. I’m new to sourdough, and I was very curious to know if there is a way that I could do a long ferment with this recipe? I really love to eat this, but I would like to long ferment it so it can be more easily digestible. If this is possible, could you please explain how to do it? Thanks so much!!
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a great recipe to make with kids!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Do other mix ins work too?
Gina Sperry says
Has anyone tried this with honey instead of granulated sugar? What would be the ratio if so? Thanks!