Vegan Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Swirl
This moist & tender lemon blueberry coffee cake has a ripple of dairy free cream cheese throughout and is bursting with fresh lemon! Easy, dairy free, no eggs!
Why you need to try this lemon blueberry coffee cake:
If ever there was a cake to represent summer, it’s this lemon blueberry coffee cake with cream cheese swirl. Like my blueberry lemon cake, it’s bursting with bright lemon flavor from fresh lemon zest and sweet and juicy blueberries.
And like my banana bread cream cheese coffee cake, almond coffee cake, and chocolate chip coffee cake, we’re putting a spin on the traditional coffee cake recipe, and swapped out the cinnamon streusel (and streusel topping) for a cream cheese ripple and sweet crumb topping.
Oh, and this blueberry coffee cake is unbelievably vegan- no eggs, no dairy, and you’d never even know. PLUS, you only need a whisk to make the batter! How simple is that?! No stand mixer nor complicated reverse creaming method required.
Let’s talk about the components:
Soft lemon blueberry cake- This lemon blueberry cake base is moist, tender, and soft with only real lemon. Absolutely no lemon extract whatsoever! The cake is delicate, yet structured, thanks to using dairy free yogurt in lieu of eggs, and the fresh blueberries bring a refreshing sweetness to that tangy lemon flavor.
Silky lemon cream cheese filling- The cream cheese filling might actually be my favorite. Just a simple whisk together of vegan cream cheese, cornstarch, sugar, and a bit of lemon zest for a perfectly set, almost cheesecake-like texture in between two fluffy blueberry cake layers.
Sweet cinnamon crumb topping- Unlike traditional crumble topping, we’re omitting the brown sugar to leave this lemon blueberry coffee cake feeling lighter and brighter!
Vanilla bean glaze- Just a simple whisk of powdered sugar with vanilla bean paste and a drop of dairy free milk makes for a lush sweet glaze that’s the perfect complement to the zingy lemon flavor.
Honestly, this is the best summer version of coffee cake, and it’s perfect for a weekend brunch or fun breakfast treat with a cup of coffee! Add a batch of my easy vegan blueberry muffins, and you’re set 😉
How is this blueberry coffee cake vegan?
A traditional blueberry coffee cake recipe contains dairy and eggs. This crumb cake, however, is different.
Instead of eggs, we’re using my favorite vegan egg substitute, dairy free yogurt. Instead of butter, we’re using vegan butter, and instead of milk, we’re using dairy free milk (I LOVE this recipe with oat milk, but soy milk or almond milk also work!).
Oh, and the cream cheese? We’re using dairy free cream cheese (and you can even make your own vegan cream cheese too!).
You really can’t taste the difference- actually, many non-vegan readers comment that they like the vegan version even better 😉 That’s why I have a whole cookbook on how to make unbelievably delicious vegan and gluten free desserts. You’re going to love it!
Overview: How to make vegan lemon blueberry coffee cake:
Tips for success:
Use a larger springform pan- I recommend using at least a 9″ springform pan. Otherwise, you’ll be baking the blueberry coffee cake for far too long in the oven!
Make sure you’re using a kitchen scale- This will ensure that all of your ingredients are in the appropriate quantities. Too much flour, and you’ll yield a drier cake!
You can use frozen or fresh blueberries- I really like fresh blueberries, but when not in season, or if you’re out of fresh blueberries, you can absolutely use frozen! Still make sure to coat the blueberries in flour to prevent them from sinking in the cake.
Swap out the berries- If you have an abundance of strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries, feel free to swap those in instead!
If you just want a sugar crumble- You can omit the teaspoon ground cinnamon added to the crumble. I personally LOVE it, and that’s what makes it so reminiscent of a coffee cake, but feel free to omit! I know sometimes people are wary of trying cinnamon with blueberry, but it really goes well in my blueberry lemon cinnamon rolls, so I’d definitely give it a go here!
You can use a different shaped pan- If you don’t have a 9″ springform pan, consider a large rectangular baking dish (9×13) or a square 9×9 baking pan!
Can I make this blueberry coffee cake gluten free?
Absolutely! I like to use King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour blend. Add in a tablespoon of cornstarch or arrowroot starch to help with any grittiness in the flour, and honestly you won’t believe your vegan blueberry coffee cake is also gluten free then!
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Vegan Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Swirl
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 75
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This moist & tender lemon blueberry coffee cake has a ripple of dairy free cream cheese throughout and is bursting with fresh lemon! Easy, dairy free, no eggs!
Ingredients
Cinnamon Crumble:
- 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour*, plus 1 tbsp for coating the blueberries
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 5 tbsp (70 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 8 ounces vegan cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake Batter:
- 1 pint (12 ounces) fresh or frozen blueberries
- 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour*
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/4 cup (250 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (113 g) vegan unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 3/4 cup (170 g) dairy free yogurt or vegan sour cream, room temperature
- 1/3 cup (80 mL) dairy free milk (like oat milk or soy milk), room temperature
- 60 mL (1/4 cup) lemon juice, about 1–2 lemons
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon zest, about 3 medium lemons
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Icing:
- 1 cup (140 g) powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp dairy free milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Grease the rims of the springform pan. Rinse the blueberries and pour into a small bowl. Add 1 tbsp of flour to them, and toss to evenly coat. This will prevent the blueberries from sinking
- Make the crumble first: In a medium bowl, use a fork to mix together the crumble ingredients until you get a sand-like texture. Then set aside.
- Next, make the cream cheese filling: In another medium bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together the cream cheese filling ingredients until the cream cheese is fluffy and the ingredients are integrated (about 1-2 minutes). Set aside.
- Now make the blueberry coffee cake batter: In a large bowl, add in the sugar and the lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers to help release the lemon oils. Then pour in the vegan butter, dairy free yogurt, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. Then add in the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. As you’re whisking the dry ingredients, pour in the dairy free milk, followed by the lemon juice. Whisk just until the dry ingredients are incorporated with the wet. Then fold in the blueberries until evenly distributed.
- Assemble the coffee cake: Spoon half of the blueberry coffee cake batter into the pan, and spread it to the edges of the pan. Then spoon the cream cheese layer on top, and use an offset spatula to spread the cream cheese to the edges. Next, spread the remaining blueberry coffee cake batter on top to the edges of the pan. Sprinkle the crumble on top of the batter.
- Bake: Place the springform pan into the oven to bake for 75-77 minutes (it’s a long bake time, but don’t worry- it doesn’t dry out!). Remove the pan from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean and the crumble is lightly golden on top.
- Cool: Allow the coffee cake to cool in its pan for 1 hour.
- Serve: When ready to serve, whisk together the icing ingredients. Carefully remove the walls of the springform pan, and drizzle the icing on top. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Gluten free: I like to use King Arthur measure for measure gluten free flour. It’s so easy and tastes delicious! You MUST use a blend designed for baking with xanthan gum- you cannot just use any gluten free flour (such as just almond flour or just rice flour). Add in 1 tbsp of cornstarch to help with the grittiness.
Can we just us normal ingredients and have it turn out good?
I can’t guarantee results as I have not tried it- you can swap in dairy ingredients for the df ingredients, as some readers have done with success, but I can’t guarantee because I haven’t personally seen the results!
Hey!! By granulated sugar do you mean white sugar or brown sugar? Going to make this this weekend! Can’t wait!
Hi Meera!! For the granulated sugar, it’s referring to white sugar 🙂 Make sure it’s vegan though! Enjoy!!
Hii Britt, the recipe sounds amazing! I want to bake the cake in advance. How long can I keep the cake refrigerated/freezed for it to still taste fresh? I’m a bit anxious that the crumble will get soggy etc.. Thanks in advance!!
Hi Emma! So sorry I’m just responding! I would bake it a day in advance, let it cool, then cover and store it in the fridge overnight. Just make sure the cake is fully cool before covering to prevent a soggy crumble (and makes sure it’s wrapped tightly so that the cake doesn’t dry out!! The fridge is very good at that haha!). Enjoy!
Hi I just wondered how many calories is Vegan Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake with Cream cheese Swirl please I need to know how many calories each slice? thanks
Hi Barbara- unfortunately, I don’t calculate calories for my recipes as it would be inaccurate since you might use different products than me, which have varying nutritional values. You can always plug my recipe into an online nutritional calculator and adjust for the products you use specifically!
Hey! Me again!!
Can these be made as muffins? If so what would you change the cooking times to?
Hi Meera! Yes you can! I know a few readers have tested this out, I haven’t personally, but you should be able to yield about 12 large muffins (or 24 smaller ones). I would pipe the cream cheese into the muffins like in my pumpkin muffins, and bake for about 22-25 minutes, but check how they’re doing in your oven around the 18 min mark!
Hey, this cake looks incredible. If I want it to fit in a 28 cm( 11 inch ) form, shall I double it or 1.5 will be enough?
Thank you!
Hi Rinath! It will definitely work in a 28 cm, but it will just bake a bit quicker 🙂
Hi, I’m a bit confused: why is it called ‘coffee cake’ while it does not contain coffee? Do you think I can add an espresso shot in the cake batter?
Hi Marleen! Correct, there’s no coffee cake in coffee cake! I think you might be referring to a coffee-flavored cake- coffee cake is just another term for crumb cake, but more commonly used up in the NE where I’m from!
You might want to try my mocha cake– it’s so rich and very flavored with coffee! 🙂
Very tasty but I made a few changes. Made this twice now. I love sweet things but for this I eliminated the icing as unnecessary and used only about 2/3 of the crumble topping on my second try. Much better. Might try icing with lemon flavor next time though. I used the cup for cup Bobs Red Mill GF flour. Should’ve used the grams measurement instead of 3cups as suggested. Batter was way too dry. But turned out good anyway. Even my non-vegan family likes it!
can I substitute the cream cheese for coconut cream?
Hi Alexis! That definitely won’t work here- the coconut cream is too liquidy- and might cause your coffee cake not to fully bake. You can omit the cream cheese layer though, and drizzle a coconut cream glaze on top!
Do you think coconut sugar would sub well in this recipe? You normally mention it and didn’t here, so thought I’d ask.
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!
You definitely can! It will taste more caramel in flavor but still be delicious! Thank you for the kind words by the way 🙂 Enjoy!!
Hi Britt,
Can I substitute the flour with bob’s gluten free oat flour?
Thanks.
Hi Dima! I haven’t personally tested this recipe with just oat flour- I would imagine it would work, BUT it might be too much liquid to dry in order for it to work with just oat flour, so I can’t guarantee results. I’m so sorry!
This was so so good! I used miyokos vegan butter, coconut yogurt, and oat milk. I actually left out the cream cheese filling and the icing and it was also great that way – still needed to cook for 70 minutes.
Oh I’m so so happy to hear it!! Enjoy, and thank you or the review!
Can i please know what size if pan i should use if i cut the recipe in half?
I live in a small household so would like to scale down
Will the baking time change ?
Thanks in advance
Hi there! You can use a 6″ baking pan 🙂 The baking time, I’m not quite sure as I haven’t tested it. I would check on it around the 30-35 minute mark with the oven light. I hope that helps!
Hi! I’m making this now and just realized I only have an 8 x 8 springform pan. How long would I bake using an 8 x 8 springform pan? I can’t wait to try it, thank you!
So sorry I’m just responding! An 8×8 will definitely need longer, like an additional 10 minutes, and you need to be careful that the top doesn’t burn!
Oh my goodness! My husband and I just made this cake for a family get together and it was amazing! My entire family loved it, and they are all non-vegans. We followed the recipe exactly and used Violife cream cheese. It was so soft, moist and fluffy. No need for another lemon and blueberry cake recipe. This will be our go to from now on for that flavor combo. I can’t thank you enough for this! I’m still elated from all the compliments we got. They kept asking if it was from a professional bakery! Thank you again and I can’t wait to try more from your recipe library ❤️
Oh my goodness!! How lovely is this!? So glad you all loved it so much, thank you so much for making it! Enjoy 🙂
It looks delicious, Am I crazy I don’t see how much blueberries we should add could you please tell me?
and is there coffee in the recipe? Or is it a way to describe this type of cake? Foreigner here;)
Hi Hilde! No problem at all! So there is no coffee in this “coffee cake,” – it’s a type of cake that’s traditionally served with coffee, hence the name! Sometimes it’s called a crumb cake, both are popular names 🙂 The amount of ingredients is listed in the recipe card- click the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page, and it will take you right to the recipe so that you don’t miss it. Enjoy!!
Hi there! Was wondering if this needs to be stored at room temp or if it should be refrigerated?
Thank you!
Hi Kristi! You can store it at room temp for the day, but other than that, I would refrigerate!
Made this today with minor changes, and the family really liked it! I didn’t have blueberries, so i made it with frozen raspberries (which turned the batter a beatiful pink and the finished cake a pretty purple).
I used dairy products in stead of df, and put 215g of sugar instead of the 250 and it was still quiet sweet, but balanced well with the sourness of the lemon. There’s some bitterness to it, but I think that might be because I haven’t used fresh lemons for this, just bottled juice and packaged zest.
The cinnamon crumble tastes great tho! I did take another commenter’s recommendation and made less crumble, and that was just right.
The cake did deflate after taking it out of the oven.
1 hour cooling time wasn’t enough, the cake was a lot nicer cold.
I will try making this again with blueberries.
Thank you for this great recipe!!
Hi there! I was wondering if I can use arrowroot starch instead of cornstarch ? Also, if I’m making it the day before serving can I leave it out at room temp or does it need to be refrigerated?
TIA!
Hi Kristi! You can definitely swap out arrowroot starch instead of cornstarch! If making the day before, I would refrigerate it (but wrap it tightly after baking!). Then serve the next day! Enjoy 🙂
Made this recipe exactly as written and it was a HUGE hit. Absolutely delicious and perfect for Spring.
This is so wonderful!! So glad to hear it, thank you for the review 🙂
absolutely delicious! my guests brought the rest home so their family could try it