This blackberry crumb cake features a blackberry-studded buttery breakfast cake, smooth cream cheese layer, and cinnamon brown sugar crumble topping. Lemon or vanilla icing finishes it off to make an impressive (and sweet!) breakfast coffee cake.
One reader, Soph, says “It’s like a cheesecake, berry crumble and cake all mixed into one mouthful. ★★★★★”
Blackberry cream cheese crumb cake is, simply put, an unforgettable breakfast treat. That’s why for the past few years since I first published the recipe, I’ve made it more often than any other indulgent breakfast cake. (And I love a good crumb cake!) In the winter, I swap blackberries for cranberries. Sometimes I use raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries instead. You can skip the fruit, add chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins or leave plain (it will be like my classic coffee cake but with a luscious cream cheese swirl inside!).
No matter how I prepare it, it’s a constant and dependable recipe that makes any morning feel and taste like success!
One reader, Dani, says “Made this for Mother’s Day! I love how the blackberries stayed so juicy and changed into a beautiful deep red. The cream cheese layer adds the perfect richness to this cake. ★★★★★”
This Blackberry Cream Cheese Crumb Cake Is 3 Layers:
- Buttery Blackberry Cake: The batter is the same as our sour cream crumb cake, which we usually bake in a square baking dish. Since we’re adding big blackberries and a substantial cream cheese layer, we need to ensure we have a pan that can fit all these layers. A 9-inch springform pan is ideal. If you need a recommendation, I use and love this one. Sour cream is a key ingredient in this breakfast cake because it promises a tender, rich, and exceptionally moist crumb.
- 2 Ingredient Cream Cheese Layer: Some of the sugar goes into the cake batter and some goes into the cream cheese layer. Beat softened cream cheese (brick of cream cheese, not the spread) with granulated sugar until combined and smooth. It’s pretty thick, so do your best to spread it. It certainly doesn’t have to look or be perfect.
- Crumb Topping: The crumb topping is a scaled down version from what we usually use on New York-style crumb cake. I use the same amount for cranberry cake, too. For crumb toppings, I go back and forth between cold butter and melted butter. Melted butter creates a cake-like crumb topping, while cold butter creates a more crumbly crumb, if that makes sense. What I love most about this topping, though, is that it stays moist (doesn’t dry out) because it settles into the cream cheese layer.
Plus a 4th layer if you add the optional icing. Does a big overloaded cake like this really need icing? No. Are you going to turn down the opportunity for creamy icing melting into warm crumb cake? Hope not.
How to Make Blackberry Cream Cheese Crumb Cake
Pictured on the left below: Expect a thick cake batter. I never chop the blackberries, but you absolutely can if you’d like.
Pictured on the right: Thick cream cheese mixture.
Below is the crumb topping. It’s best if you use a pastry cutter to work the cold butter into the brown sugar/flour mixture. However if you don’t have one, just use a fork and take your time. (Can also use a food processor.) Sprinkle it all over the cream cheese layer before baking.
Unlike cheesecake, this does not need to cool or chill completely in the springform pan. In fact, it’s best served slightly warm when the blackberries are extra juicy. Still, give it about 30 minutes before removing the sides of the springform pan. (Just so the warm cake doesn’t completely crack or fall apart!)
Can I Make This with Other Berries?
Yes, absolutely! You can replace the blackberries with cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, halved and pitted dark sweet cherries, chopped strawberries, or even peeled and chopped peaches. Use 1 heaping cup of fruit. If using frozen fruit, do not thaw. Feel free to replace with other add-ins such as 1 cup chocolate chips, raisins, or chopped nuts.
Here it is with strawberries:
You’ll have no problem waking up in the morning if this blackberry cream cheese crumb cake recipe is on the breakfast menu. Your sweet tooth might also need a break for the day! I love making this cake for Father’s Day brunch, but it’s pretty perfect any time of year especially because you can use frozen blackberries.
More Favorite Breakfast Recipes:
- Homemade Crepes
- Zucchini Cream Cheese Muffins
- Raspberry Twist Bread
- Easy Breakfast Casserole & Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole
- Blueberry Muffins & Banana Muffins
- Berries & Cream French Toast
Blackberry Cream Cheese Crumb Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 5 minutes
- Yield: serves 10
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This blackberry crumb cake features a blackberry-studded buttery breakfast cake, smooth cream cheese layer, and cinnamon brown sugar crumble topping. The icing is optional. Feel free to replace the blackberries with other add-ins detailed in the recipe notes.
Ingredients
Cake
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar, divided
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120g) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/3 cups (166g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 heaping cup (125g) fresh or frozen blackberries (do not thaw)
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed dark or light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (63g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
Optional Icing
- 3/4 cup (90g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons (22ml) milk, heavy cream, or lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (skip if using lemon juice)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9-inch or 10-inch springform pan.
- Make the cake: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and 3/4 cup granulated sugar together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and sour cream. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Turn the mixer on low speed and beat until completely combined. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the blackberries. Batter is thick.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar together until creamy and combined. Spoon and spread over cake batter. It’s a thick cream cheese topping, so do your best to spread around—doesn’t have to be perfect.
- Make the crumb topping: Combine the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender or a fork (or even with your hands) until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over cream cheese layer.
- Bake the cake for 60-65 minutes or until it no longer jiggles in the center. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out *mostly* clean. (A few moist crumbs are fine.) Halfway during bake time (about 30 minutes), tent a piece of aluminum foil over the cake to help prevent over-browning around the edges.
- Cool cake for at least 30 minutes before removing the sides of the springform pan and slicing and serving. During this time, you can make the icing by whisking the icing ingredients together until smooth. Add more milk/cream/lemon juice to thin out if needed. Drizzle icing over cake while it’s still warm.
- Cover and store leftover cake at room temperature for up to 1 day or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Bake the cake as directed, cool completely, then freeze for up to 3 months (with or without the icing). Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature to serve or you can slightly warm by baking at 300°F (149°C) for 15 minutes. Drizzle icing on cake, if it’s plain, before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Springform Pan or 10-inch Springform Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Rubber Spatula or Wooden Spoon | Pastry Cutter/Blender
- Sour Cream: If you don’t have sour cream, you can use plain regular or Greek yogurt instead.
- Other Berries or Add-Ins: You can skip the blackberries to leave this cake plain. You can also replace the blackberries with cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, halved and pitted dark sweet cherries, chopped strawberries, or even peeled and chopped peaches. Use 1 heaping cup of fruit. If using frozen fruit, do not thaw. Feel free to replace with other add-ins such as 1 cup chocolate chips, raisins, or chopped nuts.
Keywords: blackberry crumb cake
This is beyond delicious! Made several mini loaves for my neighbors and they keep begging me to make more.
Currently, gathering my ingredients now to make more. My neighbors are thrilled!
This recipe is PERFECT! I was the star of the show at thanksgiving tonight! Only thing I did different was used a frozen Berry mix with raspberries, blueberries and blackberries! Thank you so much for this it was delicious!
★★★★★
I had a ton of blackberries from my friends garden and needed to sue them up! Thank you for an amazing recipe! Delicious and I would have never thought of this on my
own! So thankful for amazing bakers like
You!!
★★★★★
wonder recipe, easy to follow instructions. turned out great!
★★★★★
Based on your suggestion I make this recipe using two loaf pans and baked for 50 minutes. It can out perfect and got rave reviews. Thank you!
OUTSTANDING!
Good morning Sally….
I had to leave a “THANK YOU” to you and your staff….
I’m learning so much about baking because of this website.
For anyone reading over this recipe & contemplating whether to bake this insanely yummy coffee cake,take out those ingredients so they come to room temperature & start prepping,and preheat your oven!
This is so good,so easy,and fun to make! I made it for church later this morning. I read a reader made this the day before, and brought it to room temp.,the following morning. That’s what I did. I’m about to make the icing.
I made the recipe EXACTLY as instructed. A couple of comments: take time to read the instructions!!!! Even the tips for how to avoid baking dry cakes. It truly makes a huge difference w/the finished product! It’s easy reading & moves quickly.
I honestly do not understand wanting to alter such solid recipes & sound advice.
Thanks so much Sally…I’m already looking forward to choosing what I’ll bake next! Because of you,my fiancé ,family & friends think I’m a rockstar when it comes to baking!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes, Lisa!
I just made this crumble cake this morning … delicious! I only had fresh blueberries… So that’s what I used. Another keeper from you! I cannot thank you enough. In the last two weeks I have made these recipes from you: chocolate jelly roll cake, peanut butter chocolate bars (twice), chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins , cheesecake & now this crumble cake. 90% of all of it given away and everyone absolutely raves about your recipes. Thank you again. Happy Father’s Day to the men in you & your team’s lives
★★★★★
Wow! Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes, Helen — and for sharing them with others! We’re thrilled they’ve been such a hit.
Love all your recipes! Can this be made in a loaf pan?
Hi Elaine! We haven’t tested it. You would need two loaf pans at least– it may turn into 3 though!
Hi Sally,
I follow your recipes a lot and make different ones most times.
In the place where I live ..fresh berries are difficult, and if they r available they are super expensive.
I wanted to know if I can use the packaged dried berries, like blueberry, blackberry, cranberry, etc.
If yes, do I need to make any to the recipe.
Thanks much
Hi Shikha! If using dried instead of fresh or frozen, reduce down to 1/2 cup dried berries. Enjoy!
I have made this twice with blueberries. It is delicious. I was wondering if you think it would work with apples?
★★★★★
Hi Margaret, we haven’t tried it ourselves, but we can’t see why not. You might also enjoy this apple crumb cake recipe, too. Let us know how it goes!
I made this cake with raspberries and it was wonderful. I cut the leftover cake into slices and wrap them up and freeze them. They taste just as good. We love the cream cheese layer.
Great recipe and very easy.
I’ve made this a couple of times with fresh blueberries and it’s fantastic! The recipe easy to follow, and most of the ingredients are what you would typically already have on hand – I usually just have to pick up some cream cheese and berries! Works just as well for a dessert as it does for brunch too. It’s great as is, although I’d be curious to find out how increasing the cream cheese mixture turned out, and how much time to add on in the oven. I think I’m going to have to try the banana chocolate chip crumb cake next!
★★★★★
This recipe is incredible!
I used a 10 inch pie pan, added a little bit more blackberries, and for some reason cooked it for 15 minutes less (not sure why it cooked so fast).
It came out beautiful, moist, and delicious. I think I’ll be making it again soon!
★★★★★
this recipe looks amazing!! do you have a recommendation for reducing the sugar in the cake a bit? i’m not sure how much it will affect the texture. my family often finds most desserts too sweet!
Hi Zee, Sugar is used for moisture and texture in baked goods as well as taste. You can certainly try reducing the sugar, but the resulting texture will be different than intended.
If you need to reduce the sugar you might eliminate the crumb topping (but i never would) and drizzle of frosting. Coffee cakes aren’t typically overly sweet on their own.
Hi Sally! I made this recently with blueberries and it was incredible!! I was wondering, can we use bananas instead of berries? If so, how much should we add?
★★★★★
Hi Meryum, we’re so happy you enjoyed this crumb cake! Adding mashed bananas would require some additional recipe testing, but you could try using banana chunks in place of the blackberries – we haven’t tested this though. I recommend giving our banana chocolate chip crumb cake a try, too!
This recipe is so good, I’ve had to make it twice in the last week for family anxious to try it. I have a small event coming up that I have been asked to bake muffins for, and I was wondering if I can make these into muffins? And if so would your “tall muffin trick apply? And what temperature you recommend if so? Thanks so much!
Hi Sandra, We haven’t tested this recipe as muffins but it should work. Grease muffin cups or line muffin pan(s) with liners. Fill with batter to the near top of the muffin cup. Press crumbs tightly on top of the batter to help prevent them from falling off as the muffins rise. Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake until baked through.
I have made this as written and it was delicious. I would like to double the cream cheese layer. Do you see this as a problem?
★★★★★
Hi Annette, we haven’t tested it ourselves but we can’t see why not. The cake may take a bit longer to bake with the added thickness. Let us know what you try!
Just wondering if I would be able to use cake flour instead of all purpose for this recipe? Can’t wait to try this- with or without cake flour!
Hi Allesandra, While we were tempted to use cake flour in this recipe to achieve an ultra soft crumb, we found that all-purpose gave a more ideal texture for a breakfast cake. Fluffy, yet tight crumbs throughout!
Absolutely delicious! Quick and easy recipe. Will try with fresh raspberries and some lemon zest. Not too sweet and a perfect addition to a brunch or treat at coffee time. Will make again.
★★★★★
Have you done this using 4 inch springform pans? I am guessing it would take 2? What would you calculate for the cook time of a 4 inch?
We haven’t tested this recipe using 4-inch springform pans, but you could certainly give it a try! You can reference this guide to determine how much batter you’ll need for your smaller pans. Bake time will be shorter so keep an eye on it while baking. Let us know how they turn out!
SO delicious my sister asked for it again for her birthday. I used a regular 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper and it came out perfect. The cook time was about ten or so minutes longer than the recipe. Definitely adding to the recipe collection!
★★★★★
I made this exactly as written but subbed blueberries because they’re in season. It was fantastic. My brand new sprinform pan leaked, so I put a thin baking sheet under it about 20 min into cooking and increased the bake time about 10 min. Didn’t need to foil, came out just slightly brown on top.
★★★★★
Blackberry Cream Cheese Crumb Cake i made this tonight. thanks for sharing.
I know you are going to roll your eyes but can this be made in a 9×13 pan. I would double it of course. Late summer I get loads of Blackberry’s and generally really large and very sweet. Would you cut the berry’s in half or go for it? They would bleed out in the batter.
Hi Judy, I actually wouldn’t double it for a 9×13 inch pan because you’ll have too much. (This gets pretty tall with all the layers.) I would 1.5x it if you can. If the blackberries are extra large, I would halve them.
Hi,
I read this blog. I like this blackberry cream cheese crumb cake. I will try to make this.
I made this today with frozen strawberries and fresh rhubarb. It is amazing! I will definitely make it again! Thank you Sally!
Sally, can this be baked in a square 8 x 8 baking pan? Thank you
Hi Oriana, A 9-inch springform pan is ideal. Since we’re adding big blackberries and a substantial cream cheese layer, we need to ensure we have a pan that can fit all these layers.
A square 8×8 baking pan’s area is 64in^2, whereas a 9 inch springform pan’s area is actually 63.6in^2, so indeed they are good substitutes and almost exactly the same size.
Hi, Sally.. could I split the recipe into two 8 inch spring form pans, to get two smaller cakes?
I only had a can of blackberry pie filling, so I used that, I’ll let you know how it turns out. The batter tasted amazing tho, before going in the oven. I used mostly the chunks of blackberry not a lot of the filling sauce.. we will see lol
This cake came out lovely! I even refrigerated it over night and let it get to room temp prior to serving. I added an extra tablespoon of sugar when making the cream cheese layer cus my blackberries were more tart than anticipated. It added a nice balance in the end! My coworkers ate it up immediately, and I took a piece home to enjoy warm with ice cream. I want to try it with strawberries next time!
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
Do you think this would work in a bundt pan? Or what other pan would you recommend besides springform?
Thank you!
Hi Sonya! You know, I haven’t tried it in a Bundt pan but I’m positive it would work. It will be a small bundt because there isn’t a ton of batter (just a lot of cream cheese and crumb topping). I’m unsure of the best bake time, but will likely be shorter than the springform pan. Let us know how it turns out!
Hi! Has anyone tried to make this with gluten-free flour?
Hi Lana, we haven’t tested our recipes with gluten free flour, but some readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup or Bob’s Red Mill 1:1). If you try it with this crumb cake, let us know how it turns out!
Hi Sally,
I have a DEEP square pan, about 4 inches deep, can I use this to make this fabulous cake.
It was a gift from a former client. Would that work?
Hi Susan, what are the length and width of your pan? A 9-inch springform pan is ideal here. Since we’re adding big blackberries and a substantial cream cheese layer, we need to ensure we have a pan that can fit all these layers.