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Sourdough Blueberry Crumb Cake – a Great Use for Sourdough Discard

This sourdough blueberry crumb cake is one of our favorite ways to use up sourdough discard – big hit for brunch or a sweet treat!

blueberry crumb cake

Other Great Uses for Sourdough Discard

If you’ve jumped on the sourdough bandwagon, you need sourdough discard recipes. We find lots of ways to use our discard, including:

This recipe for blueberry crumb cake made with sourdough discard is also one of our favorite ways to use up the precious discard. I adapted this crumb cake recipe from one on King Arthur Baking.

sourdough crumb cake

It’s pretty easy to make and is perfect when you need a sweet addition to breakfast, or something delicious to take to a gathering.

What if I don’t have sourdough discard?

If you’d like to make this recipe, but you don’t have a sourdough starter, I highly recommend getting one! There are a few ways to get a sourdough starter:

  1. You can start your own by following King Arthur’s tutorial.
  2. You can ask a friend to share their starter with you. If you’re local, let me know! If you aren’t local – let me know that too. I might be able to help out.
  3. You can buy a sourdough starter kit.
put the berries on the batter (1)

Ingredients for sourdough crumb cake

  • 8 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks or 113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, at least 65°F
  • 1 cup (198g) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (227g) sourdough starter, unfed/discard
  • 2 cups (241g) unbleached all-purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup (57g) milk, at room temperature

Crumb Topping Ingredients

  • 2 cups (241g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (198g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 12 tablespoons (2 sticks or 170g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries. A triple berry mix of blueberries is also delicious. We like to use the frozen berry bag available at Costco.

How to Make this Sweet Treat

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9″ square pan. I’ve also made this in an 11″ pie plate. My husband prefers the cake to berry to topping ratio in the slightly larger pan, but it’s round. You might also want to try the 11″ pie plate.

Pro tip: I like to use butter wrappers for greasing. I store them in my fridge and pull them out as needed.

make the crumb cake batter (1)

To make the batter: 

Beat the butter and sugar until well combined in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, vanilla, and starter and mix until smooth. Make sure to scrape the bowl’s sides and bottom.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add to the butter/starter mixture, stirring until evenly combined. Add the milk and mix until smooth.

put the berries on the batter (1)

Pour blueberry crumb cake batter in prepared cake pan. Top with berries, but do not mix.

sourdough crumb cake batter (1)

To make the crumb topping: 

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Add the vanilla extract to the melted butter. Stir to combine, then pour the butter into the flour mixture. Stir until you have a uniformly moist, crumb-like mixture.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Finally sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the top.

sourdough crumb cake ready for oven (1)

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, and the edge of the cake just barely pulls away from the pan. Remove it from the oven and cool on a rack.

Cake can be stored at room temperature in the pan covered with plastic for several days. Or you can wrap it well and freeze for longer storage.

Yield: 1 9" square or 11" round cake

Blueberry Crumb Cake Made with Sourdough Discard

sourdough crumb cake

Quick and easy homemade crumb cake made with frozen berries and sourdough discard.

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

Batter

Topping

  • 2 cups (241g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (198g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 12 tablespoons (170g) unsalted butter, melted

Berries

  • 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries. A triple berry mix of blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries is also quite delicious.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9" square pan.

To make the batter: 

Beat the butter and sugar until well combined in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, vanilla, and starter and mix until smooth. Make sure to scrape the bowl's sides and bottom.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add to the butter/starter mixture, stirring until evenly combined. Add the milk and mix until smooth.

To make the crumb topping: 

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Add the vanilla extract to the melted butter. Stir to combine, then pour the butter into the flour mixture. Stir until you have a uniformly moist, crumb-like mixture.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Add the berries - do not mix. Finally sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the top.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, and the edge of the cake just barely pulls away from the pan. Remove it from the oven and cool on a rack.

Cake can be stored at room temperature in the pan covered with plastic for several days. Or you can wrap it well and freeze for longer storage.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

9

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 484Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 109mgSodium: 580mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 8g

Nutritional data is not always correct.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram tagging @simplifylivelove! I love to see your photos!

blueberry crumb cake

If you liked this Sourdough Crumb Cake Recipe, you might like these too:

How to Maintain and Feed Sourdough Starter

Sourdough Bread Recipe with Sample Timelines

Delicious Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Carolyn

Monday 12th of June 2023

Made this tonight…delicious! I did bake it in an 11x7 pan. Could have used a 9x13. I think 8x8 would have overflowed.

Liberty

Tuesday 31st of January 2023

Can I double this recipe for a larger crowd?

Michelle Marine

Tuesday 31st of January 2023

I never have, but I don't know why not. It might take a bit longer to bake? Good luck!

Kristina

Sunday 23rd of January 2022

Made this on a whim and it was a big hit with the fam. I love finding uses for sourdough discard. The consistency of the cake was a perfect texture for a breakfast coffee cake. Mine did overflow a bit as I used a pan that was a short 2" tall so be sure to use the generously sized 9" square pan.

Curious how it would turn out if the blueberries were folded into the batter prior to baking?

Michelle Marine

Monday 24th of January 2022

I'm glad to hear it was a hit! I haven't folded the blueberries in the batter so I don't know, but you could sure try! :-)

Amanda

Saturday 6th of March 2021

Maybe check your recipe in the paragraph form because some of the measurements are much different than what you have listed at the bottom… I didn’t find that out until I went to make this comment that there were different recipe measurements at the bottom. It’s in the oven now so hopefully it turned out OK!

Michelle

Saturday 6th of March 2021

hmmm - that is odd! I will double check. Thank you for telling me!

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