Blueberry and Cream Cheese Muffin Top Bread – This bread tastes like one big muffin top and is more like a dense cake-meets-muffin-top than bread because it’s falling-apart soft, tender, and moist. It’s dense yet springy and bouncy, and it oozes with blueberries.
I love muffin tops. Those sweet, super moist crowns that adorn muffins, but are gone in about three bites.
So I decided to bake a whole loaf of bread that tastes like one big muffin top.
The ‘bread’, however, tastes more like dense cake-meets-muffin-top than bread. Bread implies a drier and coarser crumb, but this is super springy and bouncy, soft, tender and muffin top-esque. The cream cheese filling adds even more softness and moisture, along with a pop of tangy flavor. Plus, something termed bread implies it’s healthier than cake or even muffins, so you can have seconds, but of course.
The recipe makes two loaves, one 9-by-5-inch, and one 8-by-4-inch, just like the Carrot Cake Loaf recipe. I almost made it in a Bundt pan, but have noticed people seem to prefer things made in loaf pans compared to big cakes. You could use two 9×5 pans, but don’t use two 8×4’s. I regrettably did, and at the last minute had to transfer and redistribute batter from one of the 8×4’s into a 9×5, which messed up the visual appeal of the neat middle layer of cream cheese I had so carefully added and it turned out more swirled than layered.
It’s fast to make and you don’t need a mixer. Begin by whisking eight ounces of cream cheese with sugar and although you could use a mixer, 13 seconds of vigorous whisking will get you to the same place, minus dirty mixer dishes. Set that bowl aside.
In another bowl, toss the blueberries with one tablespoon flour. Coating the berries helps to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pans while baking. It’s a peeve of mine when bread or muffins are fairly blueberry-less on top, and they all sink to the bottom, creating a thick, murky-blue wall on the bottom. I do love to eat that kind of sweet, juicy wall though.
In a large mixing bowl, melt the butter and to it add the oil, buttermilk, eggs, sugars, vanilla, and whisk. Buttermilk tenderizes the bread and things made with buttermilk tend to rise so nicely while baking. This batter is weighed down with cream cheese and an abundance of blueberries and needs all the help it can get.
Melted butter, as opposed to creamed, usually produces denser cakes rather than light and airy, which is my preference. I used both oil and butter because butter adds flavor and although it does add moisture, oil adds a dense sort of moisture that you cannot get from butter alone.
I made this bread with one-half cup oil and although the bread is a little on the oily side on the first day, by days two and three, it soaks in creating the most gloriously moist muffin top taste and texture. In adding one-half cup of oil, you’re going to have oily bread on the first day. I wouldn’t call it greasy, but some people are very particular about this, so I wrote the recipe to reflect one-quarter cup oil, increasing from there as desired. I’d rather have slightly oily bread on day one, but two absolutely stunning loaves on days two through seven or longer, if you freeze the second loaf.
Stir in the dry ingredients and don’t overmix because it will make the bread tough. Fold in the coated blueberries, and pour batter into prepared pans. The approach is batter-cream cheese-batter. Don’t fill either of the pans more than two-thirds of the way full total, and when pouring in the first layer of batter, aim for it come up about one-third of the way up the side. Because you’re working with two pans that are different sizes, the 9×5 should get slightly more batter than the 8×4, and just eyeball it.
Pour the cream cheese mixture over the blueberry layer, giving the 9×5 pan slightly more, and smooth it lightly with a spatula. Top the pans with the remaining blueberry batter, distributed roughly evenly between the two. Smooth the batter lightly with a spatula, and bake.
Baking times will vary greatly by pan sizes used, but 45 to 65 minutes is recommended, with the smaller pan being on the lower end of the range. I baked the 8×4 for 48 minutes and the 9×5 for 60 minutes. If you’re making mini loaves or muffins, I’d start checking them by 20 minutes, and go from there. One big Bundt cake will probably take 60 to 65 minutes, but because of oven variances, various pans used, moisture content in the blueberries, amount of oil used, and personal preference, baking times are variable.
If your bread is browning a bit too fast on top before center is cooking through, tent with foil in the last 15 minutes of baking. Because these loaves are stuffed to the max with blueberries, and are heavy and dense from the butter, buttermilk, oil, and cream cheese, they do take their sweet time to fully cook through. And all the while, the scent that’s wafting through the house will put you in a baked blueberry trace.
The bread is so unbelievably moist and soft. Even with an extremely sharp knife, it was hard to slice without squishing and compacting it. The whole time I was slicing it I was thinking Don’t Squeeze the Charmin.
It’s buttery and sweet, and the cream cheese that runs through the interior is a winding, white river of creamy tanginess in the 9×5 loaf (shown). The 8×4 loaf had a perfect floating layer of cream cheese sandwiched between bread layers, like cream cheese filling in a layer cake. It was so pretty that I almost took my camera back out, but I wanted to eat my slice of muffin top more than I wanted to take more pictures.
My husband loved this bread and he agreed, it gets better with time, which is normally not the case with muffins or quickbreads. If you can let it linger for a day or two, it gets even better. The oil soaks in completely, the flavors meld together, and each bite is dense, soft, and squishy like a muffin top.
As the blueberries bake, they soften and release their juices and biting into a warm, juicy, baked blueberry is a gift from the berry gods, which is why I wasn’t stingy with how many I called for, two full cups, so I can bite into as many of those gifts as possible.
I immediately froze the 8×4 loaf thinking it would take awhile to get through the 9×5 loaf. Wrong. I baked these on a Saturday morning, and by Monday the 9×5 loaf was gone and we dug into the second loaf.
I just love a juicy muffin top.
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Blueberry and Cream Cheese Muffin Top Bread
This bread tastes like one big muffin top and is more like a dense cake-meets-muffin-top than bread because it's falling-apart soft, tender, and moist. It's dense yet springy and bouncy, and it oozes with blueberries. There's a cream cheese filling that's baked in, adding more softness and moisture to the bread, as well as a nice tangy pop of flavor. The bread comes together by hand with a few bowls and a whisk in just minutes. It's the perfect way to use up you extra fresh or frozen blueberries. I'd much rather have slice after slice of this bread that tastes like muffin tops, than an actual muffin - the tops on them are gone far too fast. Plus this bread is infinitely moister and softer than any muffin I've ever had.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese, well softened (whipped or light are okay, I use Trader Joe's Whipped Light)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil (see below)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt, optional (buttermilk is already a salted milk and I omitted adding salt)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest, optional for lemon-flavored bread (I omitted)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F; spray loaf pans with floured cooking spray; set aside. I used one 9-by-5-inch loaf pan and one 8-by-4-inch loaf pan. Or try two 9x5 inch pans, a 10- to 12-cup Bundt or tube cake pan, 9-inch springform pan and bake as a coffee cake, or muffin pans. Do not use two 8x4 pans; batter will not all fit.
- In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and whisk vigorously to combine. The softer the cream cheese is, the easier this will be. If yours isn't quite soft enough, heat in the microwave for 5 seconds. Set bowl aside.
- In another medium bowl, combine blueberries, 1 tablespoon flour, and toss gently to coat. This helps prevent blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the pan while baking. If using frozen berries, keep them frozen or very cold rather than thawing them in advance because they stay intact better and bleed less when still frozen or very cold.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power. Add the buttermilk, oil (I use 1/2 cup canola oil and the second day and beyond it's perfect. The first day it's a bit oily, but I don't mind it and it dries out on the second day and longterm results are great. If you prefer drier bread, use 1/4 to 1/3 cup noting bread will dry out more as it ages), eggs, 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and whisk vigorously until combined.
- Add 2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, optional salt, and stir to incorporate; don't overmix. Gently fold in the blueberries. Eyeball it and pour about one-quarter of the batter into each of the two prepared pans, with the 9x5 getting slightly more than the 8x4; batter should come up about one-third of the way up the side of each pan.
- Distribute the cream cheese mixture between the two pans, with the larger pan getting slightly more. Smooth it lightly with a spatula. Distribute remaining blueberry batter roughly evenly between the two pans, with the larger pan getting slightly more. Smooth it lightly with a spatula.
- Bake the two loaves (9x5 and 8x4) for 45 to 65 minutes, or until top is set in the center and golden; a toothpick may or may not come out clean because it could hit a patch of cream cheese. Baking times will vary greatly by pan sizes used. I baked the 8x4 loaf for 48 minutes and the 9x5 for 60 minutes. Muffins or mini loaves could bake in as short as 20 minutes, a big Bundt cake may need 60 to 65 minutes. Allow bread to cool in pans for at least 15 minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. If bread is browning fast on top before center is cooking through, tent with foil in last 15 minutes of cooking.
- Store bread that's been wrapped in plasticwrap and placed inside a large ziptop plastic bag for up to 1 week at room temperature, or freeze for up to 3 months. Freezing second loaf after it's cooled is recommended if you're not going to eat it within a week.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
20Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 288Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 195mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 1gSugar: 25gProtein: 3g
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Do you like muffin tops?
Do you have a favorite recipe for (blueberry) muffins or bread?
I’ve tried ‘muffin top pans’ that are supposed to yield muffin tops, and although they’re fine, it’s not like eating a muffin top. Part of why muffin tops are just so darn good has to do with air and steam rising, overall surface area and volume of batter, the depth of the muffin pan cavity, and the sacred muffin top never actually touching the base of the pan. All those things change when you pour batter directly into a flat little pan. Not the same.
My suggestion is to either make this bread or to just go around and shamelessly pick off muffin tops.
I made this and it came out perfectly. Instead of the two loaves, I did the bundt cake version and it was devoured by my family. They said it did taste just like a muffin top, and the bundt cake looked just right.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was devoured as a Bundt cake!
I made these for breakfast this morning and they were incredible!! I did half the recipe because I only own one bread pan. Other than that I followed the recipe and everything turned out great. We have guests staying with us this weekend, so thank you thank you thank you for posting this recipe and letting me impress them!
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad you impressed your guests and loved this one!
do you have a similar recipe for banana muffins?
here are all my muffin recipes
https://www.averiecooks.com/category/bread/muffins-bread
I would suggest these probably first…
https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/02/banana-yogurt-muffins-and-little-banana-bread-loaf.html
This may be an old recipe, but I just saw this via Pinterest and I’m OBSESSED! The fluffy/ crunchy part of the muffin that bubbles over the tin is pretty much the best/the only reason I eat a muffin in the first place. And now I can make a whole loaf with those qualities… Love it!!
It is an older recipe but I just repinned it today (I forgot about it!) and in the last couple hours, it’s come back to life! Enjoy it!
I cut the recipe in half in order to make one 9×5 loaf. I made it on Saturday, wrapped it in plastic-wrap over night and had it with Sunday breakfast. It was wonderful!
I used the highest amount of oil recommended and it turned out great. It really lived up to the description of a blueberry muffin top.
The only snag I ran into was figuring out how I wanted to do the cream cheese swirl. I think it ended up just baking into the bread which wasn’t bad since it added to the moisture.
Very yummy!
Glad it lived up to the description of a blueberry muffin top for you! Sounds like it turned out great and with the swirl, yes, if you’re not careful it can sort of just seep down, which isn’t a bad thing for added moisture as you noticed.
Oh yes, when the cake was cooling. The middle kind of sunk a bit? Why did that happened? Please reply, I would appreciate it a lot! I’m going to try to bake it again some time later on. Continue posting your recipes! It makes me drools and motivates me to keep on baking haha! :)
I used fresh blueberries did that made a difference to the cake? It is really oily and I immediately place it in the refrigerator when it has already cooled down. I used a toothpick and inserted to the cake, it was a clean toothpick. Does it make a difference whether I use a cake tin or a loaf tin just like yours? I’m just really very troubled at it ! Sorry! The picture of the cake you’ve posted at the top, was it after a few days or was it the first day?
Hi there I baked this cake today. It turned out really oily and soft. I baked it for 60mins in a 9″ cake pan. It did not turn out anything like yours except for the outer most layer. The yellow is like it’s rotting or just very dirty yellow? I would like to know what was wrong with it? My family loves it by the way! I am a fan of your recipes. Keep on going!
I baked my bread in a LOAF PAN not a cake pan. Of course your results will be different than mine if you used a CAKE PAN, not a loaf pan.
If you try the recipe again and bake it as written, you will have better results. If you found the batter oily, reduce the oil slightly.
That looks so good! I cannot get enough blueberry breakfast treats! :)
Thanks, Kevin, for saying hi and you have tons of goodies on your site I cannot get enough of! Normally I am a sweets rather than savory person, but pretty much every dip you post, I want!
I am loving that cream cheese swirl that winds around the juicy berries!!! The bread looks so dense and absolutely perfect! I love a great muffin top!!!
Thanks, Jocelyn. I love a great muffin top too (on my muffins – and if I ate more of this, it would be on me…lol)
If I use frozen blueberries, is it ok to leave them frozen when I mix them in?
Right in the directions in the recipe I wrote this: ” If using frozen berries, keep them frozen or very cold rather than thawing them in advance because they stay intact better and bleed less when still frozen or very cold.” – so yes! LMK how it goes for you!
Great thanks!! Sorry I missed that!
muffin top bread….i am so LOVING this idea! the top of the muffin is the best part…i may dust off my bundt pan to try this recipe…it would look so pretty.
It would be gorgeous and actually, perfect. If I wasn’t making this to blog about, I would have done that from the get-go. But people have a Bundt fear and like their loaf pans. But in a blogless-world, Bundt would be best!
I love that you created an entire bread of the best part of muffins! Now if you have any leftovers, I’d gladly help you out with those.
Is it totally inappropriate to make muffin top jokes? ;) Ummm, I want to eat this whole loaf. It just looks so unbelievable soft, and with the cream cheese swirled in–I am in so much love!
I had to refrain from making them the whole post. Lol
Muffin tops are the best! This bread looks very yummy, but it is also super pretty with the berries and perfectly brown crust.
On my to do list this weekend! Can’t wait to try it!
Youre going to LOVE IT!! Keep me posted!
Love the title- the muffin top is the best part :)
This looks so incredibly moist–just like muffin tops! :) I don’t think this would last more than a day in my house…
What a strike of luck! In Australia it is berry season AND I have made a blueberry loaf too (made with yeast base). Blueberries are such a great fruit in baked goods. I imagine this loaf taste like a blueberry cheese cake but for breakfast.
I would love to try this one day, I am not familiar with muffin tops, but they sound great.
For the cream cheese, I have always found that if you can make the cream cheese a different density to the batter, it will float. Also the “zebra” technique works wonders in loafs like these too, my mum had away layer quick cakes that way.
I LOOOOVE muffin tops! The absolute best part of the muffin by far :-)
Oh holy deliciousness! I cannot believe how incredibly moist and cake like this bread looks! I have a bag of frozen blueberries that I just took out to thaw over night because you can bet your boots that I am making this bread tomorrow. My kids LOVE cake breads and they love blueberry muffins!
I had to laugh when you asked if we like muffin tops, because immediately I thought of that unsightly bulge that comes from too many sweet things and too tight jeans combined! LOL! But, this kind of muffin top? Sign me up! I always used to eat the tops off muffins when my mom would buy the cases of them from Costco back when I lived at home. I love that you made 2 entire loaves that way. I cannot wait to make this! :-)
Use frozen blueberries. Like, still frozen. You can put them back in the freezer :) The thing is that when frozen blueberries thaw, they get kind of watery and also will leech out into the dough. In one part of the post (in the recipe section I believe) I wrote that if using frozen, just keeping them frozen is fine – and probably perferred. Not that it really matters but just a little tip for you. Adding them frozen or very cold to the batter is fine and it all works out. Regardless you are going to love love love this bread, Michele! Please LMK how it goes and what you used in it, etc and can’t wait to hear the reports! :)
I love muffin tops so if this is like a muffin top, I’m all over it!
Beautiful, I can practically taste the blueberries from here!
This is brilliant. Granted I’m a fool for anything with blueberries, but this is certainly one of your most original ideas – ever. Well done!
You are too young to remember the “Seinfeld” episode where Elaine decides to market muffin tops. My friend Cathy and I had the same idea in the early 1980’s – LOL! Lovelt post. best, Liz
I saw this all over Pinterest today and had a “wow” moment. You knocked it out of the park with this one, Averie!
You saw it all over? That’s great. It’s on FG but the numbers on it frankly aren’t great. Something bread-like will never compete with red velvet, gooey brownies, or chocolate I’ve determined but this far trumped anything I’ve had in awhile. If only they could taste it! :)
I’d be addicted to this Averie! I’m doing a loaf cake tomorrow night, inspired by that carrot cake loaf, using the pans. :) LOVE!
I have a few more loaf-ey things coming. Can’t wait to see yours!
Muffin tops are the only part of the muffin I enjoy! I have to try this asap!
Look at those bursting blueberries! I can imagine this bread is melt in your mouth perfect just by staring at the photos. Gorgeous! And I agree, breads are always better the next day! :)
Sometimes they are for me and sometimes..meh, you never know. But this one was definitely a keeper on days 2 & 3!
This bread is definitely worth trying, all those berries and cream cheese. Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.
Come see my Valentine”s day preserve. You might like it too. :)
I am with you on the muffin tops. It’s usually the best part of the muffin. Love your twist on the idea! More deliciousness!
Such a pretty bread, I love the blueberry and cream cheese combo!
This looks gorgeous Averie, I love the idea of the cream cheese running through the bread :-)
The top is my favorite part of a muffin. My ex used to to hate it when I would only leave the unsavory bottom for him! Two loaves of this bread wouldn’t be enough. It looks so melt in your mouth good and that cream cheese swirl?! Oh mama.
Now this is a muffin top I WANT! :)
Yum yum!! I just bought some frozen blueberries and all of these recipes look absolutely delish!! :)
I love this! I think I actually like baked blueberries better than fresh, the flavors get so much more intense and lovely when baked.
I agree with you – I just usually can’t stop gobbling them fresh, but something about them baked…is just so good I need to remember to stop eating them fresh and just bake with them! ha!
Hahaha, this reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when Elaine opens up “Top of the Muffin” and throws out the stumps. It’s true, though — the muffin top IS the very best part! This break looks SO moist and buttery, and I love the crust on top and the cream cheese swirl. Drooling.
Thanks, Hayley! I never saw that episode but stump throwing sounds about right…ha!
Muffin tops are The best! Thank you for making a loaf-size version. (I prefer denser cakes too- I didn’t realize that melted butter would help take me there.) :D I always learn something new from you.
Yes the creaming/aerating/whipping process produces lightness whereas melted produces denser cakes/cookies etc. I mean there are exceptions by in general, that’s what I’ve both read and found to be true! Thanks for the pin as always!
All of it. I want the whole loaf. OK? Ok.
That crispy, golden top of a muffin really is the best part, isn’t it? I love that you covered an entire loaf of bread in the stuff – and cream cheese and blueberries IN the bread? I’m making this immediately.
Well please LMK how it goes! :)
I do certainly not live in the land of muffin. So all that muffintop talk confuses me a bit. But those pictures do not confuse me at all. The snow is falling without break for 24 hours now, and I’m in Narnia. I do really love the magic, but Averie I AM SO SICK OF WINTER VEGETABLES!! All I eat is carrots, every single relative to the cauli&beet family, onions, and apples. I want berries too!! Maybe I will stop this eating-local and seasonal issue and buy frozen blueberries tomorrow. Frozen doesn’t count, right?! I’ll buy organic! And I have an invitation for lunch on wednesday, so I have an excuse to make it too! I will try to swirl it on purpose, that’s the way I like it!! Blueberries are my favourite. I even named my cat blueberry! Wish me luck for my spin on it!!
If you have a cat named Blueberry, it’s only destiny you make this! Please LMK how it goes! And yes, frozen foods are your friend in the dead of winter in most!! parts of the world!
Ok. You’re probably sick of me changing your beatiful reciepes, but I can’t help it, I have to make it all Wholewheat and sugarless. Now I probably did a cookingblog-blasfemy, by crossing this reciepe of yours with Sally’s “skinny chocolate banana bread muffins” (over at Sally’s baking addiction). But I love the result! I took her reciepe as a base, omitted everything chocolate by substituing the cocoa powder with coconut flakes, and here is where your reciepe comes in: I used buttermilk in the mixture and blueberries, and a cream cheese swirl in the middle! I hope I don’t disappoint you to much as a reader, I still really really like your posts, even if I am rubbish at sticking to recepies! I promise! :)
Not sick of you at all! I am glad you’re able to make things sugarfree or whole wheat as necessary! Sally is a good friend of mine and it’s nice that you can combine our two recipes into something that works well for you! Thanks for the field report, as always! :)
Oh this looks so incredibly moist, and delicious….and that muffin top thing….to die for. Buttermilk, cream cheese, and blueberries? I’ve got to make it. You have too many mouth-watering recipes. I’m going to go crazy trying to decide which one to make first!
Well whatever you try, please come back and LMK!
A whole loaf of bread that tastes like a muffin top… I think I just died and went to heaven! I can’t WAIT to try this one!!!
How did you know I was a muffin top girl? My husband always gets mad because I only eat the top and throw the rest away. You just saved a future argument with this amazing sounding bread! The cream cheese swirl sounds like heaven!
You’re a stump thrower. My husband only GETS the stumps. After I’m done with the tops :)
Averie this is like the bread of my dreams. Ohmygoodness!!
Averie this has to be the most beautiful bread I’ve ever seen on your site! Or ever, for that matter. That cream cheese swirl outline looks irresistible. I can just *see* how moist this is. It looks like it would melt in my mouth! The muffin top-ness of this reminds me of your strawberry banana bread from last year. When I’m eating a muffin, it’s mostly just for the sticky moist top anyway. And this reminds me of banana bread in the sense that it only get better as days pass, just like the cornstarch cookies we’ve both made before as well. This is a wonderful bread to bake one night and enjoy for brunch the next morning. Oh and did I mention it’s beautiful?
Oh wow, I did not like these pics that much. Thanks for saying that you like them! I honestly just wanted to get this recipe posted and forget I ever took these images. Seriously wasn’t too happy with them. It was a super overcast day the day I took them and it was both too bright and too dark all at the same time and then the white bread, dark berries, dark wood (which I didn’t like when I saw the images)…the contrasts were so stark. But anyway…the recipe works :) Really well! It’s super moist and wonderful and it’s rare that any baked good gets better with time, but this one actually did!
wow these look absolutely awesome. I recently made a blueberry banana bread which this kinda reminds me of. The colors of the blueberries look beautiful in yours though! Thanks for sharing!
I love banana bread and have about 10 different recipes for it! Yours sounds great!
There is only one kind of muffin top I like, and this definitely qualifies.
I am home sick today and this looks like just the thing to spark my appetite again – I am dying for a piece!
Feel better!!
blueberries + cream cheese = perfect.
these are going straight to my muffin top.
After a weekend of two loaves of this stuff, I need extra cardio to prevent the ole muffin top :)
The top of the muffin is the best–and I’ve definitely decided not to try a muffin top pan because everyone seems disappointed in the results. Those close up photos–wow–they look like muffin tops! Thanks for the tip about adding some flour to the blueberries. I have had that problem when adding berries to batter and always wondered how to fix it. You’ve come up with another wonderful quick bread!
And it’s hardly a ‘quickbread’ in the traditional sense. It’s a cake-muffin-something. So much more than bread…I didn’t even want to call it bread! There wasn’t a name for it but that was the best I could do. I loved this stuff. It was sooooo good. It’s gone. We polished it off in RECORD time, inhaling it all! And yes on the flour trick – that will help you tons! You can also do it to chocolate chips that you want to suspend in say a Bundt cake.
This looks so delicious!!! love the cream cheese addition.
This bread looks delightfully scrumptious! Blueberries are one of my favorite berries, right after raspberries.
What a great alternative to regular blueberry muffins. Sounds like a perfect snack for any time of day!
You had me at muffin top! Made blueberry coffee cake over the weekend myself. My craving for summer fruits has returned!
I almost baked this as a coffee cake right off the bat – and listed it in the recipe section as a pan option. And honestly it would be amazing as a coffee cake. Your cake sounds fab!
I have never baked with cream cheese, but I might have to now! And I’ve been in a huge blueberry mood lately, so this is probably going to be added to my list!
And although I love a juicy muffin top, I’m definitely have to remember the one around my waistline before eating the whole loaf!
By the way, I’m posting about your carrot cake with cream cheese frosting later today!
http://vintagezest.blogspot.com/
Never baked with cream cheese? You need to change that asap! :)
Feel free to leave a comment on my carrot cake post with a link to yours once it’s up! Thanks, Diane!
Such a beautiful bread and I know it tastes amazing, Averie! YUM!
That looks so good. Love blueberries. Love all of your hints and tips too with baking. As always…thank you for sharing!
Thanks, Heather :)
This bread… I just can’t… it is so amazing. Looooooooooove it.
Knowing what I know about you after opening up like 30 of your recipes last week on your site! I bet you’d love this, Heather!
You can definitely tell this is a moist bread, not a dry one! I’m fine with drier bread if it’s just for a sandwich where my main interest are sandwich fillings, but dry sweet breads are not my thing! Good tip on coating the berries before adding them to the batter – no one wants blueberry-bottom bread.
And the strategy also works with choc chips if you want to suspend them in say a bundt cake. And yes, who would EVER want to eat a dry sweet cake? What a total caloric waste!
I would much rather eat a muffin top than a muffin bottom! And a whole loaf of muffin top…fabulous. Love that cream cheese swirl!
Mmmmm . . . blueberries in a breakfast bread or muffin is my favorite. This looks incredibly moist and flavorful–wow!
Speaking of muffin-tops…I think I’ve gained one just by looking at these pictures. Wow! I’m definitely the girl who picks the tops of the muffins off and then…yes, I sneak them back. (Only at home, though!) This bread looks like a perfect compromise; I really can’t wait to try it once I buy blueberries!
I don’t think my husband even knows what muffin tops taste like; I pick them all off before he can even get to them. We have containers of muffintop-less ‘bald’ muffins. Lol
Muffin top bread – what a glorious idea! I love your tip about coating the blueberries in flour to prevent sinking. I also rather have my ‘add-in’ dispersed throughout. I assume it would work with just any berries or maybe even chocolate chips?
Yes it does work with chocolate chips! They aren’t quite as heavy and prone to sinking but it does work with them. Another tip for those is to use mini chips. Sometimes I don’t always want mini chips and want full size, but mini chips can correct the problem too!
The tops are my favorite part of the muffin and I really wish bakeries would just sell them like that. Blueberry and cream cheese is such a great combo!!! Wonderful recipe!!!
I wish they would just bake muffins and whack off the tops and sell those. As I mentioned in the last line of the post, those muffin top pans really don’t work so hot. You pretty much have to bake the whole muffin I find. No shortcuts…boo!
I lurrrrrrrve me some muffin tops! I used to get really mad at ones made in muffin top pans because while they were shaped like muffin tops, they didn’t have the same texture/moisture that real ones had. I can see how this bread may resemble the muffin top all the way to the bottom though! Nice:) And I like the artistic cream cheese swirl.
Exactly what you just said about the muffin top pans is what I wrote in the parting thoughts of the post. The pans don’t work well for a variety of reasons; mostly baking chemistry. You can’t expect to bake something in a flat little pan and get the same results as you do on a full size muffin that’s baked as usual. It’s a good thought though :) But yeah I concur!
Whoops, my bad on that. I read the article but when I got to your questions I got so excited in my answer I skipped the part right after and went to comment. Color me embarrassed.
I’m glad we agree on the pan issue though:)
No apologies necessary! It’s funny when I read your comment I thought great minds think alike, not knowing if for sure you saw my little bit or not. My posts are long and I know that – don’t feel bad! I’m just glad you read :) Most people I’ve determined just look at the pics!
That sounds stupendous! The cream cheese swirl, OMG. I’ve been wanting to makes blueberry muffins for weeks, but I keep eating the fresh blueberries every time I buy a pint, LOL. I might need to frost my muffins with cream cheese YUM!
And the loaf that I didn’t have to invert at the last second from an 8×4 into a 9×5 pan, that was baked intact so to speak; the cream cheese is floating in this perfect layer. Like a layered cake with cream cheese frosting. It was so pretty…and so good :) I had to purposely forget about the blueberries I bought for these and went through a couple pints/trips to the store before I said enough…must.bake.with.them.