C++ custom component can not see/edit defaults unless added in BP

Did you use hot reload? While this can be fine when modifying a bit the core of some functions when adding new features it can be a bit faulty.
I usually quit the editor and do my modifications / implementations and then relaunch to test the whole thing.
When my cpp classes are inherited or else I tend to reparent everything and basically just redo the whole import and such. C++ is not awesome for updating it’s own changes on the run unlike scripted languages.