Lemon Blueberry Cake. A tender layer cake recipe brightened with lemon juice, lemon zest and wild blueberries, frosted with a tangy sweet lemon cream cheese frosting.
Today’s cake is tart yet sweet and perfect for summer. A tender butter cake is brightened with a hint of fresh lemon juice and flecks of lemon zest. Wild blueberries dancing throughout each layer give the cake a pop of contrast, both in appearance, texture and taste. Then comes the dreamy cream cheese frosting that boasts tangy cream cheese and tart lemon juice balanced with mellow butter and powdery sugar. It’s the kind of frosting you’ll want to eat with a spoon, if you’re in to that kind of thing.
Rustic swirls keep the frosting simple and casual, making this cake a welcomed addition to any of your summer events. Topped with clusters of lemon wedges, fresh berries and edible flowers, the complete package looks pulled together but truly takes little effort. Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone how easy it was!
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Lemon Blueberry Cake. A tender layer cake recipe brightened with lemon juice, lemon zest and wild blueberries, frosted with a tangy sweet lemon cream cheese frosting.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: One 8" Round Cake (3 layers)
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Cake
Ingredients
For the Lemon Blueberry Cake:
- 3 cups cake flour + 2 tablespoons cake flour, divided
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon organic lemon zest
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 cups wild blueberries, frozen or fresh
For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
- 4–6 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon organic lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
For the Assembly:
- Lemon slices
- Fresh blueberries
- Edible flowers (optional)
Instructions
Make the Lemon Blueberry Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350. Butter and lightly flour three 8″ round pans. Line with parchment paper circles.
- Sift together 3 cups cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine milk and lemon juice. Stir to combine and set aside for milk to curdle. This is similar to making homemade buttermilk!
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high using the paddle attachment. Beat until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add eggs one at a time. Mix well after each egg.
- Add vanilla extract and lemon zest. Mix to combine.
- Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Do not over mix. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- In a small bowl, gently toss blueberries with 2 tablespoons cake flour to coat. Using a spoon or spatula, gently fold blueberries into batter, being careful not to break berries.
- Divide batter evenly between the three 8″ round pans.
- Bake for 30-33 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Let cool in pans for 10 to 15 minutes, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.
Make the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add vanilla, lemon zest and juice and mix until combined.
- Gradually add confectioners sugar, adjusting amount, until desired sweetness is reached. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Whip until smooth.
Assemble the Cake:
- Place one layer of cake onto serving plate or cake stand and top with about one cup of lemon cream cheese frosting. Repeat with second cake layer, more frosting and then last layer of cake. Crumb coat and frost cake with remaining frosting. Decorate with lemon slices, additional blueberries and edible flowers, if desired.
- Store in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.
Notes
- If using frozen blueberries in the cake, do not thaw before mixing into cake batter. Avoiding over mixing once the berries are added to prevent the cake batter from turning grayish-purple from their juices.
- I used 365 Frozen Organic Wild Blueberries from Whole Foods.
- You may bake this as two full-sized 8″ round cake layers. Alternatively, I baked it as three intentionally shorter 8″ round layers – this saves time and effort because the shorter layers do not need to be torted.
- If frosting is too thin after whipping, refrigerate for 30 minutes before assembling cake. The chilled frosting will have a thicker consistency. For an even thicker consistency, add additional confectioners’ sugar as desired.
Keywords: lemon blueberry cake
MORE LEMON CAKE RECIPES TO TRY:
Can you bake the whole batter in one round baking tray? Because I don’t have 3. Is it possible? Can’t i just cut it in 3 layers afterwards?
No, I’m sorry Sabrina. Baking all of the batter at once in one pan would create a huge, overflowing mess. However, you could bake it in two 8″ round pans. The layers will be taller and will need to bake a few minutes longer, so please adjust your baking time as necessary.
Mine didn’t work. The flavour was great but the cake was solid even though I didn’t overmix the batter. Any suggestions? 🙁
I made this came TWICE and both times it came out terrible! I am not a beginner baker, and I’m quite disappointed in this recipe. I baked this cake until a toothpick came out clean, as instructed, but the cake still came out way too dense, there was no crumb, and almost seemed raw in some places despite following all directions. I even increased the baking time the second time round since I had the same issues on the first try – texture remained the same. It was literally like a gooey brick is the only way to describe it! The only saving grace was the cream cheese frosting. If you are wanting a fluffy cake with a lovely crumb, this is definitely NOT it! I’m sorry, but please stay away from this recipe, especially if you are needing a cake for a special occasion as I was.
I made this cake last night and it was amazingly good!! I would have to disagree with your comments!
★★★★★
How many servings would you say this makes?!
10 to 12, depending on how big you cut your slices. Enjoy!
This was really yummy. I made it as a birthday cake. Re: lemon flour being overpowering….I used 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of zest in the cake batter that a saw in a similar receipt and it was the perfect amount of lemon flavour, not too much, yet you could still taste the lemon flavour. I also used cake flour instead of AP flour.
Is there any cream cheese that you recommend? I just don’t know which to choose 🙁
In my country we use grams and mililitres, I’m not sure how to correctly convert from cups/ounces into grams/ml, each website gives different information :/
Could you possibly tell me on which website I can convert units?
The frosting needs a block-style cream cheese, like Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I know in other countries cream cheese can be softer and in the US, we have one that is more solid at cold temperatures. That is what you want!
As for converting, here is a handy conversion calculator for you! This will help you convert all of the ingredient quantities to metric units.
https://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking
I was asked to make a cake for my mother in law’s birthday party. I was intimidated because I’ve just started playing around with homemade cakes. This recipe is amazing!! I used 2 9inch pans and just made a 2 layer cake. Other than that, I followed the recipe to the t. The cake was light and fluffy, the icing was tart but slightly sweet. My blueberries sunk to the bottom (despite coating them in flour) and there was a hard crust on the cake, but those little things didn’t even matter. I would definitely recommend this recipe for anyone who is a beginner and slightly intimated of baking! I feel like a pro Baker!
★★★★★
Hi! I just made this recipe as a smash cake for my son’s birthday party. It tastes delicious, but it came out dense and domed like a muffin. This is the first time Ive made a cake from scratch and could use some tips!! There were 2 things that I didn’t do correctly: 1- used all purpose flour as opposed to cake flower 2- halved the recipe and possibly overmixed a bit. What would cause my cake to come out more dense and domed? It looks beautiful after I decorated it, though.
Based on your feedback, I’m wondering if a heavy hand with the flour measuring was the culprit. Too much flour will leave any baked good heavy and dense. Spooning the flour into your measuring cup will result in a more accurate measure than using the measuring cup to scoop the flour directly from the container. Scooping really packs the flour in there! You’d be surprised at the difference between the two methods. You can see a comparison IN THIS ARTICLE HERE.
Also, you’ll really notice a difference using cake flour. Here is OUR ARTICLE showing the different results from each type of flour.
Hope that gives you some insight to trouble shoot for next time.
What a light and delicious cake! Easy to make and the frosting is a light dream! The only thing I struggled with is getting the frosting stiff enough for piping.
★★★★★
Thanks for your feedback Sunshine! Yes, this frosting is not great for piping – but definitely good for eating! Next time, you could always add more confectioners’ sugar to make the frosting stiffer for piping, but it really alters the flavor and can make it overly sweet. An all butter buttercream would be a better choice for piping.
I am thinking of making this for my daughters first birthday smash cake. Do you think it will hold up if I baked it in a larger cake pan, then used a can or cookie cutter to make some circles to stack that it would hold up well? It looks so tasty
Sure, that would probably work. Just be sure to adjust the baking time for the larger cake pan. And when you cut it into circles, you’ll get better results cutting a cold cake because it will be firmer. Alternatively, you could bake it in smaller pans (like 4″ or 6″) or bake it as cupcakes.
I made this for a cooking challenge my family does. This was my entry for the film Marie Antoinette for Oscars.
★★★★★
The cake was dense which I love, it was not too sweet, it waste very moist, it was delicious. I put all three pans in my oven, I just had to add 10 minutes to baking time.
★★★★★
Made this for a dessert auction. It was well received. Such a pretty cake! I make a lemon blueberry loaf that I send home w/ guests. I guess that is why I was drawn to this recipe. Looking forward to making this for my family soon!
★★★★★
loved it!!
Hi!
This looks delicious! I will definitely be trying it for Mother’s Day. Question is… Can I prepare it in advance (like 3 days early) or will it affect the taste/freshness?
Thank you
Yes, you can make this cake a day or two in advance. Store the whole thing in the refrigerator, lightly covered with plastic wrap. I like to pop the finished cake into refrigerator until the icing is set firm, then drape it with plastic wrap so the icing doesn’t get messed up. The frosting will keep just fine, and the cake moisture is sealed in with the frosting. Just be sure to wait until the day of serving to add the fresh flowers, blueberries and lemon slices. They will noticeably wilt.
This cake is amazing!!! I made it for mother’s day and got so many compliments. It turned out exactly like the picture. I will definitely be using this recipe again.
★★★★★
Hi Carrie. Do you have any advice for high altitude cooking for this cake? I’m around a mile high…
Hi Amy! Unfortunately, I don’t have any personal experience with high altitude baking, but this might help you some: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
I made this cake yesterday for my son’s 29th birthday. It was fantastic! In fact, I’m going to have a slice for breakfast this morning. I love that it’s not overly sweet, and it’s so moist and tender.
One question: did you use dried lemon zest? I used fresh and it wasn’t terribly lemony. I think next time I might add a drop or two of lemon oil/extract.
Also, I used foil pans because I couldn’t find 8″ regular ones and it cooked perfectly. I did rotate them in the oven halfway through because it’s hotter at the back.
My cake didn’t look quite as pretty as yours, but, my oh my! It was delicious! And not hard to make. I’ll definitely make it again, as well as check out some of your other recipes. (Now if I could find a recipe that makes a cake this good for my vegan daughter…)
Thanks!
★★★★★
I made this cake tonight for my roommate to congratulate her on passing the bar. Delicious!! My only thing was that my cake came out slightly dry (only I noticed). Any tips?
Can I use regular blues as opposed to wild? My daughter lives in Hammonton NJ, the Blueberry Capital of the World.
I answered my own question. I used regular fresh blues and it came out great.
I made this as a sheet cake for a potluck. It was a big hit. People and I loved it. Baked for about 40 minutes, used all the powdered sugar in the frosting, and added a little extra lemon zest in the frosting because I love lemon desserts. I had almost an extra cup of frosting that could have been used to decorate, but I was in a hurry. This recipe is a keeper!
★★★★★
Hi Carrie,
I would like to add poppy seeds to this — do you think it would bake ok? Would I need to tweak any of the other ingredients? Looks delish!
Thanks!
How many days in advance can I prepare this cake?
Could you possibly give me a weight for the flour vs measuring cup amounts? I find it so much easier to weigh it out since scooping or sifting flour can give such different amounts.
OOPS! you do have weights listed~ sorry.
Do you think a thin layer of lemon curd or blueberry compote would do well in this cake? I plan on making this cake this weekend but the person I’m making it for doesn’t like too much icing in the middle, so I wonder if I could replace a layer with something else?