Blackberry Lime Cake – tender cake infused with lime zest, frosted with blackberry buttercream, topped with fresh blackberries and edible flowers.
Spring is officially here. While our local weather has been up, down and everywhere in between, my heart is ready for birds chirping, green buds of new growth on the trees and blooms of color. Mother Nature might be slow to cooperate, but this is the time of year to embrace color, in all of its pastel glory. From Easter and Mother’s Day to baby and bridal showers, there’s ample opportunity to dive straight into the lush florals and gorgeous hues that springtime has to offer. And today’s Blackberry Lime Cake does not disappoint.
This is cake is a celebration of everything spring. Shades of violet sing as sweetened blackberries meet up with subtle notes of lime, created only with nature’s best. Not only are we decorating with gorgeous edible flowers but we’re tinting the frosting with the pigments naturally found in fresh blackberries. The result is a subtle lavender hue that looks like it came from a bottle but really came from the earth’s bounty.
Fresh blackberries are somewhat underutilized in cake baking, probably because of their large size and high water content. If you take a pack of fresh blackberries and toss them into a silky buttercream frosting, you’ll end up with a sad soupy mess. Add fresh berries to a cake batter and they’ll sink straight to the bottom. So we’re taking fresh berries and reducing them down, I’m talking way down, past the jam or jelly stage to really concentrate the flavor. The result is almost like a paste once it sets up. When mixed into our frosting, it clumps ever so slightly, giving a beautiful speckle to the finished cake, which closely resembles bits of broken berry.
The end result is not overly tart, nor overly sweet, just delicate blackberry that’s mild and easy to eat. If you really want to amp up the blackberry flavor, slice some berries in half and add them between your cake layers, to get that fresh berry punch. The choice to go big or stay mild is up to you. Either way, this one is definitely worth a go.
Blackberry Lime Cake
Blackberry Lime Cake – tender cake infused with lime zest, frosted with blackberry buttercream, topped with fresh blackberries and edible flowers.
- Yield: One 8" Round Cake (3 layers)
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Cake
Ingredients
For the Blackberry Lime Cake:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons organic lime zest
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Blackberry Reduction:
- 12 ounces fresh blackberries
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
For the Blackberry Buttercream:
- 6 egg whites
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons blackberry reduction
For the Assembly:
- 12 ounces fresh blackberries
- edible flowers (micro pepper, alyssum and micro mint) washed and dried
Instructions
Make the Blackberry Lime Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and lightly flour three 8″ round pans. Line with parchment paper circles.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Zest limes and whisk into flour. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine milk and lime 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 3 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add eggs one at a time. Mix well after each egg.
- Add vanilla extract and 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 and the mixer blade.
- Divide batter evenly between the three 8″ round pans.
- Bake for 25-27 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Let cool in pans for 5 to 10 minutes, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.
Make the Blackberry Reduction:
- Combine blackberries, sugar and lime juice in a pan over medium heat.
- Cook 10 to 15 minutes until the juices are bubbly and the berries are soft enough to smash with the back of a spoon.
- Press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl to remove the seeds. Use the back of your wooden spoon to really press as much pulp through as you can. Scrape the underside of the strainer to get all of the accumulated blackberry pulp. Discard seeds and return strained puree back to the pan.
- Cook on medium, stirring with a wooden spoon, until reduced to only a few tablespoons, about 10 minutes.
- Pour into a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic down to touch the blackberry reduction so that a skin does not form. Allow to cool.
Make the Blackberry Buttercream:
- Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.
- Place bowl over a pan of simmering water to create a double-boiler. Whisking constantly, heat the egg mixture until it registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer. Carefully transfer the bowl onto the stand mixer.
- Using the whisk attachment, beat the egg white mixture on high speed for 8 to 10 minutes until the bowl is no longer warm to the touch and the meringue is fluffy, glossy and holds a stiff peak.
- Switch to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, slowly add cubed butter and mix until incorporated.
- Add vanilla extract and whip on medium-high until silky and smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add blackberry reduction and whip again until incorporated. The buttercream may look like it’s broken at some point. Keep mixing until it is completely smooth.
Assemble the Cake:
- Place one layer of cake onto serving plate or cake stand and top with about one cup of blackberry frosting.
- Repeat with second cake layer, more frosting and then last layer of cake. Crumb coat and frost cake with remaining frosting.
- Decorate with additional blackberries and edible flowers. Start by laying out blackberries in a crescent shape, spacing them close together but not touching. Tuck in small sprigs of the micro mint here and there, but not everywhere. Next, add the alyssum, using only the top blooming section of each sprig. Add a few extra berries for height if needed. Fill remaining small holes with the micro pepper blooms.
- Reserve extra berries and blooms to adorn individual slices when serving, if desired.
Notes
- Be careful not to pack flour into the measuring cups. Too much flour can result is a heavy and overly dense cake. Spoon flour into the measuring cup and then level off the excess.
- When finished mixing the cake batter, be sure to scrape down the mixer blade to grab all the lime zest that has accumulated. Fold back into the cake batter before diving into pans.
- 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. The resulting layers are approximately 1.25 inches tall. If only using two pans, be sure to only fill them 2/3 of the way full to prevent overflowing.
- If at any point the buttercream appears curdled, just keep mixing. If the buttercream appears soupy, try placing it in the refrigerator for about 10 to 15 minutes then mixing again.
- To amp up the fresh blackberry flavor, make a double batch of blackberry reduction and spread a thin coating between the cake layers. Or slice fresh berries in half and add them between the cake layers.
- Add flowers just before serving as they will wilt over time, especially when refrigerated.
- Store in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.
So nice, so perfect and balanced… Thanks!
Thank you Ana!
GORGEOUS. a long-time purple lover’s dream. 🙂
Thanks Grace – yes, this one is all about the purple!!
Hi,
Can I make the Blackberry Buttercream ahead of time? Thanks
Hello,
Can I use lemon juice and zest in place of lime?
What will be the amount for the lemon Juice.
I love that the recipe is a variation of the 1_2_3_4 cake.
I’m from Nigeria, we don’t have organic flour, can i use regular all purpose flour, will equate 3cups to 12oz.
I await your reply.
Wale
Sure, lemon juice and zest would be delicious as well! Just substitute the same amount that is listed for the lime. You can see a similar cake recipe in my lemon blueberry cake. And yes, you’ll want to use 12.75oz of your all-purpose four. If you happen to have cake flour, you can use it as well (just omit the baking soda if using cake flour). Enjoy!
This is so pretty! I love the contrast between the purple frosting and the yellow cake. Saving to Pinterest now so I remember to make it!
Thanks Rebecca – for both the complement and the pin!
Beautiful cake! Do you think that the whole milk could be substituted for a non-dairy alternative?
Thanks in advance,
Sarah
You could certainly experiment Sarah, but you would also need to replace the butter to make it non-dairy. Best of luck if you decide to give it a go!
i love black berry
love lime
i have got to make this cake
are the flowers edible?
Yes, the flowers are edible! Aren’t they lovely? They’re edible micro pepper, alyssum and micro mint.
Hi Carrie, wow, these are perfect spring colours. Can I replace the blueberries with strawberries or raspberries (my little sis doesn’t like blueberries that much…)
Thank you!
Certainly, I think this could be delicious made with strawberries or raspberries. Let us know how it goes!
Hi Carrie! I am currently making this cake for a dinner party but the party is not for a couple days. Can I make the buttercream ahead and save for 2 days or does it have to be made closer to the time of serving? Thanks!
Sure, you could certainly make the buttercream ahead of time, just store it in the refrigerator. You’ll want to bring the icing back to room temperature and give it a whip with the mixer before using it to frost the cake.
Alternatively, you can bake, assemble and frost the cake a day or two in advance. Store the whole thing in the refrigerator, lightly covered with plastic wrap. I like to pop it in the 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 not to add any flowers or berries on top until closer to serving. They will noticeably wilt.
Dear Carrie.
The cake looks beautiful and I am looking forward for making it.
I read over the recipe and it calls for 1 tablespoon of baking powder. I just want to make sure it’s correct as I never seen a recipe with such amount of baking powder.
Thanks.
Yes, 1 tablespoon baking powder is correct. A general rule of thumb is one tablespoon baking powder per 3 cups of flour. Since this recipe was written using an all-purpose flour with a somewhat high protein content, I went for the full tablespoon of baking powder. If you use a lower protein AP flour or substitute a cake flour, you could go down to 2 teaspoons baking powder and omit the baking soda.
Your recipe calls for Cake flour and baking powder? I want to use both?
Hi, I just mixed up the batter. It was very thick and airy. Is this normal? The cakes are in the oven so I guess I’ll find out soon!
Yes, the batter is somewhat thick and fluffy, especially if you’re used to an oil based batter or a cake mix.
WOW! Absolutely stunning and would make a lovely picture to hang. I thank you for sharing with us. I am very eager to make this.
Thank you again. Tamara
Carrie where can you purchase those edible flowers?
I purchased them online here: https://www.gourmetsweetbotanicals.com
I was also wondering about the flowers. Can you buy them at your local nursery? Is there a certain kind of alyssum that is edible? Thanks!
I purchased them online. Some grocery stores carry edible flowers but the assortment is pretty limited and it’s very hit or miss. After numerous rounds of checking every store in town looking for edible flowers, I just started ordering them. It’s a little pricey to order them but definitely more reliable.
https://www.gourmetsweetbotanicals.com
Good morning I want to ask about the lemon cake how many grams of butter should I put
Hi!
This looks FANTASTIC and your photography is gorgeous!
Thanks for sharing!
Emily
https://www.fortuitousfoodies.com
So beautiful! Have to pin this one for sure!
Thank you Carrie for this wonderful recipe. I am going to make it for a wedding cake in June this year. I just have to figure out how to make this cake for 80 people 🙂
Thanks for this recipe! Just blogged about it!
So gorgeous cake!! Love this cake!! I would like to get this recipe of this cake!! I’m blackraspberry/blackberry lover!!
the cake is beautiful. si può avere la ri cetta in italiano.
Do you have thoughts about a light spritzing of simple syrup, maybe lime or blackberry, to keep layers moist?
Sure, that would be a lovely addition!
I would like to make this for a wedding this summer. Do you have any other suggestions for a purple flower to use? I am not sure if I will be able to find pepper blooms.
I purchased all of the edible flowers online, using the same vendor several times now. I’ve found it challenging to source edible flowers locally. Here’s a link so you can choose from whatever purple blooms are available when the time comes. Best wishes on the wedding cake!
https://www.gourmetsweetbotanicals.com
Thanks Carrie for the reply. I went to the site you suggested and it looks great. Another question for you and anyone else reading….i am planning a tiered cake and am thinking through how I want to decorate the tiers with the blackberries and edible flowers…..any suggestions. I like how you used a crescent shape on the top yet not sure how to continue it to the other tiers?
What a beautiful cake !?!
I was thinking about making it for a friends birthday, but she is vegetarian and so I’d need to replace the eggs?
Could you suggest an egg alternative both for the cake and the frosting? Do you suggest I make a more basic buttercream recipe and eliminate the eggs altogether?
For the cake – here’s our article highlighting the pros and cons of different egg substitutions. https://thecakeblog.com/2016/12/egg-free-baking.html
For the frosting – you’ll want to go with a basic crusting buttercream instead. You can’t really sub out the eggs in a Swiss meringue buttercream.
wow, the cake looks stunning! can’t wait to try it out when blackberries are back I’m season in South Africa.
Hi Carrie! I made your cake and put it up on my blog. I linked to your recipe here. here it is if you want to see it. Shamene
https://sayitwithcake.org/blackberry-layer-cake/
Oh, it looks amazing Shamene! Love that you added a blackberry filling! Thanks for giving this one a try and for sharing your photo.
thank you Carrie!