My family can’t get enough of this incredible lemon blueberry cake. It reminds me of a pound cake with its tender, rich, buttery crumb. Then, there’s an outrageous amount of blueberries baked into the batter. This recipe is a keeper!
I am always so happy when we bake this lemon blueberry cake. It’s perfect as an everyday snack cake and doubles as something you can serve on special occasions. It’s delicious topped with whipped cream, served plain, or with a scoop of ice cream on top!
For more cake recipes with fruit swirled into the batter, see our easy strawberry cake or this pineapple upside-down cake. Both are excellent! And while there’s no fruit, I use a similar batter to make this cinnamon coffee cake!
Key Ingredients
- Blueberries: I prefer fresh blueberries for this recipe, but you can use frozen. I’ve had the best results with adding them frozen, as they don’t color the batter as much as when thawed.
- Butter: Instead of creaming softened butter with sugar, this blueberry cake calls for melted butter. Swapping the softened butter for melted means the flour will be coated with fat, which keeps water from mixing with the flour. When water and flour mix, gluten forms. So, by preventing this, the cake turns out to be a bit more moist and tender. Regular butter or plant-based butter both work well in this recipe.
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour in this cake. You should also be able to substitute your favorite gluten-free all-purpose blend.
- Baking Powder: This adds some lift to our cake. I do not recommend substituting baking soda for this recipe. I also use baking powder for my favorite lemon blueberry muffins and love how it makes them light, airy, and tender.
- Flavored Sugar: We use plain granulated sugar in this recipe, but before making the cake batter, we rub our sugar with lemon zest, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and almond extract. I use my fingers and rub everything together until the sugar takes on some color and an aroma. While you can leave it out, I love the almond extract in this recipe. The vanilla and almond extracts combine to make the cake taste like it stepped out of a fancy bakery.
- Eggs: Eggs play an essential role in this cake by adding structure and moisture. Three large eggs give the blueberry cake a tight, tender, moist texture. I do not recommend replacing them.
- Heavy cream: We wanted the texture of this blueberry cake to be more like the texture of a pound cake (like in this rum pound cake). The added fat in heavy cream gets us there and is one more step in making this cake flavorful, moist, and tender.
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Cake
This blueberry cake is versatile. We love it with a dollop of whipped cream and extra fresh blueberries. It’s also lovely left plain, with ice cream, and I don’t see any reason you couldn’t put slather cream cheese frosting over the top (I recommend the cream cheese frosting in our carrot cake recipe).
When it comes to making the cake, it’s easy! You don’t need extra equipment, just a couple of bowls, a whisk, and a spatula or spoon. We bake the cake in an 8-inch-by-8-inch baking pan, but a tall, round 8-inch or 9-inch cake pan will also work.
You’ll mix the dry ingredients and then get to work on the wet ingredients. Start by rubbing your sugar with the lemon zest, cinnamon, vanilla, and almond extract. Just use your fingers to rub the oils from the lemon zest into the sugar.
From there, you’ll whisk in the eggs and cream, then combine the wet and dry ingredients until a batter forms (holding the butter back for the next step). When you’ve got a nice and smooth batter, fold in the butter.
Now, the get that blueberry ribbon in the middle (like in our photos), add some of the batter (without any blueberries) to your baking pan. Add the blueberries to the remaining batter and pour it on top. Then, just before baking, scatter another handful of berries on top.
Once it’s baked, you’ll want to cool it to room temperature and serve! I cannot wait for you to try it!
Easy Lemon Blueberry Cake
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Our lemon blueberry cake has a texture very similar to pound cake. Thanks to melted butter, eggs, and cream, the texture is tight-knit, moist, and very tender. We make this in a square baking pan, but a tall (at least 2 inches) round 8-inch or 9-inch cake pan will also work.
To minimize all the blueberries sinking to the bottom of the cake (some will, anyway), we first add plain batter without any blueberries added to the bottom of the baking pan. Then, we combine the blueberries with the remaining batter and spread it on top of the first blueberry-free layer.
You Will Need
8 tablespoons (115g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 ⅓ cups (170g) all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (240g) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 large eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
2 cups (280g) fresh blueberries, about 1 pint blueberries
2 cups homemade whipped cream, optional
Directions
1Center a rack in the oven and heat to 350°F (177°C). Butter and flour an 8-by-8-inch square pan.
2Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
3In a large bowl, rub the sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, vanilla, and almond extract together until the sugar is moist and fragrant. (We use our fingers to rub aromatics into the sugar.)
4Whisk the eggs into the flavored sugar until blended, then whisk in the cream.
5Switch to a large rubber spatula. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, stirring gently until they disappear and the batter is smooth. Fold in the melted butter in 2 parts. The batter will be smooth and thick.
6Spread about 1/3 of the batter in the bottom of the prepared baking pan (we will add blueberries in the next step).
7Fold in all but a handful of the blueberries to the remaining batter left in the bowl.
8Layer the blueberry-batter mixture on top of the batter in the baking pan. Smooth the top, then scatter the remaining blueberries over the batter.
9Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. When baked, transfer the cake, still in the pan, to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the cake and place it right-side up on the rack.
10Cool completely, and then serve with whipped cream.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Bake the cake as directed and cool completely. Wrap the unfrosted cake tightly with plastic wrap or place it into a resealable plastic bag. Keep at room temperature for up to 5 days. If you have added whipped cream to the cake, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a day or two.
- Freezing: Bake the cake as directed and cool completely. Add to a baking sheet and freeze (uncovered) until hard, about 4 hours. When frozen, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, then wrap it again with foil. Freeze for up to 1 month.
- Using frozen blueberries: Use frozen blueberries; do not thaw them.
- Tip for even baking: Place your baking pan on an insulated baking sheet or two regular baking sheets stacked on the other before baking in the oven (this helps even baking).
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We did not include additional whipped cream in the calculations. For reference, 2 tablespoons of whipped cream is about 50 calories.
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Nice and detailed recipe of blueberry cake. well done!
Thank you for share this recipe. I love your site. Can I make cupcakes using this recipe?
Hi Mara, We have not made cupcakes with this batter before, but it should work fine. The bake time will be shorter, though, so keep an eye on them as they bake.
I want to double the recipe and make a larger cake as this disappears quickly! If I double it, can I just put into a 9×13 sheet pan and bake for the same amount of time as in the original recipe?
Hi Toni, the bake time should be pretty similar. I’d just stay close by the oven and check on doneness every once in a while.
It was so easy and quick to make this delicious cake. We ate it with the whipped cream. My family love it. The blueberry did not sink at all. I mixed a table of flour mixture with blueberries.
I made this today and its a gorgeous looking cake and a big hit! Can you please share the recipe for the cream cheese frosting you have mentioned? I cant imagine it tasting any better but would love it try it!
Hi Nina, If you take a look at our carrot cake recipe, you will see our go-to cream cheese frosting.
To keep the blueberries from sinking, cut it half and make sure they are dry. That’s what I do. Hope that helps
Yes, I have seen a very popular chef toss the blueberries with a dusting of flour so they do not fall to the bottom. Give it a try!
Hi, can i use canned blueberries in syrup instead of fresh blueberries?
Hi there, we have not done this ourselves, but we recommend removing the blueberries from the syrup before adding to the cake.
Hi to you both! I recently followed your recipe for trout. It was freshly caught in the lake where we live and I stuffed it as you suggested. It was absolutely fabulous. Looking forward to trying the blueberry cake as we have taken to fattening up our friends and ourselves for afternoon tea in the garden while the sun shines. I’ll look forward to trying more of your recipes. Many thanks, Sylvia Kennedy (I live in Brittany, France)
I really like the combination of flavor so for this cake. Please help with some substitutions to make it less fat. I usually use bananas instead of the butter and how about the heavy cream could I use Greek yogurt. Thank you for any other suggestions. Eileen
Hi Eileen, We’re glad you love the flavor combinations. As for the substitutions, you may need to do some testing in your own kitchen since we have not tried them in ours. Greek yogurt should be a nice substitution for the cream and adding a banana for some of the butter should work well, too.