This Lemon Blueberry Cake is the perfect dessert for spring celebrations and get-togethers! Each layer is studded with blueberries and frosted with a bright and refreshing lemon icing. Recipe includes a how-to video!
All the Flavors of Spring in One Slice
So many of you have requested this lemon blueberry cake, and I am excited to finally share it with you today! With lemon notes in both the icing and the cake and a bounty of blueberries throughout each layer, this cake is so fruity and light. It’s absolutely perfect for spring and would be a very welcome addition to your Easter dessert table this year.
What’s So Great About This Lemon Blueberry Cake:
- It’s a lemony, perfectly tart variation of my vanilla cake with just the right amount of sweetness.
- A soft, plush crumb suspends at least some of the berries, thanks to the reverse creaming method (like I did with my chantilly cake!).
- We’re icing it with the lemon frosting I just shared last week, which makes it both refreshing and beautiful!
What You Need
Here are the key ingredients that ensure every bite of this cake is flavorful and light:
- Blueberries. I use fresh blueberries, but frozen will work too. If you use frozen, don’t thaw them first–just add them right into the batter.
- Lemon juice. For the most flavorful lemon blueberry cake, use fresh squeezed lemon juice.
- Lemon zest. Make sure you zest your lemons before you juice them! It will be quite a challenge to zest a juiced lemon.
- Buttermilk. While I love using my buttermilk substitute in a pinch, I actually don’t recommend using it for this cake. Stick with real buttermilk!
- Cornstarch. This helps achieve a soft, plush cake.
SAM’S TIP: While my lemon frosting complements this cake beautifully, you can make a cream cheese frosting variation that also tastes fantastic. To make this, follow the recipe for my lemon frosting, but add 4 oz of softened cream cheese in with the butter. You may need to add up to an additional cup of powdered sugar to get it the right texture!
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make It
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add the butter one tablespoon at a time, using an electric mixer on low speed to mix after each addition.
- Slowly drizzle in the oil.
- Combine the remaining wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then slowly drizzle them into the batter.
- Use a spatula to gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
- Divide the batter among your prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes.
- Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10-15 minutes before inverting the cakes onto a cooling rack.
- Frost and decorate your cooled cakes, slice, and enjoy!
SAM’S TIP: If you only have two cake pans (or your oven only fits two pans at a time), you can let the remaining batter sit on the counter while the others are baking. If you do have three pans and they can all fit in your oven at the same time, definitely keep a close eye on them while they bake–most ovens do not cook evenly, and some may be done before others.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Just add them in frozen (no need to thaw) and bake as normal. Note that if you use wild blueberries, these tend to streak the batter and turn it purple. If you don’t mind that look (it’s almost like a tie dye effect), feel free to use them as well!
While many (but not all) of your blueberries will sink, you’ll still get a nice distribution of blueberry to cake in the final result, especially since the cake layers are fairly thin. I made several variations of this cake where the crumb was dense enough to suspend blueberries evenly throughout, but the cake itself ended up gummy, dense, flavorless, and just all-around lackluster. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take flavor and texture over perfect looks any day! Note: While some people like to toss their berries with cornstarch or flour to help keep them suspended, I found it made no difference here.
This cake can sit at room temperature for a few hours, but after that, it will need to be stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
And in case you are wondering, this cake is different from my (well-loved) lemon cake. While that one is divinely light, fluffy, and perfect in all its lemon splendor, today’s recipe was designed specifically to be a bit denser so that not all of the blueberries sink straight to the bottom (which would happen with my lemon cake).
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375g)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300g)
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened and cut into 8 pieces (113g)
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil (120ml)
- ¾ cup buttermilk (180ml)
- 2 Tablespoons lemon zest zest lemons before squeezing
- ¼ cup lemon juice fresh-squeezed preferred (60ml)
- 4 large eggs room temperature preferred
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups blueberries see note (12 oz/340g)
- 1 batch lemon frosting or preferred frosting
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line three 8” round cake pans by lightly but thoroughly greasing and flouring the sides and lining the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon table salt
- Using an electric mixer, add softened butter, one tablespoon at a time, adding the next tablespoon only after the first is combined. The mixture will appear sandy in texture.½ cup unsalted butter
- While mixing on low-speed, slowly drizzle in oil.½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together buttermilk, lemon zest, lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla extract until combined.¾ cup buttermilk, 2 Tablespoons lemon zest, ¼ cup lemon juice, 4 large eggs, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- With mixer on low-speed, slowly drizzle in the buttermilk mixture until the batter is smooth and completely combined.
- Use a spatula to stir in blueberries.2 ½ cups blueberries
- Evenly divide batter into prepared cake pans and transfer to 350F oven (if your oven is not large enough for all three pans or if you only have two pans, it is fine to let the remaining batter sit on the counter while the first two pans bake. If all of your pans do fit in the oven, make sure to keep an eye on them as most ovens do not cook evenly and some pans may be done sooner than others). Bake for 30 minutes or until the surface of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow cakes to cool in cake pans for 10-15 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen cakes and carefully inverting onto a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Once cooled completely, decorate the cake using lemon frosting (or preferred frosting).1 batch lemon frosting or preferred frosting
Notes
Blueberries
I prefer to use fresh blueberries but in a pinch frozen blueberries will work instead. You do not need to thaw before using. Note that if you opt to use “wild” blueberries, they may streak your batter purple.Storing
Store tightly covered at room temperature for up to 24 hours or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days (note that the refrigerator does tend to dry out cakes the longer they are in there).Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Vivian
This cake was phenomenal. Was looking for a new recipe and this was perfectly light, not too sweet and was gone in minutes.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are SO happy you enjoyed it, Vivian! Thanks for the review 🥰
ni
hi when you say 120 ml of oil, can we measure out 120 gm on a weighing scale or should we take a volume measure for this?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Ni! You need to measure your oil by volume in a liquid measuring cup. Hope that helps 🙂
Terri
Hello, if you buy the scale using Sam’s link, you can toggle between various measuring types, Including but not limited to, ml and grams. Only $10 😀
THE MADD BAKER
Made this for a retirement party. It was an instant hit! The only deviation was I used 3 cups of fresh blueberries instead of 2 1/2, and after washing my blues, I sprinkled 1 1/2 tbsp. of sugar on them and let them sit for about an hour before folding into my batter. I’ll be putting this cake in the starting lineup of my pastry team!
Awesome recipe! Thanks for sharing
Debbie
Can I make this in a 9×13 pan?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That should work fine! Enjoy, Debbie 🙂
Nancy Watkins
This cake looks wonderful. I wonder if I could bake it in a 9 x 13 pan? Let me know if that would work. Thanks for well thought-out and delicious recipes.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
It sure can! The bake time will be different, so just keep an eye on it 😊
Panamike
Hello,
I was interested in making this cake but I only have one 8″ cake pan. I don’t mind doing these one at a time. The thing I’m worried about is the cake batter sitting there while each cake bakes. Do you know if I could do one at a time and leave the cake batter in the fridge while each cake bakes? If you could please let me know? I’m interested in making this cake for birthday this weekend.
Sam
You should be fine to bake this cake one layer at a time. I probably wouldn’t refrigerate the batter while the first one bakes. I hope you love it! 🙂
Cynthia
Best one ever! Love the lemon buttercream Isidra g the lemon curd! Made the difference.
Ramona
I made this cake with the lemon curd frosting for Father’s Day. And it was hit. Received a lot of good comments. Thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful recipie. I’m so glad that I came across your channel.
RedBlueSpice
Light, moist, fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth cake. The blueberries were delicious in it. I paired this with your absolutely, amazingly perfect lemon frosting!! This made my lemon birthday cake dreams come true! Delicious!
Amelia
Thanks for the recipe! made this today – couple of question. My blueberries never sink but this time they did, what could be the reason? I lightly coated in flour before adding (used fresh).
Also, the cakes sank slightly in the middle. I’d like to try making it again but wanted to know where I could have gone wrong with these two things! Thanks
Sam
Hi Amelia! If the cake is sinking, it’s a matter of potentially under-mixing or under-baking. For the blueberries, it’s really just the nature of baking this cake, most of them are going to sink, but some should stay up. Given the thickness of the cake layers, after flipping them over it really shouldn’t be a huge issue. 🙂
Lucija
Hello,
I have made the sponges with frozen raspberries in 18 cm tins and they came out great! I baked two tins for more than 40 min on 180C, and one tin for 40 min exact. My question is, can I put seedless raspberry jam on each layer, between the sponge and the buttercream? What should I look out for? Thank yo!
Sam
Hi Lucija! You can certainly add layer of jam in there, but I would use a buttercream dam to keep it from squishing out the sides. 🙂
Loni Loftus
Thank you for an excellent recipe! I’ve been making it in my café for about the last month with blueberries that I pick from a local farm. I did scale it up to make a 4 layer with 9” pans and it continues to be very well liked with our customers. Also made it as written with 9” pans again for a family gathering and everyone LOVED it! I bake mine for 27 minutes turning at 20 and also toss the blueberries with a little flour to help them suspend better. I also bake all my cakes wrapped with water soaked cake strips to consistently achieve flat tops so I never have to trim cakes.
The lemon frosting is also excellent! I do double it for a 4 layer and use my own lemon curd that I make and add a pinch of salt. I also made 1.5 times for the 3 layer. I start with about 2/3 cup of curd for a 3 layer, 1 cup for 4 layer and then continue to add until I get the consistency I’m looking for. Excellent lemon flavor! I rarely comment on any recipes but I am making it again today so I wanted to let you or anyone else know that it’s a very lovely summer cake.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone has enjoyed it so much, Loni! 🙂
Lisa
It looks so delicious! I can’t wait to make it! Can I freeze the cake(without icing)and use it next week?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Lisa! If you wrap it well (plastic, then foil, then ziploc) it should freeze just fine. Enjoy ☺️
Mary
Picked wild blueberries in the forest for this recipe. Didn’t want a big cake so I halved the recipe which meant adjusting baking time. Kept watch while it was in the oven which took only 21 minutes. Didn’t use the lemon frosting though since butter on hand was not unsalted. Used plain whipped cream instead then topped with fresh blueberries. Good cake! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Mary! 🙂
Dan
Hello. How much dough should I make for a 9.5″ cake?
Sam
Hi Dan! You can use the recipe as is, your cake layers will be just a bit thinner and may need a minute or two less in the oven. 🙂
Sara
Made this cake with the lemon frosting & it came out great. I added some blueberries for decoration.
I did only put 1 cup of sugar but was impressed the frosting was the right amount. A lot of the time so have leftover frosting – but this was just right.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sara! 🙂