This lemon blueberry cake is so moist, delicious, and bursting with Springtime flavor! It features layers of zesty lemon cake dotted with beautiful blueberries, filled and frosted with lemon cream cheese buttercream. It’s the epitome of Spring in cake form and perfect for a brunch, birthday party, or a weekend bake. Look at how beautiful these cake layers turned out!
One Reader, Nanita, says: “The cake came out so fluffy and moist with the perfect amount of lemon and blueberries. It is a delicious recipe for Spring but I’m sure you can make it any time of the year!” ★★★★★
Contrary to my recipe for lemon cake with blueberry buttercream, this lemon blueberry cake has fresh berries baked right inside each layer. It’s light enough to be a brunch cake but delicious enough to be the centerpiece for Easter, Mother’s Day, an upcoming birthday, or any celebratory event. And while these flavors are typically associated with Spring, you could make this cake year round and no one would complain. I promise!
Adding Blueberries to a Lemon Cake Recipe
I’ll be honest. I thought this lemon blueberry cake was going to be a breeze to test, especially since I already have a cranberry orange cake recipe that seemed like a great starting point. Turns out that blueberries are a LOT heavier than cranberries, so during the first test all of my blueberries sank to the bottom. It happened again with the second test, and then after doing some research I realized that since blueberries are so heavy, the lemon cake batter needed to be thicker and I needed to make two important changes:
- Using all-purpose (or plain) flour is a must. I use cake flour in most of my cake recipes because it yields such a tender crumb, but after swapping the cake flour for all-purpose flour in this recipe and tweaking some of the other ingredients, the batter was much thicker yet still created the perfect texture in the baked cake. This thicker batter helps keep those blueberries suspended as they bake.
- Cutting the blueberries in half. The size of blueberries varies so much, and at first I was nervous to cut the larger ones in half and fold them into the batter because I thought they’d leak. Turns out cutting blueberries in half, coating them in flour, and folding them into the batter yielded PERFECT suspension in the baking process and they don’t leak at all.
After making these two changes and tweaking some of the other ingredients, the result was the perfect lemon blueberry cake with amazing citrus flavor, a moist yet tender crumb, and the perfect suspension of blueberries in every slice!
Lemon Blueberry Cake Ingredients
This lemon cake recipe uses every part of a lemon to get the perfect citrus flavor. The zest is mixed together with the sugar to release essential oils + the juice is added to the milk to create buttermilk, which adds both moisture and flavor. Even though this cake uses all-purpose flour, which is heavier than cake flour and typically yields a denser cake, the other ingredients are tweaked to maintain a moist and tender crumb while perfectly supporting those blueberries!
Here’s what you need to know about some of the key ingredients:
- Lemon zest + fresh squeezed lemon juice. As mentioned previously, this recipe uses every part of the lemon for flavoring this cake. The lemon zest is mixed with the sugar in the beginning of the recipe to release lemon essential oils from the beginning. Then, you’ll juice a few lemons into the milk to create a diy buttermilk that adds lots of moisture and flavor at the end of the recipe. In total, you’ll need 3-4 medium lemons.
- All-purpose flour. After lots of testing, I realized that the batter for this cake needs to be thick enough to support the blueberries and keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake pans during the baking process. All-purpose flour (or plain flour) is the best choice here. While I am normally a fan of cake flour for most of my recipes, don’t be tempted to substitute it in.
- Whole Milk. In the beginning of the recipe, you’ll add lemon juice to the whole milk to create homemade buttermilk. This creates moisture and adds flavor to the cake. Since whole milk has a high amount of fat and protein, it’s the best choice for adding moisture while binding the ingredients together. The best substitutes here would be soy milk or full-fat buttermilk, but whole milk is my recommendation.
- Granulated Sugar. This not only sweetens the cake but also tenderizes the crumb, creating a softer cake.
- Butter + Vegetable Oil. These are the two base fats I use in this recipe, a little bit of butter for a rich texture and a little bit of vegetable oil for added moisture.
- Large Eggs. These add structure to the cake and help bind the ingredients together.
- Fresh Blueberries. I recently discovered that using a paring knife to cut the blueberries in half is a game changer – they won’t sink at all! I don’t recommend substituting these with frozen blueberries since they have extra water content, and I also don’t recommend using freeze-dried blueberries. Those won’t have enough water content and end up having the texture of raisins once baked. Fresh blueberries are best!
Delicious & Stable Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
To fill and frost this cake, I decided to make a lemon cream cheese buttercream that makes this cake extra delicious! I tried a different method of mixing this time to make the cream cheese frosting extra stable without having to add extra powdered sugar or cornstarch. Basically instead of creaming the butter and cream cheese together before adding the powdered sugar, I switched up the order of ingredients to where I add the cream cheese last. It worked! And the lemon cream cheese frosting was so pleasant to work with and even pipe-able!
If you want, you could sub the lemon juice in this frosting recipe to make regular cream cheese frosting and it would still taste delicious. Either way, the one key thing to note is that you must use brick-style full-fat cream cheese (not low-fat or the spreadable kind in tubs). If you can’t find that locally, I recommend using a different kind of frosting. Here are some suggestions:
How to Decorate a Lemon Blueberry Cake
I really love the way the lemon blueberry cake layers turned out and wanted to highlight them without making a full-on naked cake. So, after filling and stacking the cake layers, I used the lemon cream cheese buttercream to frost a semi-naked finish and let some of the blueberries underneath shine through. Then, I used the rest of the lemon cream cheese buttercream to pipe a braided border with Wilton Tip 4B. It’s basically a series of diagonal overlapping shells and it turned out so pretty! For garnishing the braided buttercream border, I added some fresh blueberries and little slivers of a lemon slice.
You can decorate this lemon blueberry cake however you’d like and no matter how it turns out visually, it’s one of those cakes you’re going to want to dig into with a fork straight off the cake stand. I’m pretty obsessed with it and I hope you will be too!
Lemon Blueberry Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream
Ingredients
Lemon Blueberry Cake
- 2 Cups (265g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 Cup (120ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 1/3 Cup (80ml) lemon juice from 3-4 medium lemons
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest from 1 medium lemon
- 1 1/2 Cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 Cup (75g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 Cup (60ml) vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 Cup (135g) fresh blueberries, cut in half
- 2 tsp all-purpose flour (for coating the blueberries)
Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 3/4 Cups (170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 6 Cups (720g) powdered sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 12 Oz (339g) full-fat brick-style cream cheese*, room temperature NOT the spread
- Pinch of salt, or to taste
Garnish (optional)
- fresh blueberries + lemon slices
Instructions
Make the Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF/177ºF and prepare three 6-inch or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting a parchment paper circle to the bottoms.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the milk and lemon juice and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the sugar and lemon zest until fragrant and well combined, about 1 minute. Add the butter and cream it together with the lemon-sugar mixture on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the vegetable oil and beat until combined, light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and paddle as needed.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Add the vanilla, then turn the mixer to medium speed and beat for one minute.
- Turn the mixer off and add the flour mixture all at once. Mix on low speed until just combined, then slowly pour in the lemon milk mixture. Mix until just combined, about 30 seconds.
- Coat the blueberry halves in 2 tsp flour and use a rubber spatula to fold them into the lemon cake batter, then divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool for 5 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans. Transfer the cake layers to a wire rack to cool completely to room temperature.
Make the Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light and creamy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed.
- Add about 1/3 of the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until combined, then add the lemon juice and continue mixing on low speed. Add the rest of the powdered sugar until combined. It will look pretty crumbly and thick, but don't worry! It will come together after the next step.
- Add the cream cheese and salt and mix on medium speed until fully combined and smooth (no lumps), about 2-3 minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed.
Assembly
- Once the cake layers have cooled completely, level them to your desired height. Fill and stack the cake layers with lemon cream cheese buttercream, then crumb coat the cake with more lemon cream cheese buttercream. Refrigerate the crumb coated cake for at least 30 minutes to let the frosting firm up.
- To create the design pictured, use the lemon cream cheese buttercream to frost a semi-naked finish on the cake. Add the remaining lemon cream cheese buttercream into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 4B, then pipe a braided border (a series of overlapping diagonal shells) onto the top edge of the cake. Garnish the braided border with fresh blueberries and slivers of a lemon slice.
Notes
- The lemon blueberry cakes can be made ahead and stored, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to two days. Alternatively, you can store the wrapped cake layers in the freezer for up to 2 months before thawing and frosting.
- The lemon cream cheese buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-mix it with your stand mixer on low speed until it’s smooth and uniform.
- The decorated cake can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Take it out of the refrigerator an hour or two before serving – it stores best cold but tastes best at room temperature.
I hope you love this lemon blueberry cake recipe as much as I do! Let me know who you made it for in the comments below + be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create!
Do you have a small batch recipe for this cake? Also do you have a recipe for a lemon curd to use on your lemon layer cake instead of the buttercream in between the layers?
Hi Patti! I don’t have a small batch recipe for this cake but you could make 1/3 of the recipe here to have the perfect amount of batter for a small batch cake (single layer 6-inch cake or triple layer 4-inch cake). Basically you would divide each ingredient by 3. I don’t (yet!) have a lemon curd recipe but it’s on my baking list this summer so I will have one soon!
Hi Whitney! Thank you for sharing all your knowledge with us, you had helped me tremendously! I did this recipe for my family and we all loved it!!! Now, I have a customer order a 12” 3-layers cake. Could I just duplicate this recipe? Thank you in advance!
Yay, Natalia! I’m so happy to hear this recipe was a hit! For three 12-inch layers, you’d need to quadruple (4x) the recipe. If your mixer doesn’t hold that much batter (it ends up being about 24 cups!) I’d recommend making two separate double batches, one after the other, then dividing all that batter between the three pans and baking. Hope that helps!
Could this cake be made as a small cake batch? If so, what would be the difference in measurements and temperature? I just started making your small batch cakes and my boyfriend is in love with them!
So fun, Maureen! I haven’t tried this as a small batch recipe, but 1/3 of the recipe makes the perfect amount of batter for three 4-inch cake pans or a single layer 6-inch cake. Just divide all the ingredients by 3. Hope that helps!
I haven’t made the buttercream yet, but honestly this cake doesn’t even need it! I just tried the cake and it’s seriously so delicious. Im glad I made extra for myself!!
I would love to try that cake for an anniversary but I want to do the outside like a marble cake. Does that cream cheese frosting work for that marble technique as well or would you rather recommend making the vanilla buttercream frosting which you recommend and used for the marble cake?
Thank you so much in advance and I’m excited to try it out 🙂
Hi Stef! The cream cheese frosting totally works for a marble technique. I’d recommend making a little more buttercream (1.5x the recipe) to have enough to frost the outside of the cake with the marble look. The current amount only makes enough to fill the cake, frost a semi-naked finish, and decorate the top.
I made this cake for my sister’s birthday and it was delicious and beautiful! It was so good my other sister asked for it on her birthday too. I’m going to try your Black Forest cake for Valentine’s Day. Thanks for the wonderful recipes!!
Yay, Jeannie! I’m so happy you loved this recipe for your sister’s birthday and I’m excited for you to make my black forest cake next!
This was a hit! I loved it as well as my customers! Its fluffy and moist, just the right amount of tanginess. I just started my cake business and thi is one of the cake flavours that i offer. I subscribed now on your page.
I wonder if i cna use this recipe vanilla cake? Just omit the lemon juice?
Its hard to find cake flour where we are now (KSA)
Yay, Aiza! That makes me so happy and I’m cheering you on in your cake business! I haven’t tried this recipe with the omission of the lemon, so I can’t say for sure how it will turn out. Instead, I would recommend making homemade cake flour using all-purpose flour + cornstarch and using it with my vanilla cake recipe (https://sugarandsparrow.com/vanilla-cake-recipe/) or my bakery-style white cake recipe (https://sugarandsparrow.com/white-cake-recipe/). Both have instructions for making homemade cake flour in the notes of the recipe card.
This cake looks amazing! I am just wondering, since I only have 4oz of cream cheese left for frosting – which wouldn’t be enough for a whole cake, I think – could I bake these as cupcakes? And if so, approximately how many cupcakes would this batter make?
Hi Chloe! This recipe makes enough for 30-35 cupcakes. You can half the recipe to make about 15. Either way, be sure to fill your tins no more than 2/3 full and bake at 350F for 14-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the feedback, Angie!
Hi, i just made this recipe, the taste and texture was amazing, the only thing is that it sank in the midle, what do you think ?
Hi Yanina! I’m so happy to hear you loved this recipe! And sorry to hear that the cake sank in the middle. The most common reasons this happens are that the butter was too soft or the baking powder is expired (after 6 months it loses its ability to make cakes rise). Here’s an article I wrote about all of the reasons why cakes sink to see if any of these sound like the culprit: https://sugarandsparrow.com/why-cakes-sink/
Hi Whitney,
I am planning on making this cake, I’m making it for a friend that cannot have vegetable oils. Can it be made without vegetable oils please?
Hi Anika! I haven’t tried this without vegetable oil, so it would be an experiment. The purpose of the vegetable oil is to moisten the cake, so you could try an equal amount of plain yogurt, applesauce, or sour cream. Hope that helps!
Made the recipe as is and it was great! I’m wondering if I omit the blueberries if it would still turn out as a great lemon cake?
Hi Jessica! So happy you loved this recipe. I haven’t tried omitting the blueberries but my hunch is that it would still be a great lemon cake. This is my favorite super soft lemon cake recipe though: https://sugarandsparrow.com/favorite-lemon-layer-cake/
Another hit! Made the cake on friday, frosted and filled it saturday and people loved it on sunday. There was another cake bought next to mine for this celebration. Because i am just a girl who loves baking and it was to much to make 2 cakes and 24 cupcakes. But i Heard that they loved my home made cake more. This recipe was a hit ❤️
Yay, Mandy! I’m so happy this recipe was such a hit!
Can cake flour be used in place of all purpose flour?
Hi Anna! Cake flour isn’t strong enough to keep those blueberries suspended. All purpose flour is the best kind to use here. Hope that helps!
made this today but with a different frosting and it was amazing. soft, spongy and tasty. will do again