This pretty blueberry lemon cake is my absolute go-to recipe for birthdays and warm-weather gatherings because it’s completely from-scratch, surprisingly simple, and guaranteed to steal the show.
Blueberry lemon cake is perfect for spring!
My blueberry lemon layer cake is bursting with juicy berries and fresh citrus. It makes a wonderfully unique birthday cake, and I’ve yet to meet a soul who can resist it! Lemon paired with berries is a natural choice for spring and summer desserts because the flavors are so light and bright. There is a reason this fruity combo has a cult following ~ something special happens when the two get together.
What readers are saying
❤️ “It’s a very lemony, truly delicious cake, and actually quite simple to make. Thank you for this stand-out recipe!”
❤️ “I made this for Easter and it was amazing! I decorated it with pansies, the texture and flavor was incredible.”
❤️ “This is one of the best cakes I have ever made – and mind you, I have won a few blue ribbons for my cakes over the years!”
❤️ “This cake was amazing! My book club loved it and everyone wanted to take an extra piece home!”
Key ingredients for blueberry lemon cake (and why I use them)
CAKE FLOUR: it gives me a softer, lighter, more tender crumb. You can swap AP flour for a slightly firmer cake texture.
BUTTERMILK: also makes a softer crumb, a better rise, and brighter flavor. Look for cultured buttermilk right next to regular milk in your store, and be sure to shake the carton before using.
LEMON SUGAR: I make lemon sugar by processing granulated sugar with the zest of lemon, and the result is an aromatic, super lemony sugar that gives a vibrancy to cakes, and other baked goods like nothing else.
The secret to a vibrant lemon buttercream
I give the lemon and blueberries equal billing in this recipe; I’ve used almost an entire pint of berries in the cake batter, but that’s balanced by a super tangy lemon buttercream frosting to tie it all together. The secret to a vibrant lemon buttercream is plenty of lemon juice. I don’t use any milk or cream to dilute the flavor.
This is a ‘crusting’ frosting, which is a not-so-pretty way to describe an old fashioned American buttercream, made simply with butter and confectioner’s sugar. I like it because it needs no refrigeration so your blueberry lemon cake can live on the counter.
Sue’s tips for a light and fluffy crumb
You can see the lovely fluffy crumb in the photos…I’m a stickler for that texture in cakes. This blueberry lemon cake recipe gives you the light fluffy result of a boxed mix, with the flavor and character that only a homemade cake can give.
- Preheat your oven, this is important! The oven has to be at temperature when you slide your cake in or it won’t rise properly. I use an inexpensive oven thermometer to double check the temperature. Did you know that the majority of ovens do not run true to temperature?? That can spell disaster for baking.
- Prep your pans. Grease with butter, dust with flour, and line the bottom with a parchment circle. Do this before mixing so the batter can go straight into the oven.
- Follow the recipe. It sounds silly, but it makes a difference…baking is a complex chemical process and cake recipes are carefully composed. Changes are risky.
- Whip it good. A stand mixer or electric hand mixer is essential for creaming the butter and sugar. Don’t skimp on this step; beating in air is what guarantees a light cake.
- Your ingredients should be at room temperature, especially the butter and eggs. That helps them to emulsify together and create a smooth batter. See my guide to Quickly bring cold ingredients to room temperature for baking.
- No peeking! Don’t open the oven to check on your cakes during the first 2/3 of the baking time. If you need to check or rearrange your cake pans, do it quickly so you don’t lose precious oven heat.
- Don’t over bake. The cake is done when it springs back lightly when touched in the center, when it has just started pulling away from the sides of the pan, and when a toothpick inserted in the deepest part comes out without wet batter on it.
Ideas for decorating this blueberry layer cake
Of course you can leave it plain, but why?
- Blueberries ~ I arrange blueberries around the edge of the cake and garnish with thyme sprigs and a dusting of powdered sugar that accents the berries.
- Edible flowers ~ purple pansies or violas would be perfect.
- Thinly sliced lemon ~ decorate like I did but add very thin slices of lemon among the berries.
Tips for baking ahead and storage
- When I’m pressed for time I’ll make the cake layers ahead and frost it later that day, or even the next day.
- The finished cake is shelf stable
- 2–3 days at room temperature (covered)
- Keep it in a cool spot, out of sun/heat
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Blueberry Lemon Cake
Equipment
- 2 9-inch round cake pans
- parchment paper rounds
- food processor to make the lemon sugar
Ingredients
- 3 cups cake flour, (you can also use regular flour)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- zest of 1 lemon, peeled with a vegetable peeler (no white pith)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 jumbo or 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp lemon paste, optional
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 pint blueberries
lemon buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 6 cups confectioner's sugar
- 6-8 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
garnish
- blueberries
- thyme sprigs
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, putting a round of parchment paper at the bottom of each one.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- Put the sugar and lemon zest into a food processor and process until moist, pale yellow, and no large pieces of zest remain. This will take under a minute.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer for 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the machine as necessary.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between each addition. Beat in the lemon paste, if you’re using it.
- Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture, and just before it’s completely mixed in, add the buttermilk and lemon juice. Blend until combined, but don’t over-mix. I like to finish by hand to get everything incorporated.
- Gently fold in the blueberries. Note: I didn't use quite the whole pint. Then divide the batter equally between the two prepared pans. Spread out to an even layer.
- Bake the cakes in the center of the oven for about 35 minutes, or until just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, the top springs back when touched, and a toothpick comes out without any wet batter on it (moist crumbs are fine.)
- Let the cakes cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pans and continue to cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting, beat the soft butter and sugar together, gradually adding enough lemon juice to create a creamy spreadable frosting. If it is too thick, add more lemon juice, and if it is too thin, add a little more sifted sugar.
- Frost the cake and then decorate as you like. Store, covered, at room temperature.
Nutrition
more celebration layer cakes
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The perfect carrot cake with just the right amount of spice, and a thick layer of cream cheese frosting ~ hold on to this recipe!
Vanilla Cake with Raspberry Buttercream
Vanilla Cake with Raspberry Buttercream ~ a perfect vanilla layer cake covered with pretty pink raspberry frosting and topped with fresh berries!
Orange Creamsicle Cake
My Creamsicle Cake is an easy orange layer cake made from scratch for birthdays, family meals, and summer potlucks ~ it's the perfect orange dessert! If you haven't had a Creamsicle cake, you've been missing out.
Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting
Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting ~ a fabulously moist banana layer cake made with toasted hazelnuts and topped with a thick chocolatey hazelnut buttercream ~ oooh la la!
Ina Garten’s Chocolate Cake Recipe
Ina Garten's famous chocolate cake is incredibly moist with rich chocolate flavor. This easy recipe uses coffee to enhance the chocolate and creates a tender crumb that stays soft for days.
Raspberry Cake with Lemon Buttercream
A raspberry lemon cake made with yogurt for a soft, tender crumb, packed with juicy berries and topped with bright lemon buttercream.
Question please. I need to make something like a bar with a frosting that does not need to be refrigerated. I was thinking of making this cake in 9 x 13 pan and put a lemon/powdered sugar glaze (kind of like the lemon strawberry blondies). Do you think that glaze will be enough to set off the cake? Any other ideas? thanks! Louise
Well, I haven’t tried that, but I think it should work, you’d have to be careful not to over bake the cake.
I served this cake to 12 friends tonight and every single one of them told me how delicious they thought it was. Two of them asked me to send them the recipe.
I have one suggestion which I followed. I used one stick of butter for the frosting instead of two, and I used a one pound bag of powered sugar (which is less than the six cups called for). These changes made enough frosting for the cake.
Thank you so much for the feedback Santita ~ I’m glad it was a hit!
Hi, could you substitute buttermilk for Greek yogurt?
I substituted 1/2 yogurt and 1/2 milk and it turned out fabulous. I also use lemon curd instead of lemon paste. Totally true about the lemon sugar it’s a fabulous idea! And the cake was wonderfully moist and delicious everybody loved
Thanks so much Darlene 🙂
Have you ever used this recipe for cupcakes? I plan on doing this. Any tips for doing so?
I haven’t but maybe some of the readers have. I don’t see why you couldn’t bake the batter into cupcakes. Watch the baking time, maybe start with 12-15 minutes.
I don’t have a food processor- any other suggestions for the lemon sugar?
You could grate the zest and blend it into the sugar by hand.
I just received my lemon paste, so I already have an early Monday morning bake session planned. I have a difficult time finding full fat buttermilk. Does anyone else find it?
The buttermilk I use is low fat, cultured buttermilk. It doesn’t come in full fat, so you’re good with whatever you can find. You can also make it yourself using whole milk and a little bit of lemon juice or vinegar in a pinch.
Hey! I want to make this recipe tomorrow, but in my country we don’t use inches, but centimeters. I tried to make the conversion from inches to centimeters. But the result it’s kind of huge. So can you help me with the size in centimeters please? And one more thing. Buttermilk, never heard of it before, I Googled it and says it’s milk with lemon? Can you make this clear for me? Thank you!
Ariel.
Quito-Ecuador.
Hi sue, I’m looking forward to making this cake it looks and sounds lush. The lemon paste says optional but what is it? Not heard of lemon paste here in Scarborough, UK.
Thanks .
I’ve just discovered lemon paste myself Sharon, it’s a new product that I heard about and wanted to try. You can find it online, it’s from Neilsen Massey ~ here.
PPS sorry for all the question marks in my posts… they’re emojis on my screen : (
PS Sue, your lemon ? sugar is genius! To anyone making this, don’t skip that step… you won’t imitate that flavor any other way!
Well, it looks like I’m the only one who actually made this cake so far and I want to say to everyone MAKE IT!!! I absolutely love the flavor of real lemons, especially in the frosting! And the tenderness of buttermilk, butter and eggs combined make this cake heaven on a fork!!!??? I combined it with my homemade vanilla bean ice cream for a group of 10 women I hosted here yesterday for our monthly “Work of Our Hands” group and they could not stop swooning (does anyone still use that word???) over it!!! And, yes Sue, I absolutely love my Cuisinart ice cream maker too. And here’s an ice cream tip from me… ever since I got my Cuisinart and made my very first ice cream years ago, I decided that, if it’s called ice CREAM, that’s what mine will be so it’s always 100% heavy cream. If you can give me a good reason why every ice cream recipe I’ve seen uses as much or more milk as cream and often it’s just half and half, I’d be interested in seeing why. Needless to say, mine gets rave reviews since it’s so rich and creamy.
I haven’t made a layer cake since I stopped using boxed mixes decades ago but at 72 with 7 grandkids and the world’s most wonderful husband, they and our friends and family deserve only the best and this recipe is going to be one of my showstoppers from now on!!! ? (My husband just asked me for one more piece! ?)
Best comment EVER! I adored this cake too, so I’m so happy so have the feedback 🙂
As for the ice cream, the reason I cut the cream with milk or half and half is just to lighten the calories and fat, and I think it also gives ice cream a little lighter texture, but if you love the result you get from 100% cream, go for it 🙂