This lemon blueberry cake is super moist and tender, infused with the bright flavors of lemon and dotted with bursts of juicy blueberries. It’s packed with flavor, has the most velvety crumb and is topped with a tangy cream cheese buttercream frosting – so so sooo good!
Why You’ll Love This Lemon Blueberry Cake
When developing this recipe, there were two things that had to be perfect – taste and texture! Here are a few notable ingredients that really allow this cake to shine:
Lemon zest: This lemon blueberry cake recipe is bursting with lemon flavor as it uses both fresh lemon juice and fresh lemon zest. The zest is creamed together with the butter and sugar which releases even more of the lemon flavor from the zest. Due to the acidic nature of lemons, it also gives the cake the most wonderful velvety texture. For more information on how acidic ingredients contribute to a soft cake, check out this blog post.
Yoghurt: This recipe also uses yoghurt, which adds great moisture and flavor to the cake. As yoghurt has a tart flavor to it, I find that it complements the lemon so so well, and helps that lemon flavor shine even more!
Vegetable oil: This recipe uses unflavored vegetable oil which just adds incredible moisture to the cake. Vegetable oil is liquid at room temperature, so substituting some of the butter for oil, makes for a moister cake.
Cornstarch: For a softer cake, I substitute some of the all purpose flour with cornstarch. For more information on how this helps with a soft cake, check out this blog post.
Blueberries: Ofcourse we can’t forget the blueberries! This recipe uses fresh blueberries that are folded through the cake batter. This adds a wonderful pop of juicy blueberry flavor throughout the cake. If using frozen blueberries, remember not to let them thaw otherwise you’ll end up with a purple batter!
For a more simple version with no frosting, check out my simple blueberry cake recipe.
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Cake
Begin by preheating your oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional and grease two 8 inch round cake pans (I use my homemade cake release), lining the bottoms with parchment paper as well as this cake tends to stick to the bottom. If using a fan function (also known as convection mode) then you will need to reduce the temperature to 160C (320F).
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix together using a whisk and set aside.
In a large bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer) on a medium speed, cream together for 3 minutes until light and creamy. If using a stand mixer then use the paddle attachment.
Add in the eggs one by one, mixing well in between addition.
Add in milk, yoghurt and lemon juice. Mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Add your pre-sifted dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and using a spatula, fold together until just combined. Do not overmix.
To finish off, toss the blueberries in a tablespoon of flour (this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake layers) and then add the berries to the batter, discarding any left over flour, and fold them in with a spatula until just combined. Again try not to overmix it.
Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. Try to distribute the blueberries evenly so that you have some on the top of the cake as well. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool. Frost with the cream cheese buttercream.
How to Decorate Lemon Blueberry Cake
There are so many wonderful ways you could decorate a lemon blueberry cake, but here is how I decorated mine 🙂
Usually I start by trimming off the tops of my cake layers with a serrated knife so that they’re nice and flat (this makes them easier to stack), but these cake layers baked up quite flat so I left them as is.
I then went ahead and placed my first cake layer in the middle of a cake stand and smoothed out some frosting on the top with my offset spatula.
I then placed the next cake layer on top, and again smoothed out some frosting on top and sides of the cake, so that the cake was completely covered. I didn’t bother doing a crumb coat (check out this video for more info on what a crumb coat is), but you can do one if you prefer. I then used my cake scraper to smooth out the sides.
Now when you scrape the sides of a cake, you usually end up with a lip of frosting around the top edges. To get rid of this and get a ‘sharp edge’ on the top, slowly bring your offset spatula into the middle of the cake, catching that lip of frosting as you go.
I then finished off by doing some piping around the top edges using a 1A piping tip.
Commonly Asked Questions
How to store lemon blueberry cake
This cake can be left at room temperature for the day, however overnight it will need to be refrigerated due to the cream cheese in the frosting. The fat and sugar in the frosting will prevent the cream cheese from going off immediately, which is why you can keep it out at room temperature for an extended period of time.
When storing, place it into an airtight container, and into the refrigerator. Allow it to come to room temperature before serving.
Can I use frozen blueberries?
Yes you can – just make sure you don’t let them thaw otherwise it will turn your batter mushy and purple. Your cake will also likely need a little bit of extra cooking time.
How do you prevent blueberries from sinking in a cake?
The best way to prevent blueberries from sinking to the bottom of a cake is to coat them in flour. Toss the blueberries in about 1 to 2 tbsp of all purpose flour before folding them into the cake batter.
Moist Lemon Blueberry Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Lemon Blueberry Cake
- 2⅓ cups (295 g) flour - regular, all purpose
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 6 tbsp (86 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ¾ cup (141 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- 1⅔ cups (333 g) white granulated sugar
- 2½ tbsp lemon zest - about 2 lemons zested (see note 1)
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 2 tbsp (26 g) milk - room temperature
- ¾ cup (185 g) yoghurt - plain, unsweetened, room temperature
- ¼ cup (55 g) fresh lemon juice
- 1½ cups (250 g) fresh blueberries - see note 3 if you want to use frozen blueberries. Coat the blueberries in 1 to 2 tbsp of flour
Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional (see note 2 if using a convection oven with a fan) and grease two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release), lining the bottoms with parchment paper as well as this cake tends to stick to the bottom.
- Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix together using a whisk and set aside.
- In a large bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest. Using a hand or stand mixer on a medium speed, cream together for 3 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in the eggs one by one, mixing well in between addition.
- Add in milk, yoghurt and lemon juice. Mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Add your pre-sifted dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and using a spatula, fold together until just combined. Do not overmix.
- To finish off, toss the blueberries in a tablespoon of flour (this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake layers) and then add the blueberries to the batter, discarding any left over flour, and fold them in with a spatula until just combined. Again try not to overmix it.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. Try to distribute the blueberries evenly so that you have some on the top of the cake as well. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 20 minutes and then carefully turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool. The cake layers are soft and delicate, so handle them carefully. Frost with the cream cheese buttercream.
Assembly
- See the end of the blog post above for assembly instructions or watch the recipe video for a visual demonstration 🙂
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
168 Comments
Can you please share the eggless recipe?
Many thanks!
Hi Shilpa! 🙂 You can find all my eggless recipes here: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe-category/eggless/
Hope that helps!
I just made this cake today… I find it’s very oily & didn’t rise much/deflated… What would make this happen?
Hi Charlene! 🙂 So sorry to hear the cake didn’t quite turn out how you’d hoped. If the cake was oily/didn’t rise much, it’s likely because there was too much fat or liquid in the batter. It could also be that there wasn’t enough flour. I would recommend using the gram measurements (if you didn’t already) for best results 🙂
The oilyness could also be because the batter wasn’t emulsified properly. This is likely due to one or more of the ingredients being too cold. I would recommend checking that all ingredinets are at room temp (butter, eggs, milk & yoghurt) before making the batter.
With the cake not rising much, may I ask if you used one cake tin or two? If using one cake tin, it’s likely due to too much batter being in one cake tin 🙂
For more tips, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRy1KuFMdOo
Hope that helps for next time Charlene 🙂
This cake is sooooooo gooooooooood
Aww yay! So glad you loved it Samantha 😀
I tried this recipe today and I’m super impressed!! Oh my taste buds. The cake literally melts in the mouth.
Aww yay! So glad you loved the lemon blueberry cake Valentine 😀
I made this cake a couple months ago it was moist and delicious. My family loved it. I’ll be making it again next week.
Awesome! So glad to hear your family loved the recipe Shari 😀
My husband and I agree this is the best cake we have ever had!
Aww yay! So so happy to hear you and your husband loved the recipe Kat 😀
Can I use sour cream in place of yogurt?
Hi Alicia 🙂 I haven’t tried that myself but I think it would work fine! It is likely to make the cake a little more dense though so just keep that in mind 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
The second recipe I’ve tried from Cakes by MK and again, outstanding! One of the best cakes I’ve ever had – my wife and parents can’t wait for me to make it again. Thank you for sharing such amazing recipes.
Aww yay! This makes me so happy Joe 😀
So glad to hear you and your family are enjoying the recipes and really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
Looks great and would love to bake it but I can only bake 1x cake pan at a time. Will the batter in the second pan be fine by the time it needs baking?
Hi Annecke! 🙂 Ideally you want to bake both cakes at the same time, however it should be fine to let one rest at room temp while the other bakes. Just be sure to pop the next cake in straight after the first one is done. Hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
Dear Maryam,
Made Lemon blueberry cake with your recipe and it turned out perfect – moist and lemony. Enjoyed it thoroughly. You have some of the best recipes. Thank you for sharing. God Bless!
Aww yay! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback Pamela 😀 so so happy to hear you enjoyed the cake 🙂