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This is the ULTIMATE Lemon Blueberry Cake! Moist, fluffy, and loaded with fresh blueberries and real lemon flavor, plus lemon cream cheese frosting! A must try for lemon and blueberry lovers!
Lemon Blueberry Cake Recipe
This is one of those recipes I’ve been working on for ages! I love love love lemon blueberry cake, but have to admit, I struggled for a few months (!!!) in my search for the perfect recipe.
I had a ton of cake FLOPS! It happens. It’s all part of the adventure! But luckily, like with most things in life, my hard work finally paid off! This is the blueberry layer cake of my hopes and dreams… and yours too 😉
I promise you won’t be able to stop at one slice… It’s just that good.
How to make Lemon and Blueberry Cake
The key to this cake really working is the thick, thick, THICK batter. Did I mention… it’s thick!? Thick batter = no sinking blueberries! I also have you coat your berries in flour, to ensure they stay afloat during the baking process. Because we want those berries EVERYWHERE. Not just at the bottom.
The buttercream gets a double POW of lemon thanks to lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon extract.
You should be able to easily find lemon extract in the baking section at any grocery store, or if you plan ahead you can always order it online. But definitely don’t skip it! It’s very affordable and really adds a lot of (lemony) depth to the finished product. If you’re new to baking with lemon extract, I highly recommend – and absolutely LOVE – Watkins pure lemon extract; it’s 100% natural, doesn’t contain any yucky artificial flavors, colors, or additives, and actually tastes like real lemons!
Have a happy day, friends! And be sure to cut yourself an extra large slice when you bake this cake… I just know you’ll be scraping your plate clean 😉
More Lemon Blueberry Recipes:
If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment below and don’t forget to snap a pic and tag it #bakerbynature on Instagram! Seeing your kitchen creations makes my day. ♥
Ultimate Lemon Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
For the Lemon Blueberry Cake:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup FULL-FAT Greek yogurt (an equal amount of full-fat sour cream may be used in its place)
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup canola OR coconut oil (melt coconut oil first, if using)
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (if using frozen, do not thaw first)
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
For the Creamy Lemon Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, VERY soft
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, VERY soft
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons FULL-FAT Greek Yogurt (an equal amount of full-fat sour cream may be used in its place)
For Assembly and decoration:
- 1/3 cup lemon curd (optional, see post for recommendations)
- Fresh lemon slices, thinly sliced, optional
- Fresh blueberries, optional
Instructions
For the Lemon Blueberry Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Cut out two 9-inch round segments of parchment paper to line your cake pans with. Spray each pan generously - sides and bottom - with nonstick cooking spray, then place the parchment paper cut out in the bottom of the pans and spray again. It's important to make sure every bit of pan and paper are sprayed so your cakes don't get stuck. Set pans aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), combine the butter, both sugars, lemon zest, lemon extract, and vanilla extract; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (don't skimp on time here!). Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt, mixing well to evenly combine the ingredients. Add the dry mixture into the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until everything is just barely combined. You should still see some lumps and dry streaks. Turn mixer off. Add in the Greek yogurt, lemon juice, and oil, and using a rubber spatula, fold the ingredients into the mixture, mixing until everything is incorporated, but being sure not to overmix. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine the blueberries with 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of flour; toss to coat. Add the blueberries and any remaining flour to the batter and fold in by hand, using a rubber spatula, until just combined. Again, be sure not to overmix! Overmixing is very easy to do, and will result in a dry, dense cake.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans and bake for 33-35 minutes, or until the tops are firm and slightly golden, and a cake tester (or toothpick) inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist (but not wet) crumbs clinging to it.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes before gently running a knife around the edges to loosen any stuck bits, then turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the cakes cool, you can make the frosting.
For the Creamy Lemon Frosting:
- In a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer (or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, then add in the confectioners' sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon extract, and salt; beat until combined. Increase the speed back to medium and mix until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the Greek yogurt and continue beating the frosting until very light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. If the frosting seems too thin, add a little more confectioners' sugar, starting with one tablespoon at a time; if the frosting seems to thick, add in a little more Greek yogurt, starting one tablespoon at a time.
- When the cakes have completely cooled, place one round on a cake stand or large plate; spread the top and sides evenly with frosting, then top with the lemon curd, if using. Don't worry if they mix together a little. Gently place the other cake round on top of the frosted one and press down very lightly to seal them together. Continue frosting the cake, using a thin spatula, offset spatula, or whatever you have that works best, until the top and sides of the cake are evenly frosted. Decorate with fresh blueberries and lemon slices, if desired.
- The frosted cake will stay fresh, when stored in the refrigerator, for 3 days. Simply take it out of the fridge an hour or two before serving so it can come to room temperature. My boyfriend also loves this cold, straight from the fridge, so feel free to serve it chilled!
Notes
It’s gorgeous!! I love i finally get a recipe just right! Will have to try this one soon! 🙂
I would love a big slice of this cake. Lemon and blueberry go so well together, and this cake looks just perfect!
girrrrl I needed to get on your site because 1- I missed you. 2- I LOVE blueberries and this looks so damn good. 3- I’ve been trying to “bake” recently and holy hell, howww do you manage all the baking you do?! baking is so not my strong point, so after recent failed attempts at even the most basic recipes, I am enjoying your food that much more 🙂
Your comments seriously always warm my <3!!! You -----> The best!!!
Want!! I’m pinning this now and can’t wait to try it! 🙂
Layer cakes are the best cakes! I love the blueberry/lemon combo and my family would go crazy over this cake on the 4th. Absolutely gorgeous, my dear!
Recipes fails are the worst, but clearly you got this to work out because it looks AMAZING! Pinned!
CAKE! I love how full of fruit this is. I might skip the frosting and add all the lemon zest to the cake itself, for super-tart goodness. 🙂
My daughter wants a blueberry cake (actually, a blueberry birthday party) this year — might just have to make this cake. Looks amazing!
Wow I am glad you finally got it right!! I will be trying it soon!
I thought I was making pie on Friday but now I’m totally and completely smitten with this cake! GORGEOUS! I haven’t found a blueberry cake recipe I like yet…but I have a feeling you nailed it! Can’t wait to try love!
Thanks so much for the fantastic recipe! I added some sliced strawberries, and voila! Red white and blue cake for the 4th 🙂
Hi Brittnee! Yay! I am so happy you liked the recipe 🙂 Sliced strawberries sound like a SUPER delicious addition 🙂
This looks great- going to try it this weekend! When you say full fat greek yogurt, do you mean plain or vanilla? thanks!
Hey Kelli.Plain works great 🙂 Happy baking! xo
Hi! Looks so delish! Do you know how much I should make for 3 layers at the bottom and two on top? Should I just double the recipe? Thank you!
Hi! I can recommend making this in 8″ pans ans reducing your baking time slightly. Did not have 9″ pans so I put it in 3-8″ pans. All 3 layers were too high once I looked at assembling it so I opted for using only 2 but you could easily freeze them, slice them in half and have multilayers. The problem there would be the blueberries but if partially frozen and with a sharp knife I think it could be done. I would recommend making 1 and 1/2 recipe for the frosting, I did with just the 2 layers and did not have much left over. I hope it tastes as pretty as it looks!
Looks like a great cake but cuts off where number of teaspoons of
Vanilla shoul be listed. Please let me know how many-thanks
Hi Mary. Could you explain further what you mean by “it cuts off”? I just checked and the recipe is showing up fine on my end. If you’re just not seeing the vanilla, it’s 2 teaspoons. Please let me know if I can help with anything else 🙂
Thanks for the clarification. On my end, the amount of vanilla needed doesn’t show either.
Hi Karen. It’s right below the lemon zest and right above the eggs 😉
It doesn’t show on the published recipe. This is how it reads on your site:
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature poons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups FULL FAT Greek yogurt
Hi, can I make cupcakes instead with this recipe? Thanks!
This cake is AMAZING!!!! I made it for Mothers’ Day and everybody oohed and aahed. Thank you for such an awesome recipe..delish!
Ahhh yay! So happy to read this, Jessica! Thank you for letting me know 🙂
Awesome recipe! I made this cake for my husband’s birthday today and he LOVED it! Thank you!!
Yay! Happy belated birthday to your husband 😉
I already made this cake twice and everyone loves it!!! It’s really amazing
That’s awesome! So happy to hear it, Lynn 🙂
Do you think the cake could be baked a day ahead and iced the next day? Or it would go stale too quickly!
Hi Alice. If you’re going to bake the cakes the night before, I’d advise wrapping them very tightly in saran wrap and storing at room temperature. You could also do the whole cake the day before.
Did I miss where the note about lemon curd is? Delicious cake by the way. Just made it today.
What is the lemon curd for and is there a substitution? Like lemon pie filling?
Yummy yum yum! I did this cake for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. Me and cream cheese don’t get along very well, digestively-speaking, so I made a meringue frosting for it instead. Also, I like the coconut flavors, so instead of 1 cup yogurt, I hardened a can of full-fat coconut milk in the fridge, cut the lid at both ends to drain out the coconut water. Then I nuked what was left (hardened white milk) with my 1/2 cup of coconut oil to make it melty and folded it in with only 1/3-cup yogurt. On the outside of the meringue frosting, I added toasted shaved coconut. It was darn pretty.
Is Step 3 the lemon curd filling?
Can you use a butter cream icing instead. My husband doesnt like cream cheese….
Sure!
Would this work with raspberries instead of blueberries?
Where can I find more info on the lemon curd? It says to see post for recommendations but I can’t find anything
Made this last night, you know how she says like 4 times in the recipe not to over mix, well… I did. It still tasted great, it was just a but flat. I am going to make it again but this time not over mix it, then it will be even better.