There’s a double dose of blueberries and lemon this amazing Lemon Blueberry cake! A moist and delicious lemon cake with fresh blueberries and a blueberry buttercream.
Blueberries are my favourite berries. Their flavour is delicious, they don’t have any pesky seeds to deal with, and the color is just SO pretty. This Lemon Blueberry Cake is another one that’s been a long time in the making — I just never got around to it. But I wanted something pretty, light, and delicious for spring, so I thought it would be perfect.
In true Olivia fashion, my first go at this cake was a fail of epic proportions. Not only did every single one of my blueberries sink to the bottom (even though they were coated in flour), the cakes totally collapsed on me because I took them out of the oven too early. AGAIN.
I used to be so good at multi-tasking. I don’t know if it’s just that I’m getting older or that I haven’t been utilizing my project management skills so they’re going stale. I literally can’t do more than one thing at a time. I try, but I totally fail every time.
This time I decided that prepping and making dinner while the cakes were baking was a good idea. Needless to say, the timer was going off on the oven as I was frying suff on the stove, among other things.
Usually when I check my cakes I do a few tests to make sure they’re ready:
- First I nudge the pans a bit to make sure the cakes are set.
- Then I gently poke the top to see if the cake springs back.
- Finally, I insert a toothpick into the center to make sure it comes out mostly clean.
This time I literally only did step #1. I don’t know what I was thinking. Clearly I wasn’t.
I am easily frazzled in the kitchen — with baking, but even more so with cooking. I am just not a good cook and I don’t enjoy it, so I think the extra panic of worrying about burning dinner led me to just yank the cakes out of the oven when they looked done.
Honestly though, I do wonder if it was a form of self-sabotage. I knew the blueberries had sunk to the bottom already. I could tell when the cakes were still in the oven. That probably added to my frazzled-ness too.
Round two at the cakes was much better. I switched up the recipe a tad (just a bit less liquid) and baked them in three 8″ pans rather than the three 6″ pans I had originally. This would mean thinner layers, but the 6″ ones were way too tall anyhow.
This blueberry buttercream is a new favourite and I LOVE how the color turned out. I used freeze-dried blueberries that I picked up at Trader Joe’s the other week. I pulverized them into a fine powder using a coffee grinder.
I’ve used freeze-dried berries before in this Strawberry Cake and the result was amazing — both in flavour and color!
This Lemon Blueberry Cake is the perfect dessert for spring. Whether you’re looking for something for Easter, or Mother’s Day, or just a random weekday, you can’t go wrong with this delicious flavour combo!
Looking for more Spring Desserts?
- Mini Meyer Lemon Loaves
- Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Watercolor Cake Roll
- Vanilla Custard Cookie Cups
- Lemon Souffle Magic Cakes
Tips for this Lemon Blueberry Cake Recipe:
- The batter will be very thick, so be very gentle when you fold in the blueberries so that they don’t break.
- You can use frozen (not thawed) blueberries instead of fresh ones. Be sure to still coat them in flour.
- The lemon syrup is optional, but adds an additional delicious hit of lemon flavour, so I recommend adding it!
- You can leave the blueberries out of the cake batter if you just want a plain lemon cake.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my Flat Top Cakes post.
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Lemon Blueberry Cake! A moist and delicious lemon cake with fresh blueberries and a blueberry buttercream.
INGREDIENTS
Lemon Blueberry Cake:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest from one large lemon
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup milk room temperature
- 1/4 cup lemon juice fresh squeezed, from one large lemon
- 1 cup blueberries heaping, coated in 1 Tbsp flour
Lemon Syrup:
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Blueberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- 6 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup freeze-dried blueberry powder one package (1.2oz) ground up
Assembly:
- blueberries
- lemon sliced
INSTRUCTIONS
Lemon Blueberry Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 8" cake rounds and line with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and lemon zest until smooth. Add sugar and beat on med-high until pale and l (approx 3mins).
- Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
Alternate adding flour mixture with milk & lemon juice, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of milk & lemon juice). Fully incorporating after each addition.
Toss blueberries in 1 Tbsp of flour. Gently fold blueberries into cake batter.*
Spread batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Sprinkle with a few additional blueberries if desired.
Bake for approx. 30mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack.
Lemon Syrup:
Place lemon juice and sugar into a small pot. Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1min. Remove from heat and cool completely.
Blueberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.**
Place bowl over a double boiler on the stove and whisk constantly until the mixture is hot and no longer grainy to the touch (approx. 3mins). Or registers 160F on a candy thermometer.
Place bowl on your stand mixer and whisk on med-high until the meringue is stiff and cooled (the bowl is no longer warm to the touch (approx. 5-10mins)).
Switch to paddle attachment. Slowly add cubed butter and mix until smooth.***
Add vanilla and blueberry powder. Whip until smooth.
Assembly:
Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Poke holes into the cake using a bamboo skewer. Brush with lemon syrup.
Top with approximately 1 cup of buttercream. Repeat with remaining layers and crumb coat the cake. Chill for 20mins.
Frost the top and sides of the cake with remaining frosting. Do dollops on the top of the cake using an Ateco 867 piping tip.
Top with fresh blueberries, lemon slices, and chopped freeze-dried blueberries if desired.
NOTES
* Batter will be very thick. Be gentle when you fold the berries in so that they don't break.
** Ensure there is NO trace of egg yolks in your whites and that your mixer bowl and whisk is completely grease free or your meringue won't stiffen.
*** The buttercream may look like it's curdled at some point. Keep mixing until it is completely smooth.
The nutritional information and metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this important to you, please verify with your favourite nutrition calculator and/or metric conversion tool.
Help. Making this cake this weekend to celebrate a friends wedding. I’m confused on the lemon syrup. Does the cake take 1/4 cup of lemon juice AND the lemon syrup? Or just the lemon syrup. Step 5 says to “Alternate adding flour mixture with milk & lemon juice…”
Is it either or? Lemon Juice or Lemon Syrup.
I hope this is not a dumb question. So looking forward to making this.
Hi Barry! The lemon syrup is separate and gets brushed onto the cake layers during the assembly. I hope that helps!
Love this recipy but at cottage and only have a bundt pan would it be possible to use that and would I have to change baking time? Please advise as I am making it for a special occasion. Thank you
Hi there! You’d need to adjust the baking time as bundt pans are thicker. Depending on the pan it could take anywhere from 40-60mins.
Absolutely beautiful cake that I am ready to dtry. I have never made a Swiss meringue buttercream. How stable is after applied. How long does the frosting stay good once applied. Thanks!
Hi Peggy! I find Swiss meringue quite stable, but it does get soft in hot temperatures. It keeps for a couple days on the counter or a couple weeks in the fridge.
I’m curious about why you used AP flour instead of cake flour. Would you explain?
Hi Lisa! Simply because it’s what I (and most people) tend to have in their pantry. Cake flour should work just fine instead though!
Thanks for answering! I thought maybe the berries necessitated a stronger cake to hold them hence the higher gluten AP flour. Maybe I’ll try half and half.
How do you get the frosting balls on the top to come out so they are all the same size, i.e., you had exactly the right amount of space left so that the last one was the same size as all the others?
Hi Lisa! Honestly, it’s just practice. And sometimes I have to scrape off any dollops that don’t look right 🙂
Where can I find freeze dried blueberries or dehydrated blueberries? thanks
Hi Cindy! Do not use dehydrated, only freeze-dried. You can get them on Amazon or at Trader Joe’s
Hello, I’m about to make this cake but was wondering if I could replace the dehydrated blueberries in the buttercream with lemon extract, lemon juice, or lemon zest to make it a lemon buttercream? Thanks.
Hi Isabel! Yes, that should work just fine.
Oh my goodness!! Just made this for my family and they loved it! Thank you so much! Perfect for this time of year!
So glad to hear that Isabelle!
Your recipes are consistently amazing. This one was no exception.
I made 2 batches of it, one for Father’s Day and another for a birthday. I swapped out the frosting for a lemon cream cheese one because I couldn’t find the dehydrated blueberries.
So excited to try it!
PS. to other home bakers – try to the William Sonoma baking pans. They’re amazing and always leave my cakes perfectly baked with flat tops and unbrowned sides.
Hi Lorena! So happy that you liked it! I love the idea of a lemon CC frosting with this one.
I am also wondering how well this would work for a two tier cake, I have to make this flavor for a wedding cake for my niece ….Need a cake that will stack well. Please advise as I want to take this for a test drive before I actually make the cake for the wedding..Thank you
Hi Jacqui! I think it should work fine. It was a sturdy cake!
Hi Liv. I was thinking of making this as a two-tier for my grandma’s birthday party. If I make your recipe with 8″ and then 6″ for the top tier do you think it will work out? I was just going to double the recipe. Or would you recommend leaving the blueberries out of the batter in the 6″ since that didn’t work out for you?
Hi Caitlin! You can totally try it with the 6″. I think the only reason it didnt work for me is because the batter was so much thicker in the 6″ pans so the blueberries had a lot of room to fall. Either way I think it will be delicious!
Hey Liv!!!! Could you swap the blueberries out and replace them with raspberries. The same with the blueberry powder in the butter cream..
Hi Tegan! Totally, I don’t see why not. Both swaps should work perfectly fine. Let me know how they turn out!
Very good cake! Family loved it!
Glad to hear that!!
Hi Liv! This cake is sooo good! My dad doesn’t like chocolate cakes so I made this and he loved it! I omitted the fresh blueberries in the cake though and used three 6″ pans. Thank you for this <3
I just made the cake portion of this recipe and it was fantastic. It was denser than I would like, have you run into that problem? I did 2 8in pans.
Hi Holley! It’s possible the batter got overmixed a bit when adding the blueberries. That can cause cakes to become a bit more dense.
wow this cake recipe is so good and delicious thank you for sharing your recipe
Hello Liv! This cake looks tasty 🙂 will the recipe work for 6-inch 3 layer cake or does it need to be halved? Thanks!
Hi Tessa! It should work ok, but the layers will be quite a bit thicker and there’s a greater chance that the blueberries would sink.
Hi Liv! This cake is sooo good! My dad doesn’t like chocolate cakes so I made this and he loved it! I omitted the fresh blueberries in the cake though and used three 6″ pans. Thank you for this <3
Aww yay! So happy to hear that he liked it!!
hai can i use frozen blueberry for the buttercream instead of blueberry powder
Hi Josephine! No, that won’t work well as it will affect the texture of the buttercream. You could try using a small amount (1/4cup or less) of fresh pureed blueberries, but the flavour and color won’t be as strong.
I love the look of this cake and can’t wait to try it out. I was wondering what all you used to decorate the top, specifically what appears to be dried flowers? I would love to incorporate those when I make the cake but what kind are they?
Hi Sarah! Those were part of a pack of edible flowers I got from Whole Foods. I don’t know what they were called. It was actually one big flower that I cut up into smaller segments.
what kind of milk do you use in the cake? whole? buttermilk? sorry if i missed that in the directions. Thanks!
Hi Jennifer! Whole milk is deal for texture, but I use 1% most of the time since it’s what I have in the fridge most often. Buttermilk will work fine too, or some combo of buttermilk & milk 🙂
Hai..love your blog Olivia.
How to make recipe for 8×8 inch square pans ? I want to make one layer only. Thank u so much.
Hi Feyas! I’m not totally sure as I’ve never baked it in an 8×8 pan. Here’s a site that I use for figuring out pan sizes though. http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html You could try 1/2 the recipe in one 8×8 pan.
Would 9in cake pans work for this recipe? I’m excited to try this!!
Hi Summer! I think the layers would be too thin. They’re already pretty thin in three 8″ pans. You could try baking it up in two 9″ though!
Spot on. I made it for my daughter’s 13th birthday today. Wish I could share a pic here. Liv, I’ll send to your email. I’ve never pipped with freshly made SMBC so I’m not as thrilled with my roses. I’ll make more roses tomorrow with the remaining buttercream to decorate cupcakes for a baby shower. The flavor of both the lemon and blueberries came through nicely in the cake and the frosting. I did substitute each required portion of vanilla with 1/2tsp each of lemon and blueberry extract/oil (Lorann brand)
I just got your email! The cake looks amazing, you did a great job! So happy to hear that you liked it 🙂
Thanks for sharing such an amazing article.
I made this wonderful cake over the weekend for a friend’s birthday. Not only was it beautiful, but also delicious. Another show-stopper from Olivia! I’ve never made Swiss meringue buttercream and it seemed a little daunting, however, I followed the directions to a T and it turned out beautifully. This is my third “Olivia” cake and they’ve all been greeted with ooos and ahhhs followed by mmmmmms and OMGs!
Yay!! I am SO happy to hear that Kim and way to go on your first SMBC!! glad everyone liked it. I can’t wait to see what you try next!
Any recommendations for switching the Swiss meringue buttercream to just a regular blueberry buttercream? Can’t wait to bake this!
Hi Melissa! You can use this recipe and just add the freeze dried blueberry powder to it: https://livforcake.com/simple-vanilla-buttercream/
Hi, would you just add the same amount of powder as you would to the SMB?
I would, yes 🙂
If I can’t find freeze dried blueberries would it be ok to use some of the frozen or dehydrated?
Your cakes are always so delicious I hate to mess with perfection. Thank you!
Hi Cayla! For the frosting, you can use fresh pureed blueberries or blueberry jam, but the color and flavour won’t be as intense.
Hi! I’m excited to try this recipe, but don’t have a stand mixer. I have an electric hand whisk for the meringue section of the recipe, but when I add the butter to the frosting, should I just incorporate with a wooden spoon?
Thanks!
Hi Naomi! I think it will be harder to do with a hand mixer due to the time it takes to whip the meringue and then the buttercream. If you try it I would use the hand mixer for the whole thing, when you add the butter as well.
Such a beautiful cake for spring! Love the flecks of blueberries in the frosting, too. Gorge!
Thanks so much Cindy! I love this combo.
I would love to give this a try! One question in the buttercream meringue 4. And 5., after you switch to the paddle to mix, do you switch back to the whisk to whip in the vanilla and blueberry powder?
Hi Patty! Once I switch to the paddle, I just leave it with the paddle for everything else 🙂
Olivia I really admire your cakes. They do look beautiful!!! You are an amazing decorator. Continue to grow your skills 😊
Thanks so much Oxy! 🙂