Sunshine-sweet lemon blueberry layer cake dotted with juicy berries and topped with lush cream cheese frosting. One of the most popular cake recipes on this website!
This cake has become one of my favorite spring dessert recipes and Easter dessert recipes—and for good reason. Let’s dive headfirst into this sunshine-sweet springtime layer cake… no matter the time of year!
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Fresh lemons: Use fresh lemon juice and lemon zest in the cake batter. None of that lemon extract stuff! How to choose lemons at the store? Make sure the lemons you choose are smooth-skinned and heavy for their size. That way you know they are extra juicy.
- Buttermilk: Known for providing exceptional moisture to baked goods, buttermilk leaves each bite tender and lush. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can use whole milk instead.
- Brown sugar & 4 eggs: I’ve found that lemon cakes can easily be dry and gritty, so add some moist-making ingredients like brown sugar, eggs, and buttermilk. Buttermilk, a little brown sugar, and 4 eggs assure the final product is as moist as it could possibly be without being wet.
- Fresh or frozen blueberries: Fresh or frozen blueberries are OK. If using frozen, do not thaw.
I love this lemon blueberry cake because the blueberries DO NOT sink to the bottom of the cake. Why not? The batter is thick. When you have a thin batter, heavy fruit or add-ins will sink to the bottom. I also recommend tossing the blueberries in a little flour too—this is extra insurance they don’t sink!
Need cupcakes instead? Use my recipe for lemon blueberry cupcakes. Or perhaps breakfast? Try my lemon blueberry muffins.
Video Tutorial
Cream Cheese Frosting
This cake is moist and soft, somewhere between a vanilla layer cake and pound cake. Silky cream cheese frosting is the perfect finishing touch—it literally tastes like spreadable cheesecake. The cream cheese frosting goes onto the cake so easily, so it’s a really simple cake to decorate. Doesn’t need to be neat—its haphazardness adds to its charm, don’t you think?
Decorate with blueberries, lemon zest, lemon slices, whatever you like!
More Lemon Recipes For You
- Lemon Bars
- Lemon Meringue Pie
- Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Scones
- Homemade Lemon Cupcakes
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: serves 10-12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Sunshine-sweet lemon layer cake dotted with juicy blueberries and topped with lush cream cheese frosting. You can use either fresh or frozen blueberries in this cake. If using frozen, no need to thaw.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature*
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups (354g) sifted all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)*
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk*
- 2 Tablespoons lemon zest*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) lemon juice (3 medium lemons)*
- 1 and 1/2 cups (210g) blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not thaw)
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature*
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 and 1/2 cups (420g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 – 2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) heavy cream*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease three 9-inch round cake pans or 8-inch round cake pans (8-inch pans produce thicker cakes), line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. (If it’s helpful, see this parchment paper rounds for cakes video & post.)
- Make the cake: Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high until creamy—about 1 minute. Add granulated and brown sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until everything is completely combined, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat on low speed for 5 seconds, then beat in the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice *just* until combined. Toss the blueberries with 1 Tablespoon of flour and gently fold into the batter. Batter is extremely thick. Do not over-mix. Over-mixing will lead to a tough, dense textured crumb.
- Spoon batter evenly into prepared cake pans. Bake for about 21-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (8 inch cakes take closer to 25 minutes.) Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan before assembling and frosting.
- Make the frosting: Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until no lumps remain, about 3 full minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, 1 Tablespoon cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Turn mixer to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add 1 more Tablespoon of cream to thin out, if desired.
- Assemble and frost: First, using a large serrated knife, trim the tops off the cake layers to create a flat surface. Place 1 layer on your cake stand. Evenly cover the top with cream cheese frosting. Top with 2nd layer, more frosting, then the third layer. Top with frosting and spread around the sides. The recipe doesn’t make a ton of frosting, just enough for a light frost. Top with blueberries or lemon garnish if desired. Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes before cutting or else the cake may fall apart as you cut.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare cakes and frosting 1 day in advance. Keep cakes at room temperature, covered tightly. Refrigerate prepared frosting in an airtight container until ready to use. Bring frosting to room temperature before spreading as it will be quite stiff after refrigerating. (Add a splash of cream or milk to thin, if needed.) Frosted or unfrosted cakes may be frozen up to 2 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature if desired before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Round Cake Pans or 8-inch Round Cake Pans | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cake Turntable, Cake Stand, or Large Serving Plate | Straight Icing Spatula | Offset Icing Spatula | Cake Carrier (for storage) | Citrus Juicer | Citrus Zester
- Sheet Cake: The batter makes a perfect sheet cake! Simply spread into a 12×17-inch half sheet/jelly roll pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked through. It also fits nicely into a 9×13-inch cake pan. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until cooked through.
- Bundt Cake: I haven’t tested this as a bundt cake but it will likely be a bit denser than the original layer version since it’s one tall layer. It will take significantly longer to bake. I also have a lemon poppy seed Bundt cake recipe. You can leave out the poppy seeds and add 1 and 1/2 cups blueberries. I also have a lemon berry yogurt cake recipe. You can use all blueberries.
- Cupcakes: Here are my lemon blueberry cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting.
- 6 Inch Cake: Use my lemon blueberry cupcakes batter and follow my 6-inch cake baking instructions. You can use regular lemons instead of meyer lemons (like the cupcakes call for) if needed.
- Eggs: Room temperature eggs are recommended because they mix easily and quickly into the cake batter, reducing the risk of over-mixing (and an overly dense cake!). Place eggs into a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes before using or set the eggs out when you set out your cream cheese/butter for the recipe.
- Flour: Be careful not to over-measure your flour. This will result in a heavy cake.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk helps produce a supremely moist cake. If you don’t have buttermilk, use whole milk instead. You can use lower fat or nondairy milks in a pinch, but the cake won’t taste nearly as rich and moist.
- Cream Cheese: Use brick-style cream cheese, not cream cheese spread.
- Cream: Heavy cream with 30% or more milk fat preferred in frosting for the creamiest texture. Milk works in a pinch!
Here’s my recipe for lemon cupcakes with blackberry cream cheese frosting—a reader favorite!
Will i have enough to do a two layered 10inch pan? Instead of a 3 layered 9inch pan?
Hi Sean, You can use the post Cake Pan Sizes & Conversions to help calculate how much batter you would need for different size pans.
Absolutely to die for! The combination of lemon and blueberries are perfect and so delicious!!
Hi Sally, I’m making this for a birthday and want a layered sheet cake. If I put it in a 12 x 17 half jelly roll pan, is there enough for two layers or should I double the batter?
Hi Mary Lou, my cake pan sizes and conversions page should help here. You won’t have enough batter for 2 half sheet cakes, so I recommend making this batter twice. (Doubling all at once risks over or under-mixing and could overwhelm your mixer.)
Two important questions…
I am about to bake this…
1) Can I use three 8-inch pans? Will the batter fit? How long to bake?
2) Would Kirkland-brand goat cream cheese work in place of the block cream cheese in the frosting? Will that be good? Disgusting?
Thank you so much!
Hi Monika, You can use 8 inch pans without changing the recipe – your layers will be a little bit thicker so may take an extra minute in the oven. Use a toothpick to check for doneness. I have not tried this frosting with goat cream cheese so I’m unsure how the flavor would change.
I find that most ‘lemon’ desserts do not taste like lemons. They are either bland or have an artificial flavor taste. Lemon is one of my favorite flavors so this is one of my pet peeves. This cake is the exception. I made this cake for my birthday and followed the recipe exactly with one exception. I don’t have 3 round cake pans so I used 2 cake pans. The cake was moist and had a delicious lemon flavor. My husband loved this cake and called it his birthday cake. Thankfully, we were able to share.
I Just made this cake and it is cooling. It has turned out beautifully. I was thinking of putting some lemon curd between the layers with the icing. Would that be too overwhelming do you think?
I think adding lemon curd would be delicious! I like to put down a thin layer of buttercream and then thicker ring around the outer edge of the cake to keep the curd in and stop the layers from slipping – then frost the outside as normal.
Thanks. I will try it. I am making this for my sister-in-law’s birthday tomorrow . I will let you know. This could become my new favorite recipe!
Hi Sally,
Is it alright to used canned blue berries instead of fresh or frozen berries. Don’t have fresh or frozen. Any tips?
Thanks much
Hi Rich, we haven’t tested this recipe using canned blueberries. I recommend blotting them first so the blueberries juices don’t turn the batter blue (though you will notice a little blue coloration)!
The flavors of this cake are perfect. My cake seems to be very thin and not rising as much as I’d like (each cake is less than 1 inch high). I baked for 30 mintues! Any advice?
Hi Cassie, I’m happy to help. Are you using frozen berries by chance? Sometimes I find that they weigh down the cake’s crumb and add a significant amount of moisture, so that could be why the cake didn’t rise as much as you’d like. Could you try fresh berries by chance? If you want even more height, use cake flour and try reducing the baking powder down to 2 and 1/2 teaspoons and adding 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
Okay I need to stop baking at 10:00 at night because this cake turned out way too dense. I assume I over-mixed it because I misunderstood this line:
“Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat on low speed for 5 seconds”
I took this to mean “add a little of the dry ingredients mix, beat for 5 seconds, add a little more of the dry, beat for 5 seconds, repeat until all of the dry ingredients mix is added”, but was I actually just supposed to dump all of the dry ingredient mix in the bowl at once and then beat for 5 seconds just the one time? I could use some clarification because I do want to try this again if I messed it up. The only other thing I can think of was there wasn’t enough liquid because I didn’t realize the eggs I had were medium and not large…
Hi Liz, You can add them in one or two additions so you don’t have to mix as much. For a lighter texture you can use cake flour, see recipe notes. You can also visit my post on How to Prevent a Dry or Dense Cakes for more tips.
Hey Sally!
Best recipe ever. Cool thing. I halved the whole thing and baked it in a 9×13 cake pan and it worked perfectly. I don’t usually follow a recipe exactly and I used 1/2 cup of cake flour but that’s the only change I made. Fabulous. Thank you
I made this today and it’s just lovely. I made it with two ten inch pans and didn’t change anything else.
Huge hit.
Hi Sally! I made this cake a few weeks ago and it tasted amazing!
How would you bake this cake in a high altitude area? I baked a cake recently and it was very dry and I realized it was not the recipes fault.
Hi Haley, I wish I could help, but I have no experience baking at high altitude. I know some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Thank you! I’ve made this recipe at home before for my birthday. It was really good. I hope it turns out just as good up north.
Can you bake this in a loaf pan?
Hi Emma, If you would like to try making cakes in different size pans you will find my guide to Cake Pan Sizes and Conversions helpful!
My daughter made it for our visit and it’s right even with the best I’ve had ! Five golden stars ⭐️
OMG! This is the most delicious cake I have ever made! The instructions & notes are easy to follow and it turned out beautifully!
This is an awesome recipe! I’m not a super good baker by any means, but I thought I would try out this recipe because it looked so good. This is by far the best cake I have ever made, everyone in the house agrees. Sally explains everything perfectly. Beautiful cake and tastes even better!
This cake is delicious! Such a great summer cake. Even though I accidentally put 1.5 cups of butter in the cake (had all three sticks out for room temperature , 2 for the cake and 1 for the frosting and put all three in the cake batter lol), still tasted wonderful. How should I store? I have it in my cake stand and dome cover on our counter but should it be refrigerated? How well does it keep?
I’m so happy you enjoyed the cake, Christine! After decorating anything with buttercream or cream cheese frosting, it’s fine for 1 day at room temperature. After that, I would definitely refrigerate it. But, use your best judgment and whatever you are comfortable with- I’ve never had any problems leaving frosted desserts at room temperature for a day
Hi Sally! Great recipe. Since I am only making the cake for 4 people, I was wondering, can I half the recipe but still make a layered cake? If yes, what size pans and how many layers would you suggest? Thanks!!
Hi Arushi, My Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes are the cupcake version of this exact cake. It is the perfect amount of batter to make a 6 inch cake!
Omg this recipe is amazing. I baked it in 2 9 inch cake pans for about 35 minutes and they came out great. I also added a teaspoon of lemon extract which really brought out the flavor. Otherwise followed the recipe exactly. It’s perfect!
I made this cake for a camping trip ! The flavor was amazing , however, I felt it was a little dry , almost like a pound cake texture. Everyone ate it and loved it , what can I do next time for a moister cake ?
Hi Kristen, For a lighter texture you can use cake flour, see recipe notes. You can also visit my post on How to Prevent a Dry or Dense Cakes for more tips.
Hi, Made this wonderful Blueberry, Lemon cake this afternoon and just finished eating a slice of it after dinner. It is moist and very light which surprised me. The note of lemon is just right along with the blueberries which were frozen after picking during the summer. It was a good idea to dust with flour and incorporate them into the batter rather than thaw them. They did not fall to the bottom of the batter as advised. The cake makes a delightful presentation and hope to make it again in the near future for company. My sister would like me to mail her a slice. Will see how that will work. Thanks for the great recipe.
Oh love it! Sunday I made this from another recipe, but definitely going to try yours too!
Can I make the frosting with less confectioners sugar? I just find 420g so much… it seems so sweet..
Hi Freya, I hope you love the cake when you make it! Keep in mind for the frosting the less sugar you add the thinner your frosting will be. You can add more salt to help cut the sweetness or for a different type of frosting that isn’t as sweet you can try Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
Hi
I’ve been making this cake for a couple of years for my birthday, but have recently been diagnosed as allergic to wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, oats, potatoes, milk and eggs whites. So, I was wondering if anybody had any good ideas for subs? Has anybody had success with flax eggs? I’m going to try einkorn flour as I’ve been told that with less chromosomes than modern wheat I might be able to tolerate it.
Hi Sarah, I have not tested this cake with any of those alternatives. I hope you find a recipe that works for you!
No wonder this has been a top recipe for years!
So easy to follow and such amazing results! Definitely a favorite of mine and one that has now become a regular.
Can this be made in 8 inch round pans? If yes, how does the cooking time change?
Hi Carrie, You can make this is three 8-inch round cake pans. Your layers will be slightly thicker and may take an extra couple of minutes bake time.
This is the fourth (or fifth) time I’m going to be baking this cake, so I figured I should finally give it the 5 star review it deserves.
I’m going to mix it up a little this time and substitute raspberries for blueberries and maybe sprinkle some white chocolate shavings in there.
This is a fantastic recipe and really my holy grail layer cake
This recipe was sooo good! The buttercream had the perfect amount of cream-cheesiness to complement the cake and wasn’t too sweet like some other buttercreams I’ve made. The cake was a little dense (more of a pound cake texture) but was perfectly moist and tasted AMAZING! (like my mom took the first bite and was completely shocked amazing). I made this for my birthday with a drip and lemon slices, blueberries, and meringues on top. It was probably the best cake I’ve ever had, to be honest.
I made this for Mother’s Day today n it came out fantastic! I made a few easy subs to make it vegan, n made it a “naked cake” by just frosting the layers and not the sides. Garnished with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, n dandelions n it came out sooo beautiful
I just made this cake for my mama today! (Mother’s Day) and she LOVED it!
THANK YOU!
Absolutely loved this recipe! Didn’t have the patience to make multiple layers, not when I only had one 9 inch pan available, so I chose to use my bundt pan instead! Had it in the oven for 50 minutes and it turned out great, though a little dense. I forgoed the icing, my family has a couple of diabetics, and this cake was perfect! Not too sweet, perfect lemony flavour, and it’s definitely one I’ll make again!
I made this today and the cake came out super thin. It should have been divided into three 8” pans or two 9” pans. Really disappointed