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!
I made this cake and it was absolutely delicious. I’m grateful for sharing these recipes and this one in particular.
What modifications, if any, do I need to make cupcakes with this recipe ? Looks delish, but a cake for just two of us is too much waste. Thanks! Love your tips and recipes.
Hi Jane, The cupcake version of this cake can be found here: Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes. Enjoy 🙂
Honestly I am soooo excited to test try this cake! It is currently in the oven baking, but I tasted the batter and it is such a refreshing lemon cake! Also I added poppy seeds to it to make it pop more! I can’t wait to make it more often now up at the lake during the summer time!
Sally, I made this cake – it is the most amazing cake I have ever made. Following your directions was easy. My neighbors gave it 5 stars, too.
Sally, I’ve used many of your recipes. They turn out wonderful. Thanks for the recipes.
The first time I ever had a blueberry cake was at a birthday party. I have NEVER been a fan of anything blueberry, but let me tell you this cake totally changed my mind! When I took that first bite I was like OMG THIS IS FANTASTIC!! I wanted to find a blueberry cake recipe and yours looked just like the one at the birthday party so I made it. Who ever made the birthday cake obviously used this recipe cause the taste is identical. Thanks for sharing!!!
Hi Sally,
I made this wonderful cake it was great! It did turn out very dense.
I was wondering if you could or should add baking soda? I looked at your (modified from this recipe) straight lemon cake and it has it in there
And according to your baking hacks it should be used if using lemon juice zest or other acids to help cakes rise.
Thank-you
Hi Brenda, If this cake turns out dense be careful not to overmeasure your flour. This will result in a heavy cake. For a lighter crumb, you can use the same amount of sifted cake flour instead.
Thank-for response. I also made this with Splenda.
Made my own powdered sugar with it also. Frosting and cake tasted wonderful.
Thank you Sally! One of my (and every one else I’ve made this for) absolute favorite cakes! It’s always a hit as well as all of your recipes I have made Question: I’m making the cake today for a fundraiser on Sunday. Wanting it to still be fresh for the buyer for several days after the fundraiser – should I freeze the cake for two days then frost on Sunday morning- or should I frost today and keep the cake in the fridge until Sunday? Thank you!
Hi Peggy, I’m so glad this cake has been a hit! I would make and assemble the entire cake today and freeze the whole thing until Sunday. You can keep it in the refrigerator also but that would shorten the time after Sunday that it will still be fresh.
Sally-I want to make 1/2 recipe as there are only two of us and a whole cake is just too much! I searched your site for pan conversions and small cakes. Am I correct that I could use 3, 6 x2” pans for half this recipe? Dying to make it-our favorite flavors!
That should work, Mindy. I hope you enjoy it!
Update! First of all, not only is the flavor of this cake incredible (perfect balance of flavors) I absolutely LOVED the texture. Some comment it’s too dense but to me, the cake had some “structure”. Agree, it’s not a “fluffy” cake but it’s not pound cake, dense, either. And very moist. I thought it was perfect. I made 1/2 a recipe and decided not to use 3 6-inch pans as I originally thought I might. Instead, I realized I could use a quarter sheet pan. Once baked and cooled I cut in three, 4″ sections “crosswise”. Used a pretty oblong plate to build the cake. End result is what looks like a long “loaf” cake (4″ x 12″). I love round cakes but these oblong cakes are easier to slice. This is one of the best cakes I’ve ever made. Thank you, Sally! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes
Second time making ….This recipe is perfection! So moist and tasty! Best cake ever
I made your lemon blueberry layer cake recipe only made it in a bunds pan and used Splenda for the regular sugar. This is the best lemony cake ever such lemon flavor,perfect! My husband said it was the best he’s ever had,he loved the fact that it was very lemony! The cake just turned out perfect! I made a cream cheese lemon glaze for the frosting,excellent! Thank you for the recipe, I looked over so many different recipes online and went with yours,so glad I did! This will be my forever recipe, thank you!
I made this twice this week – once for our family and it was so good I made it again for a church fundraising auction – it sold for $50! Absolutely delicious I’ll be making it again
Sally, have you tried to use curd in the middle between the layers and just use the icing on the outside? I love the taste of curd and think it might be a nice addition, although I worry it may be too much going on. Thoughts?
Hi Laura, I have used my Lemon Curd to fill cakes! 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!
Well the Family couldn’t wait to cut the cake today! And when they took their first bite the response was… “Oh My, this is awful…here we go again”!! Wink wink!! They were having a fit about how incredibly delicious it was and teasing me! I loved it too and am really more of a cookie person (had to make your oatmeal cookies today too)than cake lover. Very refreshing and love the lemon blueberry combination. Loved the icing of course!
Can’t thank you enough AGAIN Sally! You are a hit and that makes me a hit in the dessert category!
Hi Sally, I’ve made this cake today for the second time and I just realized I only added 2 eggs instead of 4. Ugh!
May I ask what the role of the eggs is in a cake? In other words, will a cake be ruined if only some of the eggs are added?
It’s such a scrumptious cake! I wish I had reread….
I would consider myself a novice cake baker as I’ve made less than a total five cakes from scratch. As with all recipes I’ve made from Sally’s blog, this turned out extraordinary and a recipe I will surely make repeatedly.
I made the cake for our son’s birthday party with frozen blueberries we had picked in the summer. We swapped the cream cheese frosting with Sally’s vanilla buttercream frosting and it was a delicious match per our family’s taste.
This cake is sure to be a favorite way to enjoy blueberries and lemon, and the one to bring to family gatherings.
This cake is so delicious but like others have said, it came out very dense! I know Sally has mentioned subbing cake flour but then I wonder if all the blueberries would sink? Maybe it needs to be dense to keep the blueberries evenly dispersed. Anyone who has tried cake flour please let us know how it went. Despite the density, this is still one of my favorite cakes in this site.
Morning! I stumbled across this amazing cake! I want to make it for an evening potluck on a Monday night but I work all day. If I make it on Sunday, should I refrigerate it or leave it in my old Tupperware cake carrier on the counter
Hi Shelly, You can prepare the 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. Assemble the cake before your event on Monday. If you frost the cake on Sunday you will need to refrigerate the entire cake since it’s a cream cheese frosting.
I made this cake for my daughter’s birthday. I followed the recipe exactly as written. The flavor was better than expected, but as others have stated, the cake did not rise well. It was much denser than I had anticipated. We still all inhaled it and enjoyed it, but not as light as I had hoped.
I made this today and followed the recipe EXACTLY. It was amazing. The best cake I’ve ever made.
Made this cake last year as the base tier for my four tier 8th anniversary in the military and it was amazing. The cake was so moist and flavorful and literally everyone raved about it. I loved it so much, I’m making it for one of the tiers of my wedding cake on the 29th! It’s fresh, has great texture, and I couldn’t recommend it enough. I love it enough to put it in my wedding even, lol.
I made this over the weekend.
Easy to follow and good flavor.
Very dense – which isn’t what I was looking for. I wanted something light, airy almost summer feeling.
The flavor was good. I added more lemon zest and then extra lemon zest to the icing.
I might would try again but looking for something light if you have a different recommendation.
Thanks!
Hi Ashley, Be careful not to overmeasure your flour. This will result in a heavy cake. For a lighter crumb, you can use the same amount of sifted cake flour instead.
Would there be a way to add a layer of blueberry curd to this cake??
Hi Sally,
i made this cake, followed your recipe EXACTLY. Even followed the timings and speeds very religiously. It turned out to be GREAT. Everyone really liked the cake.It looked really good, wish i could attach the picture here. I’m based in Dubai and its 18-19 degrees temperature here so working with butter cream was a little tough. Also almost everyone who ate the cake mentioned that the frosting was extra sweet. Would you recommend any edit in the frosting recipe?
Hi Sally,
Thank you for a wonderful site and recipes. I’ve made the Lemon Blueberry cake three times. The first time was perfect. The second and third time, while tasting great…was way too dense. I have no idea what I have done wrong. And I really don’t know the meaning of “over-mixing,” as this sounds subjective to the individual. Anyway, I will read your article on making the perfect cake and see if I can figure out what went wrong. Everybody loves the cake!
Absolutely.
Hi Sally. Firstly, let me tell you I love your site & your recipes. You thought me how to make buttermilk & my own cake flour, thank you. I’m writing to tell you that I made your lemon & blueberry layer cake this weekend & I followed the recipe to the T. I even added my own homage cake flour & butter milk for extra lift & softness.
But it turned out heavy & slightly rubbery. I Was so disappointed as this was my birthday cake & I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what went wrong, when it occurred to me, I used the whisk attachment instead of the paddle (I just got
a kitchen aid for Xmas & am still learning my way around it) I certainly didn’t over beat it & kept to your time line. But could the whisk instead of the paddle really be the cause of the heavy slightly rubbery texture or could it be something else?
I only have one cake tin that was suitable so I had to cook one, leave it to cool, remove it, clean it, regressed & line it, before I could pour the rest of the batter in. Could leaving it to sit there for 40 mins make the batter heavier, relaxing too much gluten?
Hi Chris! Thank you so much for the kind comment and message, it was so lovely to read! The dense, almost rubbery texture could be a result of each of those things, notably letting the batter sit until ready to bake. It’s best to bake all the batter at once. Baking powder is initially activated once it’s wet, so I always recommend baking cake batter right away. I have plenty more tips and ideas that will help you for next time, too– I actually wrote two very in depth posts that I know you’ll appreciate for this (and all) cake baking! 10 Baking Tips for Perfect Cakes and How to Prevent a Dry or Dense Cake.
This cake looks delicious! Can it be covered in fondant? How far in advance could it be made?
Hi Lisa, Yes this cake would hold up to fondant. However I don’t recommend using cream cheese frosting with fondant as cream cheese frosting should always be refrigerated. If you use buttercream and fondant this cake should be ok to make a day or two in advance and store covered at room temperature.
Hi Sally, I am making this cake for a birthday party. It’s my first time baking a cake (wish me luck) and I will need to transport it. I bought the baking pans via your link on Amazon and realized I also will need to buy something to transport the cake. I found a cake box 10x10x5 and also 10 inch cake board on Amazon. Not sure if this is the size or even what I will need to transport the cake safely from one location to another. Any suggestions? Thank you
Hi Carmen! Is the cake box only 5 inches tall? That wouldn’t be tall enough. I recommend a cake carrier. I link to my favorite in #10 on my 10 Baking Tips for Perfect Cakes post. I love cake carriers for storing and transporting cakes. The frosting is never ruined!
Hi Sally, Looks amazing! Is there a buttercream recipe without cream cheese that you’d recommend to go with this cake?
Hi Jenna, You can use my vanilla buttercream or if you love lemon you can use my lemon buttercream. Enjoy!