Unlike any other cake I’ve baked, this incomparably moist lemon berry yogurt cake has a soft, creamy, and buttery crumb. Lightly flavored with fresh lemon and bursting with Greek yogurt and mixed berries, it’s a generous drop of sunshine in a Bundt cake pan. It’s been dubbed one of the best desserts I’ve ever made.
Chocolate? Who needs it. Caramel swirls? Nope. Peanut butter brownie swirl chunks mixed with cookie dough pieces? Yum, but not today.
When one of my assistants and I were testing this recipe, she turned to me and said “this is the best thing we’ve ever made.” Out of 1,200 recipes both on my website and in my cookbooks, garnering a description like that is no easy accomplishment. I replied with a simple “agreed.” In other words, today’s cake should not be overlooked.
Why You’ll Love This Lemon Berry Yogurt Cake
- Supremely moist (other cakes don’t even compare)
- Soft and almost creamy-tasting crumb
- Made with 1 cup of Greek yogurt
- Fresh flavors
- Filled with tart lemon and sweet berries
- Convenient– use fresh or frozen berries
And as a welcome bonus, there’s no complicated decorating required. Let the cake cool and drizzle with lemon glaze. She’s a natural beauty!
Video Tutorial
How to Make Lemon Berry Yogurt Cake
This doesn’t get any easier– from the mixing bowl to the oven in 15 minutes.
- Mix dry ingredients together.
- Whisk yogurt, lemon juice, and lemon zest together.
- Beat butter and sugar together. Then add the vanilla and eggs.
- Combine all ingredients.
- Fold in the berries.
- Spoon batter into Bundt cake pan.
- Bake. The cake takes about 1 hour, but check with a toothpick.
- Cool for at least 1 hour in the pan. Then invert onto your serving platter and cool completely before icing.
- Drizzle with icing.
Expect the creamiest, silkiest cake batter in the entire world:
Ingredients You Need
- Cake Flour: Cake flour is lighter than all-purpose flour and, depending on the recipe, produces the best cakes. I tested this recipe with both cake flour and all-purpose flour (varying amounts, too) and 3 cups of cake flour won by a landslide. All-purpose flour was simply too heavy. If needed, use this homemade cake flour substitute.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: With so many wet ingredients, we need both baking powder and soda to help lift this cake so it’s not overly heavy and flat.
- Butter: Butter is the base of this cake. You need 2 sticks of properly softened room temperature butter.
- Sugar: This is a very large cake, so a lot of sugar is required to sweeten the cake and sufficiently cream the butter.
- Eggs: Eggs provide structure, stability, richness, and flavor. I based this recipe off of my cranberry orange Bundt cake and reduced the amount of eggs since we are using so much Greek yogurt and lighter cake flour.
- Lemon Zest & Juice: Grab a large fresh lemon and use its zest (around 2 teaspoons, give or take) and lemon juice. You may need a 2nd lemon to yield enough juice. Fresh juice is best. Here is a wonderful inexpensive juicer if you don’t have one.
- Greek Yogurt: You’ll notice that I use yogurt or sour cream in a lot of my cake recipes. Both bring a slight tang (very mild) and brilliantly creamy moisture. I tested this cake with nonfat and low fat Greek yogurt, regular yogurt, and sour cream– all were excellent. Greek yogurt added a little more tang and structure, though. It was our favorite.
- Vanilla Extract & Salt: Both are used for flavor.
Each ingredient is important and has a very specific job.
Describe the Taste & Texture
This yogurt cake tastes creamy. I’m not even sure how that’s possible, but the crumb is so luxuriously soft, silky, and buttery. You’ll get a lovely preview of its texture when you experience the massive creaminess of the cake batter. Greek yogurt is a workhorse and when paired with cake flour and butter, it truly takes cakes to a whole other level. The cake is a little dense like pound cake, but the crumb isn’t quite as tight. Like my lemon blueberry cake, lemon blueberry cupcakes, and lemon blueberry muffins, berries add more moisture and a pop of juiciness to each bite.
The lemon flavor is bright, but it’s a little light, so I recommend topping the cake with lemon glaze to really amp up that flavor. The lemon glaze is just lemon juice, a splash of vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar. Easy!
I can see this yogurt cake becoming the base of many other flavors like strawberry yogurt cake (swap the lemon juice for milk and use only chopped strawberries) or lemon coconut yogurt cake (skip the berries, add 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, and 1 teaspoon coconut extract). Those are just 2 initial ideas. Get creative!
Before You Bundt
- Bundt Pan: I have two Bundt cake pans that I swear by. I love this one and this one. Both are nonstick, but I generously grease them with nonstick spray to be safe. The yogurt cake releases so easily. The size and design of Bundt cake pans is imperative because intricate designs don’t always translate well into a baked cake. Likewise, Bundt pans can be deceptively small. Use a 9.5-10-inch pan that holds at least 10-12 cups of batter. This batter doesn’t yield quite that much, but it rises up.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: All refrigerated items, except for the berries, should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read here for more information.
Lemon Berry Yogurt Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 4 hours, 15 minutes
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Sweet, studded with berries, and flavored with fresh lemon, vanilla, and butter, this supremely moist yogurt cake will soon become your favorite “anytime” cake. We love it!
Ingredients
- 3 cups (354g) cake flour* (spoon & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (240g) plain Greek yogurt, at room temperature*
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1/3 cup (80ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup (230g; 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 cups (325g) mixed berries, fresh or frozen (do not thaw)*
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup (120g) confectioner’s sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Generously grease a 10-12 cup Bundt pan with butter or nonstick spray.
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the yogurt, lemon zest, and lemon juice together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. On medium speed, beat in the vanilla extract. On low speed, beat the eggs in 1 at a time allowing each to fully mix in before adding the next. After the 3rd egg is added, be careful not to over-mix. Stop the mixer once all eggs are incorporated.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the butter/eggs. Pour the yogurt mixture on top. Turn the mixer onto medium speed and beat everything together *just* until combined. Do not over-mix. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the berries. The batter will be a little thick and very creamy.
- Pour/spoon batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 55-70 minutes. Loosely tent the baking cake with aluminum foil halfway through bake time to ensure the surface does not over-brown. Use a toothpick to test for doneness and begin checking at 55 minutes. Once the toothpick comes out completely clean, the cake is done. This is a large cake so don’t be alarmed if it takes longer in your oven.
- Remove cake from the oven and allow to cool for 1 hour inside the pan. Then invert the slightly cooled cake onto a wire rack or serving dish. Allow to cool completely before glazing, slicing, and serving.
- Make the glaze: Whisk the glaze ingredients together. If desired, add more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or more lemon juice to thin out. Drizzle on top of cooled cake. Icing will set after a few hours, making this cake convenient for storing and/or transporting.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Wrap unglazed baked and cooled cake in 1-2 layers of plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw in the plastic wrap & foil overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before glazing, slicing, and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate link): Stand Mixer or Handheld Mixer | Bundt Pan | Juicer
- Loaf Pan: Pour the batter into two greased 9×5 inch loaf pans. Bake each at 350°F (163°C) for about 45 minutes or until baked through. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Or halve all of the ingredients to make one loaf. (Use 1 egg + 1 egg yolk.)
- Cake Flour: For the best results, I strongly recommend cake flour. You can find it in the baking aisle and I have many more recipes using it. If you cannot get your hands on cake flour, you can make a DIY cake flour substitute.
- Yogurt: You can use plain Greek yogurt, plain yogurt, or even sour cream. I recommend low-fat, non-fat, or full fat yogurt. If using sour cream, use full fat.
- Lemons: 2 medium/large lemons will be enough for the cake and glaze. If you’re looking for a plain yogurt cake (no lemon flavor), simply leave out the lemon zest and replace the lemon juice with milk (dairy or nondairy) in both the cake and glaze.
- Berries: I recommend sticking with mostly blueberries and chopped strawberries. Some raspberries and/or blackberries are OK, but they become a little wet and mushy and can impact the color and consistency of the baked cake. I use 3/4 cup blueberries, 3/4 cup chopped strawberries, and 1/4 cup each raspberries and blackberries. You can use frozen berries if needed. Do not thaw.
Keywords: lemon berry yogurt cake, yogurt cake, mixed berries
I have made this twice now and it was very well-received. I ignored the warning and used all raspberries (because that’s what I had in my freezer) and it turned out great, but it took 20-30 minutes longer to bake.
★★★★★
Just made this cake and it is super DELISH!! Its definitely going to be my go-to recipe moving forward! It’s super delicious and moist, just like Sally described.
The only hiccup I ran into was that the bake time was more like 70-80 minutes. When I checked around 60 minutes, it was still wet at the bottom. Other than that, the recipe was perfect (actually, recipe still might be perfect and this might be an issue specific to my oven).
Eithet way, so happy that I found this recipe….thank you Sally! ☺️❤️
★★★★★
Could I use sour cream instead of yogurt?
Yes – if using sour cream, make sure to use full fat.
All I have is lemon Greek yogurt. Would that impact the amount of lemon juice I should use? Also, I have two boxes of cake flour in my cupboard, and just noticed that one is bleached and one is unbleached. Which should I use?
Thank you for your amazing recipes. You are my “go to” for all desserts.
Hi Mary, You can use your lemon Greek yogurt for extra flavor – it will be delicious without making any other changes. We bake with unbleached flour when we can, but either will work!
Hi Sally! I have an important question, what option do I have to switch from the 2 cups of regular sugar to Stevia for example?
Hi Alexandra! We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
This cake did not require any modifications. The cake is moist, not too sweet and perfectly balanced. This cake turned out fabulous!!! I used fresh sweet blueberries! I only wish I used more! This is now my new base for everything. I live in Colorado and constantly battling flat and dry cakes. I was going to give up baking…. Thank you Sally, this recipe has renewed my baker’s spirit!
Hi Sally,
I love your recipes. I don’t have a Bundt pan but would love to try this recipe. Can I use my 12 inch loaf pan for this one ?
Hi Diya, do you have 9×5 inch loaf pans? If so, see recipe note about baking the batter as a loaf. For your 12 inch loaf pan, it depends on how much volume it can hold. Use the Cake Pan Size and Conversions page if you need it!
Sally: Simply enjoy following your recipes – they are perfection at their finest.
Question for you: before inverting the bundt cake – your instructions indicate to wait an hour. Usually with bundt cakes – the time outlined in recipes is 10 minutes. Can you please advise
Hi Katerina, this is an extremely moist cake and will lose its shape if you cut into it while it’s still warm. Large Bundt cakes need a few hours to cool before completely room temperature.
It’s not the cutting – it’s the inverting/flipping over – I am referring to…still wait an hour – yes?
I am looking forward to baking this cake because Sally’s recipes always deliver! Should the berries be cut up, or just mixed in whole?
Hi Susannah! Blueberries, blackberries and raspberries can be used whole, but chop strawberries before using in this cake batter – see recipe notes for more of our recommendations on berry amounts 🙂
Could I use orange zest and orange juice? And if so, would the amts. be the same? Just asking as I love orange and blueberries together. Donna from Vancouver, Canada
Definitely. Sub fresh orange juice/zest for the lemon. Hope you love this cake!
Mine kind of crumbles??? Tastes great, but when you cut it with your fork, it just crumbles apart. Still moist I must say, and delicious. Did I do something wrong? I also had trouble getting it out of the bundt pan but was able to salvage it with a bit of patchwork. Also, the glaze? I probably added twice as much powdered sugar, but it still “disappeared” into the cake.
★★
Hi Gram, did you use frozen berries by chance? They may have simply released too much moisture in the cake as it baked and I find this happens when the majority of the frozen berries are strawberries. For the pan, if you make this cake again, be sure to very generously grease it and I recommend using nonstick spray. To make a thicker (and less translucent) glaze, replace some of the lemon juice with heavy cream.
Could I make this recipe using starwberries? Would there need to be any changes made to it?
Hi Jan, you can definitely use all strawberries instead of mixed berries. Enjoy!
This recipe sounds wonderful. I would like to make it for a large group. Could the batter be baked in 9″ square cake pans? If so, how many cakes would it make?
Hi Margaret, A Bundt pan is best for this cake. Baking it as layers would be pretty dense and heavy. You might enjoy this lemon blueberry layer cake and you can use mixed berries instead of all blueberries.
Hi Sally and crew!
So I made this two weeks or so ago, and it turned out wonderfully, but it came out a bit over-browned on the bottom and sides. I did make it in two loaf pans (because i’ve never actually used a bundt pan and chickened out of trying lol), so was that maybe the issue? Was the temperature too high? Anyway, it was *so good*, thank you for sharing thiss
★★★★★
Hi Meg, the temperature should stay the same in a loaf pan, but the bake time will be shorter. Let us know if you try this again! So glad you still enjoyed it!
I dont normally take the time to review, but Oh. My. This cake is the best cake Ive ever made. Super moist, not too sweet, perfect amount of lemon and blueberry flavor and the glaze is perfect if made according to directions. I baked mine exactly as the recipe states and it was perfect golden brown at 55 minutes in the oven. Perfect for breakfast (on special occasions) or dessert. 10/10. I bake and cook a LOT.
★★★★★
OMG! Delicious !
I didnt think any cake could top your Dark chocolate mousse cake but this is simply scrumptious!
Very easy to make! I baked it in my stoneware bunt pan for 70 minutes. Perfection! My husband also says this cake is yummy
★★★★★
Hi! Is there any way the berries could be omitted? Thank You!!
Hi Meg, you can try that, or you may enjoy our Iced Lemon Pound Cake instead.
Just made this cake today and I wanted to let you know that it was fabulous. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you loved it, Lynn!
I made this for my daughter’s birthday and it was delicious! Thank you. I want to make it for a friend’s daughter but she is gluten free. What do you suggest?
Hi Dj, we are so glad you enjoyed this cake. We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free cake flour, but we’d love to know if you give it a try.
I am an avid (not to mention extremely picky) baker and this is a truly rare, PHENOMENAL recipe. Thank you very much!
★★★★★
Dear Sally,
Can I use mini bunt pan to make this cake? like the regular muffin size.
if yes, how long will you suggest?
thanks!!
Hi Lily, We can’t see why not! It depends on the exact dimensions of the mini Bundts, but begin testing for doneness with a toothpick at or just before 20 minutes. We’re unsure of the exact time, but this should be a helpful start!
Can i make this in two round 8-inch cake pans? If so, will the timing be around the same?
Hi Melissa, a Bundt pan (or two loaf pans — see recipe notes for details) is best for this cake. The layers would be pretty dense. You might enjoy this lemon blueberry layer cake and you can use mixed berries instead of all blueberries.
I made this cake today and it’s beautiful…. I adhered exactly to the recipe…baking time was 60 mins in my convection oven… just a note – I find that people who alter the recipe by substituting ‘this and that’ for ‘this and that’ are NOT making this recipe and those substitutions can alter the baking time and consistency… just my opinion..
I halved the ingredients and made a loaf cake. Didn’t have berries so I substituted with 3 tbsp of earl grey tea loose leaves (ground up with a pestle and mortar) because I absolutely love any dessert with earl grey and they pair perfectly with lemons! I think it could do with more earl grey flavour so next time I will try adding 4 tbsp instead. I think my batter was on the thinner side as I accidentally added a bit too much yogurt and egg white, so when sliced the cake crumbles pretty easily. I will need to be more precise with the measurements next time 😀 But overall this is still a hit, as with all other recipes from Sally!
★★★★
I made a loaf instead of a bundt cake using half the ingredients as suggested in the notes. I didn’t add any berries because we have a fussy little one and I made a marble cake version instead. I also swapped the butter for unrefined coconut oil 1:1 and put a little less sugar into the batter. I was very concerned because the batter was quite thick, but WOW. It turned out INCREDIBLE and it took 45 minutes in the oven as the notes had stated. I have never baked anything that turned out with such a creamy consistency and we loved it (It lasted less than a day). You’re the best Sally, thanks for this recipe!!
★★★★★
I made this and shared with friends in the neighborhood. EVERYONE LOVED IT! The only problem I had was the cake was very well done on the outside. I contribute this to the nonstick pan. I’m not a fan of them. At 50 minutes the cake was still jiggly so I went for the whole 70 minutes. Next time I will try 60 minutes. Can this be made in a regular well greased bundt pan??
★★★★★
Hi Phyllis, we’re so glad this cake was a hit for you! We prefer non stick bundt pans, but you can absolutely bake with the pan you prefer.
Had some very ripe pears and fat free greek yogurt that was close to expiring so I used this recipe as a base and replaced the lemon with warm spices like mace and cinnamon. I also replaced 1/2 c of the white sugar with brown. I peeled and sliced 4 pears, tossed them in a little cinnamon and ginger and layered them between 2 layers of batter. Baked about 50 minutes. I topped with some powdered sugar. Turned out amazing! This is my new go to cake base since I always have Greek yogurt on hand! Wish I could add a pic because it was just beautiful!
★★★★★
Hi Jill, thank you so much for sharing the details of your cake! It sounds absolutely delicious.
Just checking, this recipe says ‘ Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour Total Time: 4 hours, 15 minutes’. Was that a typo? Because I can’t find any place in the instructions where the extra three hours is indicated. Thanks! I’m planning to make this tomorrow and I just want to make sure…
Hi Cindy! The total time includes cooling.
I’m a super Sally stan – her recipes have been making me look like a skilled baker for the past year. Everything I’ve tried – and that’s around 50 recipes – has come out perfect. Except this! Half of the cake stayed in the pan. Maybe the berries were too juicy. It’s delicious anyway and I’m serving it ice cream on top to hide the imperfection. But I welcome any tips. Maybe just blueberries next time?
Hi Mary, Any chance you used frozen berries? Some readers have reported that they can sink which causes the cake to stick. Either way, our advice is to heavily grease the Bundt pan. We always use nonstick spray with Bundt cakes– they release so much easier with a nonstick spray coating vs butter. Spray generously. This batter is creamier than pound cake batter, so it may require extra greasing.
A good solution to keeping frozen berries suspended in batter is to lightly coat them in flour before adding them to the batter. I also grease and flour my bundt tin which has never failed me! Great recipe Sally, thank you!
Hi Mary – I just baked this cake and have three ideas that might help – or hopefully will help.
1.) While it came out super delicious, I needed to leave it in longer. In my opinion and based on my oven, it takes between 70-80 minutes for this cake to bake. When I checked it at 60 minutes, it was still wet inside (at the bottom only though).
2.) I also used her “lightly cover/tent with foil” idea so the top doesn’t dry out since the top was baking faster than the bottom of the Bundt pan. This was especially important since my bake time ended up being longer than what was suggested.
3.) Lastly, I also obsessively buttered up my Bundt pan and then topped it off with flour to avoid it from sticking but I could tell that this cake was still a bit stickier than others and didn’t glide right out as most of them do. I had to tap it a few times and was worried that I’ll have my first stuck bundt cake! However, luckily, it came out fine with a few taps.
PS: oh and like another commenter said, I also coated my blueberries in flour before adding them into the batter. And I only used blueberries to avoid extra moisture that raspberries/blackberries can release.
Anyway, hope this is helpful.
-Monika
OMG I just made this cake and I highly recommend it. It is so moist and flavorful. I shared it to FB. I am thinking for my birthday in January I want this cake. I used frozen mixed berries and it was amazing. Those berries were perfect!!!
★★★★★
Hi, Sally!
I have been trying your recipes for a couple months now and they always come out great. I’m planning on trying this one next, but I only have a 9-cup bundt and I have never used it before. I was thinking of using a fraction of the batter and then use the rest to bake smaller cakes. However, since this recipe is supposed to work for 10-12 cup pans, I am not really sure with fraction should I use with my 9 cup one. Should I consider the lower end (10 cup, in which case I should use 90% for a 9 cup pan) or the upper end (12 cup, in which case I would use 75%)? What would you suggest?
Thanks!
Hi Arthur, The easiest way to do this is to use your 9-cup pan and fill it about 2/3 full to leave room for the cake to rise. Then you can use whatever batter is left for a few smaller cakes as you had planned. Your bake time will be shorter with a smaller pan so just keep your eye on it. Happy baking!