Lemon Blueberry Cake

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This easy Lemon Blueberry Cake is a moist lemon cake loaded with sweet blueberries and topped with lemony mascarpone frosting! Between each layer of cake is mascarpone whipped cream and a tangy lemon curd. This easy lemon cake is a showstopper. 

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Lemon Blueberry Cake

This Lemon Blueberry cake is the bomb you guys. The layers of moist lemon cake are loaded with sweet blueberries. In between each layer of cake is mascarpone whipped cream and a tangy lemon curd.

One of my girlfriend’s described this cake as not overly sweet but loaded with flavor. It’s a crowd favorite. Of course, the lemon and blueberry are a match made in heaven.

The lemon cake base is the same recipe as my Lemon Cupcakes. It’s an oil-based cake recipe, so there’s no time spent waiting for the butter to come to room temperature. All in all, this takes maybe 10 minutes to prepare.

The cake version is just as easy and with the added blueberries makes it even better. I am going to walk you through exactly how to make this cake, including a step-by-step video.

Lemon Blueberry Cake Ingredients and substitutions

• Standard cake ingredients including sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and eggs.
• Vegetable oil makes for a more tender crumb and helps produce a moister cake.
• Lemons zest and juice the lemon zest bring out a stronger lemon flavor, and the lemon juice. Do not skip the zest as it adds a lot of flavor.
• Lemon extract to enhance the lemon flavor. This can also be substituted with vanilla extract if needed.
• Sour cream makes this cake very moist. I used light sour cream, but any sour cream will work in a pinch. If you don’t have sour cream, you can substitute with nonfat Greek yogurt.
• Buttermilk for acidity, flavor and moisture. See recipe notes for substitutions.
• Fresh Blueberries will be tossed in a little bit of flour to help prevent them all from sinking. If you need to use frozen berries, you don’t need to toss them in flour.
• Lemon curd for the filling. It’s optional but it really adds that punch of lemon flavor to this cake, I don’t recommend skipping it.

How to Make Blueberry Lemon Cake

• Prepare your baking pans. I’ve offered some helpful hints below.
• Beat together the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and lemon extract.
• Next add the lemon zest, lemon juice and sour cream and beat until the batter is well combined.
• Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then alternate adding half the dry ingredients with half the buttermilk and beat until well combined.
• Toss the blueberries with 2 tablespoons of flour. Then gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
• Divide the batter evenly between the three pans, about 1 2/3 cups of batter per pan and bake according to instructions in the recipe card.

Tips for baking this cake

For the layers of cake, I use three 8-inch baking pans, it’s approximately 1 2/3 cups of batter per pan.

It’s important that you line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper or 8-inch silicone baking liners. This will ensure you can easily remove the cakes from the pans.

I also bake my cakes with bake even stripes. These are used to create a nice even and level cake. It prevents the edges of the cake from cooking too quickly and therefore rising in the middle.

If you don’t have bake even stripes, that’s totally fine, you’ll just need to cut the dome of your cakes off with a cake level or serrated knife before you start laying them.

Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting

For the frosting, I went with a simple mascarpone whipped cream. It’s an amazing, thick whipped cream frosting that is not too sweet.

• I recommend placing a metal mixer and the whisk in the freezer for 5-10 minutes prior to starting. Also keeping your ingredients refrigerated up until you’re ready to use them.
• Spoon the COLD mascarpone whipped cream into your bowl and beat on a medium-low speed
• Slowly pour in the heavy cream, allowing the mascarpone cheese to turn to a liquid consistency. Then increase the mixing speed to high (speed 8-10) and beat it until soft peaks form.
• Next, add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract, beating on low until sugar is incorporated. Then continue beating at a high speed until stiff peaks form.

The whipped cream will thicken pretty quickly once the mascarpone has been added. This frosting is very light and it’s not overly sweet so it allows the flavors of the cake to really shine through.

How to Assemble the Cake Layers

• If your layers are not all the same thickness, place your thickest and flattest layer on the bottom.
• First, I pipe a layer of the mascarpone whipped cream and spread evenly. Using a piping bag helps to ensure an even distribution of frosting.
• Then spread a layer of lemon curd (about half the jar). Don’t spread the lemon curd all the way to the edges, stop about ½ inch from the edge
• Add the next layer of cake on top, and press it into layer below. Try your best to place it centered and not leaning to one side or the other.
• Invert your top layer, so the actual bottom of the cake layer is on top, giving you a nice flat surface on the top of your cake.

For more helpful advice see the tips I’ve shared for how to make layer cakes.

How to Decorate this Lemon Blueberry Cake

I decorated this with a thin layer of mascarpone frosting, you can see it’s a little bit rustic.

Use any leftover frosting to decorate this cake. I used a large open round piping tip. Then you can garnish this cake with fresh fruit like lemon slices and leftover berries.

How to Store this Cake and Make ahead options

Once frosted, this cake can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container such as a cake carrier. To make the layers ahead of time, cool completely, line the top and bottom with parchment paper and tightly wrap in plastic wrap.

I do not recommend making the frosting in advance and storing it separately. Make the frosting and frost the cake immediately. Then store in the refrigerator.

Variation ideas

I’ve made both a lemon blackberry cake and a lemon raspberry cake using this same recipe. You might also love this with a strawberry sauce filling, similar to my Strawberry Mascarpone Cake.

Can I use frozen berries?

Note that I have not tested this with frozen blueberries but it should work. Frozen berries may have more moisture than fresh. Toss in the batter when frozen and do not coat in flour.

Why do my blueberries sink in my cake?

Coating fresh berries helps prevent the berries from sinking to the bottom of the cake. However, there is no way to fully prevent this. I recommend using smaller berries if possible. 

Also I like to drop a few berries on top of the batter prior to putting the cake in the oven to bake. 

More Cake Recipes you’ll love

• Lemon Cake with Toasted Coconut Frosting
• Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake
• Blueberry Almond Bundt Cake
• Lemon Raspberry Poke Cake

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Lemon Blueberry Cake

★★★★★

4.7 from 13 reviews

• Author: Beyond Frosting
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 23 minutes
• Total Time: 38 minutes
• Yield: 10-12 slices

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Description

This easy Lemon Blueberry Cake is a moist lemon cake loaded with sweet blueberries and topped with lemony mascarpone frosting! Between each layer of cake is mascarpone whipped cream and a tangy lemon curd. A moist oil-based cake that’s fluffy and is truly the best blueberry cake ever!

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 cups (380g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (118 ml) vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 2 lemons- zested and juiced (see below)
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) Lemon (or vanilla) extract
• ½ cup (118 ml) light sour cream
• 2 ½ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons (11.2 g) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (236 ml) (or milk)
• 1/4 cup (59ml)  fresh lemon juice
• 9 ounces fresh blueberries, washed and dried
• 2 tablespoons (15.6g) all-purpose flour

For the frosting:

• 2 ¼ cups (532ml) heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup (130g) powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
• 16 ounces mascarpone cheese, cold
• 1 jar (10 ounces) lemon Curd

Instructions

1. For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8-inch round baking pans, line the bottom with parchment paper and grease the sides. Prepare your bake even stripes if desired.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and lemon extract. Beat on medium speed until the eggs and oil are well incorporated and the batter is lighter in color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
3. Next, zest 2 lemons into the batter and then juice the lemons to get 1/4 cup of lemon juice. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and sour cream to the batter beat until well combined.
4. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl then add half the dry ingredients to the batter, beat on low speed while pouring in half of the buttermilk and mix just until the flour starts to incorporate.
5. Finally add the remaining dry ingredients and remaining buttermilk and beating until all of the ingredients are well combined.
6. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it’s well mixed.
7. Toss the blueberries with 2 tablespoons of flour. Then gently fold the blueberries into the batter, saving a small handful to drop on top of the cake batter.
8. Divide the batter evenly between the three pan, about 1 2/3 cups of batter per pan. Drop the remaining raspberries on top. Bake at 350°F for 20-23 minutes. Rotate your pans in the oven halfway through baking.
9. Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, you cake is done. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
10. For the frosting: Place the mixing bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes to chill.
11. Spoon the COLD mascarpone whipped cream into your bowl and beat on a medium-low speed (speed 3 on your stand mixer). Slowly pour in the heavy cream, allowing the mascarpone cheese to turn to a liquid consistency.
12. Then increase the mixing speed to high (speed 8-10) and beat it until soft peaks form.
13. Next, add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract, beating on low until sugar is incorporated. Then continue beating at a high speed until stiff peaks form.
14. To assemble the cake, use a cake leveler to cut the domes off the top of the cake. Place a dollop of frosting on your cake board and place the bottom layer of cake on top of that.
15. Place half of the whipped cream in a large piping bag fitted with a large open round tip, or simply cut off the end of the piping bag. Pipe a layer of frosting and spread evenly. Then spread half of the lemon curd over mascarpone filling.
16. Add the second layer of cake and repeat the above steps using all of the remaining lemon curd. Next, add the final layer of cake on top.
17. Use your piping bag to fill in any gaps between your layers and to create a crumb coat. Using an offset spatula or icing smoother, wipe away the excess frosting, leaving you just enough to coat the outside of the cake. Do not mix your crumb coating frosting back into your icing if it has cake debris in it.
18. Proceed to frost the top and sides of the cake using your offset spatula. Once the sides of the cake are covered, use you icing smoother to remove any excess frosting. You can take the end of your offset spatula and gently place them against the sides of the cake as your rotate your cake to add a little texture.
19. Use remaining frosting to pipe the florets on the top of the cake using an Ateco 809 tip (large open round). Garnish with lemon slices and leftover blueberries. This cake must be refrigerated.

Equipment

Bake even stripes

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8-inch Silpat Liner

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8-inch cake pan

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Notes

• To substitute the sour cream use a plain non Greek yogurt. Full fat sour cream will also work
• To make homemade buttermilk use 1 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar and then add enough milk to make 1 cup. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes and then stir.
• See my detailed tutorial of the Mascarpone Whipped Cream
• Make ahead and storage instructions: Once frosted, this cake can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container such as a cake carrier. To make the layers ahead of time, cool completely, line the top and bottom with parchment paper and tightly wrap in plastic wrap.
• Sub blueberries with raspberries or blackberries
• I do not recommend making the frosting in advance and storing it separately. Make the frosting and frost the cake immediately. Then store in the refrigerator.
• Frozen berries: Note that I have not tested this with frozen blueberries but it should work. Frozen berries may have more moisture than fresh. Toss in the batter when frozen and do not coat in flour

Nutrition Information:

Serving Size: 1 slice

Calories: 672

Sugar: 60.1g

Sodium: 370mg

Fat: 32.6g

Saturated Fat: 21.1g

Carbohydrates: 89.9g

Fiber: 2.4g

Protein: 8.4g

Cholesterol: 112.6mg

• Category: Cake
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: lemon blueberry cake, easy lemon cake recipe, lemon cake recipe, easy layer cake

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