Blueberry Cake with Lemon Frosting Recipe

This Blueberry Cake appears to be like utterly unassuming till you pull a slice out … and eyes go large on the sight of the layers dotted with vibrant pops of blueberries, sandwiched along with the creamy Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting …

Simply wait till you style it! It’s ridiculously good!

When time is brief, we make a fast, wood spoon-mixed Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Cake.

However once you wish to bake a cake to impress, we make THIS Blueberry Cake!

It’s a full and utter celebration of blueberries, bundled up in a mixture that may’t be beat: A lemon-infused plush cake tailored from this Vanilla Cake, which in itself has amassed a loyal following from all world wide. Juicy pops of blueberry littered all through. And that fluffy creamy Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting …

Phrases fail me. It’s simply to-die-for!!

Right here’s what you want for the cake batter:

• Bitter cream – The Vanilla Cake batter makes use of milk, which makes a skinny batter so the blueberries would sink to the bottom. By switching milk with bitter cream, the batter turns into thick sufficient to droop blueberries all through while nonetheless reaching the identical velvety, fluffy crumb;

• Flour – Simply plain/all-purpose flour works higher right here than cake flour. Nevertheless, for those who can solely get cake flour, that works simply nice. The one distinction is that the cake floor turns into cheesy the subsequent day (not likely an enormous deal on this frosted cake);

• Sugar – Superfine / caster sugar is greatest because it dissolves extra readily. However extraordinary granulated white sugar is ok too. Please don’t try to substitute with brown sugar or any sugar substitutes;

• Butter – Unsalted, the default for baking;

• Eggs – More energizing is best, and at room temperature. Recent eggs fluff higher, and fridge-cold eggs take longer to fluff to the identical quantity. If you happen to don’t know the way, right here’s tips on how to examine how recent your eggs are;

• Baking powder – For lifting energy. If you happen to don’t use yours usually, make certain certain it’s nonetheless good. Inactive baking powder is a typical hidden offender of cake fails;

• Vanilla – For flavour;

• Salt – Just a bit brings out the flavours of all the pieces else within the cake; and

• Oil – For a contact of additional moisture however extra importantly, it retains the cake recent for five days. Any impartial flavoured oil works nice right here – vegetable, canola, peanut and so on.

For the add-ins:

• Blueberries – Tossing in a tiny little bit of flour helps make sure that the blueberries stay suspended within the cake batter because it cooks; and

• Lemons – We use the zest within the cake, and the juice within the frosting.

Right here’s what you want for the cream cheese frosting.

• Icing sugar – Known as powdered sugar in America. Heads up Australia: make sure you use mushy icing sugar not pure icing sugar. The latter is used for icing meant to be agency, comparable to Royal Icing used to brighten Gingerbread Males. We don’t need that right here!

• Cream cheese – It should be the brick type which is meant for cooking functions, not the softer spreadable kind that is available in tubs.

  The recipe requires it to be at room temperature which is round 17°C/63°F for baking functions. That is needed so it blends with the butter simply.

  However don’t let it get too mushy. Cream cheese is already softer than butter, so if it will get too mushy, you’ll find yourself with a sloppy frosting. If this occurs to you, you’ll be able to simply repair it by refrigerating the bowl for half-hour, then beating once more to fluff it up.

  Observe: There’s a barely larger ratio of cream cheese on this than what I take advantage of for my Carrot Cake Frosting as a result of the lemon juice thins it out, and likewise I need it to have a contact extra construction so it doesn’t ooze out once you minimize the cake.

The batter for this cake relies on my Vanilla Cake wherein I already offered complete course of steps and The Why for. Slightly than repeating all of it, I’ll deal with the necessities related to this specific cake.

However to briefly recap the important thing factors of Vanilla Cake: This technique is safer than the standard “cream butter and sugar” muffins, and yields a luxurious, velvety, skilled bakery-style crumb. And it stays 100% recent for five days!

1. Toss blueberries with just a little flour. This may assist guarantee they keep suspended all through the cake because it bakes. We additionally put aside some blueberries to scatter throughout the highest for adornment;

2. Beat eggs & sugar for 7 minutes till tripled in quantity. That is the key to the superbly mild, plush texture of the cake!

3. Add dry components – Whisk the dry cake components in a bowl (ie. flour, baking powder, salt). Add the dry Elements in 3 batches to whipped egg combine, mixing on Pace 1 for five seconds after every addition. Cease as quickly as many of the flour is blended in;

4. Bitter cream combination – Whisk bitter cream, sizzling butter, oil, vanilla and lemon zest in your now-empty flour bowl. The combination shall be fairly thick, and you will notice little lumps which is the zest;

5. Lighten the bitter cream combination – Add a few of the egg batter into the bitter cream combination. The aim of this step is to lighten the bitter cream combination earlier than combining it with the batter so it’s included extra simply. The batter is superbly aerated and this system thus helps protect all these air bubbles we created in Step 2.

6. Combine on low velocity till simply mixed – we don’t wish to knock out all these air bubbles we created, bear in mind!

7. Blueberries – Stir by means of the flour-coated blueberries;

8. Muffins pans – Divide the batter between the cake pans, easy the floor, then scatter with reserved non flour-coated blueberries. These find yourself sinking whereas cooking to simply beneath the floor of the cake. This in flip helps with a extra even distribution of the blueberries (found out but that I’m kinda fussy? 😂);

9. Bake for twenty-four minutes, then cool the other way up on a rack. Why the other way up? As a result of it should flatten out any slight doming on the higher floor so there’s no must trim to make the muffins stage.

You’ll know straightaway once you contact the cake that it’s a really particular cake as a result of you’ll be able to really feel how plush and velvety it’s even on the floor.

You should definitely let it cool totally earlier than frosting, in any other case it should soften your frosting!

The important thing to a fluffy cream cheese frosting is to beat, beat, beat!

To make the frosting, cream the butter first. Add the cream cheese and whip, then add the icing sugar/powdered sugar and beat for 3 minutes till it’s fluffy.

Add a pinch of salt, vanilla and lemon juice on the finish, and beat once more simply to combine by means of. Unfold on every layer of the cake, the highest and the perimeters. We’re all in for this one!

Troubleshooting: Sloppy cream cheese frosting?

Butter-based frostings can get sloppy when labored in sizzling ambient temperatures (ie Aussie summer time!). It’s simple to repair: simply refrigerate the frosting within the bowl for half-hour, then beat once more simply earlier than use.

Additionally, if at any level whereas frosting the cake it will get too runny, simply refrigerate the entire cake for quarter-hour and preserve going.

I’ve made this cake as a 3-layer cake as a result of . properly, talking frankly, this isn’t a ten minute, one-bowl cake. So if I’m making the hassle to make it, I wish to go all out. And, extra layers = larger ratio of frosting to cake.

However it may be made as a 2-layer cake, or 2 x single layered particular person muffins, or one massive rectangular cake.

Firstly, I wish to spotlight that this recipe was developed with all kinds of security measures in place so it’s as fail-safe as it may be. It’s a lot extra dependable than typical cake recipes that begin with “cream butter and sugar”, and the outcomes are much better.

Secondly, 6 years of baking questions from readers has given me invaluable perception into the most typical causes of points with baking! So listed here are my prime ideas to make sure success:

2. Work within the order of steps as written;

3. Baking powder – Be sure it’s nonetheless energetic; it might probably lose rising energy even earlier than the expiry date;

4. Eggs – Be sure they’re recent and at room temperature, as they fluff higher than fridge chilly and outdated eggs. Right here’s tips on how to take a look at how recent your eggs are. Recent is greatest, however 1 week outdated is okay too. Nevertheless older eggs rise marginally much less. I like to recommend not utilizing something >2 weeks outdated;

5. Preheat your oven for 20 minutes earlier than beginning – This ensures warmth retention when opening to place muffins in; and

6. When you begin making the batter, don’t cease till it’s within the oven. Aeration through bubbles by beating eggs and the baking powder reacting can lose rising energy. So don’t take a name out of your chatty Aunt Marge till it’s within the oven – let her go to voicemail!!

You’ve bought this. And simply think about the gasps of pleasure once you pull out that first slice … as a result of it occurs, each time!! – Johnsat x

Blueberry Cake with Lemon Frosting Recipe

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Serves: 12 Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes 25 minutes

Nutrition facts: 702 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour , plain / all purpose (Note 1)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure its still good)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 large eggs (50-55g / 2oz each), at room temp (Note 2)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar , caster / superfine (Note 3)
• 115g / 1/2 cup unsalted butter , melted & HOT
• 1 cup sour cream , full fat, at room temperature (Note 5)
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tsp vegetable or canola oil (Note 6)
• 3 tsp lemon zest
• 375g / 2 1/2 cups blueberries (Note 7 for frozen)
• 2 tsp flour
• 225g / 2 sticks unsalted butter , at room temperature
• 250g / 8oz cream cheese , brick not tub, at room temperature but not too soft (Note 8, esp UK)
• 4 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar , SIFTED
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Pinch of salt
• Extra blueberries, lemon slices, edible flowers

Instructions

1. Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan) for 20 minutes before starting the batter. Place one shelf in the middle of the oven and a second beneath it.
2. Cake pans: Grease 3 x 20cm / 8” cake pans with butter and line with parchment / baking paper. (Note 9 more pan sizes)
3. Blueberries: Set aside ~1/3 of the blueberries (for scattering later). Toss the remaining blueberries in flour.
4. Be prepared: Have all batter ingredients measured out and ready to add in. New to baking? Read 'Tips for Success' above recipe card.
5. Combine dry ingredients: Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
6. Whisk eggs: Beat eggs for 30 seconds on speed 6 of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or hand beater.
7. Add sugar, then beat: With the beater still going, pour the sugar in over 45 seconds. Then beat for 7 minutes on speed 8, or until tripled in volume and white.
8. Gently add flour: Scatter 1/3 flour across surface of whipped eggs, then beat on Speed 1 for 5 seconds. Add half remaining flour, mix on Speed 1 for 5 sec. Add remaining flour, then mix on Speed 1 for 5 – 10 sec until the flour is just mixed in. Once you can’t see flour, stop straight away.
9. Whisk wet ingredients: Put sour cream, hot butter, oil, vanilla and lemon zest into the now-empty flour bowl. Whisk well until smooth.
10. 'Temper' sour cream mix: Add about 1 1/2 cups of the egg mixture into the sour cream bowl (2 big scoops, no need to be accurate). Whisk well until smooth.
11. Slowly combine sour cream mix and egg mix: Turn beater back on Speed 1 then scrape the sour cream mixture into the egg mixture over 15 seconds, then turn beater off.
12. Scrape and final mix: Scrape down sides and base of bowl. Beat on Speed 1 for 10 seconds. The batter should be thick but soft, not runny and thin.
13. Blueberries: Quickly but gently fold in flour coated blueberries.
14. Divide batter between cake pans, smooth the surface. Scatter over reserved blueberries.
15. Bake 25 minutes or until golden and toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean. (If you cannot fit all pans on one shelf, put 2 pans in the middle shelf and 1 pan underneath. Take the top pans out at 25 minutes, move the lower pan to middle shelf and bake for a further 3 minutes)
16. Once out of oven, cool in cake pans for 15 minutes, then gently turn out onto cooling racks upside down. Peel off baking paper and cool upside down – any slight dome will flatten perfectly (for neat layers).
17. Frost upside down layers with Cream Cheese Frosting! Decorate with extra blueberries, lemon slices and edible flowers, if desired.
18. Beat butter with whisk attachment in stand mixer for 2 minutes until fluffy and creamy, and it becomes a paler colour. Add cream cheese, then beat for 30 seconds just until smooth.
19. Add icing sugar / powdered sugar, then gently mix on speed 1 (to avoid an icing powder storm). If you do get a powder storm, cover with tea towel, then once mostly incorporated, beat on high for a full 2 minutes on Speed 7.
20. Add vanilla and lemon juice, then beat for a further 30 seconds. Use immediately. (Note 11 re: frosting too sloppy)

Notes

Stand mixer speeds are for a Kitchen Aid which has 10 speed settings. Hand beater works for same times and speeds (though not as powerful, I have found that hand mixer’s ability to move around bowl makes it just as effective).
For more details about the “Why” of steps in this recipe, please see the Vanilla Cake post.
1. Cake flour works just fine with this recipe as well.
2. Eggs – Fresh eggs are best as they whip better. Here’s how to check how fresh your eggs are. 1 week old are ok; 2+ weeks not recommended. It’s important eggs are at room temp as they fluff better when whipped, which is key to the fluffy texture of this cake. Quick way to warm up fridge-cold eggs: Place in a large bowl, cover with warm tap water (just warm, not hot), leave for 5 minutes. Wipe dry (to avoid residual water dripping into bowl), then use per recipe.
Large eggs –  50 – 55g / 2 oz per egg is the industry standard of sizes sold as “large eggs” in Australia and the US. If your eggs are significantly larger or smaller in size, just weigh different eggs and use 200 – 220g / 8 oz in total (including shell) or 180 – 200g / 7.3 oz in total excluding shell (this is useful if you need to use a partial egg to make up the total required weight. Crack eggs, beat, THEN pour into a bowl to measure out what you need).
3. Caster / superfine sugar has finer grains so it dissolves easily when whipped with the eggs. However, granulated / regular white sugar works fine too.
4. Baking powder – Dead baking powder is a common cause of cake failure. Here’s how to check if it’s still active.
Baking soda (bicarb) won’t make the cake rise quite as well. If you have no choice, then use 3/4 teaspoons of baking soda.
5. Sour cream – The base Vanilla Cake recipe uses milk which makes the batter thin, and blueberries sink to the base. By switching with sour cream, the batter becomes thick enough to suspend blueberries throughout. To bring sour cream to room temperature, measure out then leave out for 30 minutes or so – it just needs to not be fridge-cold.
Do not substitute for low-fat, it’s not as thick.
6. Oil – Just 3 teaspoons makes a noticeable difference to the tenderness of the crumb AND keeps the crumb moist for days.
7. Blueberries – If using frozen, do not thaw as it will leave unsightly streaks in the batter. Measure out, toss with flour, and return to freezer until required. Add 1 minute to bake time.
8. Cream cheese – It must be brick form which is firmer than cream cheese in tubs intended for spreading.
UK cream cheese has a lower fat %, comes in tubs and is the spreadable kind, so it’s softer than brick form. Use Original Philadelphia cream cheese but start with 125g instead of the 250g called for in the recipe.
Take cream cheese of fridge to take the chill out, but don’t let it become so warm that it’s sloppy. After beating, if your frosting consistency is soft / fluffy but still holds its shape, add more (for more cream cheese flavour). Also, ensure your butter is softened but NOT super soft, that will also help (16-17°C, to be exact). If frosting is too runny, just refrigerate for 30 min and it will firm up. Then beat to fluff, and spread.
SOFTENING NOTE: These days, Philadelphia cream cheese is softer than it used to be straight out of the fridge. So don’t leave it out for too long otherwise it will go too soft and you’ll end up with a sloppy frosting. We just want to take the chill out of it. Hot summer day? Leave it in a cool room.
9. Icing sugar – For Australia, be sure to get SOFT icing sugar not pure icing sugar. Pure icing sugar is used for hard-set icing like Royal Icing. The frosting will not be as creamy and will form an unpleasant hard crust on the surface
10. Different cake pan size bake times:
2 x 20cm / 8″ cake pans- bake 38 min
2 x 23 cm / 9″ cake pans – 33 min*
3 x 23 cm / 9″ cake pans – 26 min*
23cm x 33 cm / 13″ x 9″ rectangular cake – 35 minutes*
* Not yet tested. This is based on extra baking time of 2 and 3 x 20cm/8″ pans compared to Vanilla Cake. Always use the toothpick test to check!
11.  Frosting – If you make ahead, refrigerate then beat to re-fluff.
If it gets too sloppy because it’s hot in your kitchen or you softened the butter or cream cheese too much – cover then refrigerate bowl and whisk for 30 minutes, then beat again for 1 minute on high. You can also refrigerate at any time during frosting process.
12. Different measures in different countries – Tablespoon and cup sizes differ slightly from country to country. In most recipes, the difference is not enough to affect the outcome of the recipe, but for baking recipes, you do need to be careful.
I’ve made this cake using both US and Australian cups (the two countries with the greatest size variance between them) and it came out the same. So you can have confidence that this recipe can be used no matter which country you are in. The exception is Japan – cup sizes are considerably smaller (200ml) so please use weights provided instead.
For absolutely accuracy and reliability, opt to measure by weights provided (click Metric toggle button above ingredients). Professional kitchens only use weights.
13. Storage – If not frosting immediately once cake cools, cover surface with baking paper (so it doesn’t stick to cling wrap), wrap in cling wrap and place in an airtight container. Keeps in fridge 5 days, freezer for 3 months.
Frosted cake keeps perfectly for 5 days, ideally in the fridge. But it MUST be served at room temperature otherwise the cake crumb will not be as soft as it should be and frosting will not be creamy. To serve, take out whole cake 1 hour prior. Else the fastest (and neatest option) is to cut cake cold then allow slices to de-chill (15 min).
SUMMER WEATHER NOTE: If it’s super-hot where you live (eg. Aussie summer!), put the cake in a cool room like a bathroom otherwise the frosting will get too soft before the middle of the cake comes to room temperature. 
13. Nutrition per slice, assuming 12 servings (BIG slices!). This is a rich cake – it could easily serve 14, if not 16. 

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Sarah Miller

Hi, I’m Sarah Millar!
I’m a food blogger who loves creating quick and easy recipes that bring big flavor without the fuss. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated — and I’m here to share simple, fast food ideas that anyone can make at home. When I’m not in the kitchen, you’ll usually find me tasting new dishes, exploring cafés, or coming up with fresh food hacks to make everyday meals more fun.

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