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Lemon Blueberry Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

How to make a lemon blueberry cake from scratch. Simple and easy layer cake recipe. Topped with a lemon cream cheese frosting, it's the ultimate dessert!
4.62 from 21 votes
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Course: Cakes
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 16
Calories: 485kcal
Author: Mel Lockcuff

Equipment

  • KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Qt. Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield - Aqua Sky
  • Wilton Performance Aluminum Pan 9-Inch Round Cake Pans, Set of 2
  • Ultra Cuisine 100% Stainless Steel Wire Cooling Rack for Baking fits Half Sheet Pans Cool Cookies, Cakes, Breads - Oven Safe for Cooking, Roasting, Grilling - Heavy Duty Commercial Quality
  • Microplane Premium Classic Series Zester Grater, 18/8, Green
  • Sweet Creations, locking cake carrier with server, up to 10 inch, 3-layer cake, light blue and cream
  • Cakewalk Melamine Cake Cupcake Stand, One Size, Yellow

Ingredients

Lemon Blueberry Cake:

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 2/3 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 3 large eggs at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 3/4 cups cake flour
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 1/4 cups blueberries*

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

Instructions

  • Pre-heat your oven to 350° F.
  • Grease 3 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray, or use the shortening and flour method to grease them.
  • Mix together the sugar and lemon zest*. (Lemon zest is what is going to give your cake a tremendous amount of lemon flavor, and we'll talk about how to zest a lemon in the notes below.) Then let this mixture sit for 3 to 5 minutes, so the lemon can really infuse into the sugar.
  • In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the cake flour (save back a tablespoon or two for the blueberries), baking powder, and salt; set aside.
  • Cream (mix) the unsalted butter into the sugar/lemon zest mixture.
  • Add the eggs, one at a time, to the sugar mixture.
  • Then mix in the vanilla extract.
  • Alternate the dry ingredients with the milk and lemon juice mixture, beginning with the dry ingredients. Keep alternating, adding in the milk and lemon juice, and then ending with dry ingredients.
  • Toss the blueberries in a tablespoon of cake flour, and then gently fold the flour-coated blueberries into the cake batter (with a spatula by hand, NOT the mixer).
  • Spread the cake batter evenly into 3 greased round cake pans.
  • Bake at 350° F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
  • Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
  • To mix up the lemon cream cheese frosting quickly and easily, I usually use my stand mixer fitted with a whisk paddle attachment.
  • Mix together the softened cream cheese and salted butter.
  • Add vanilla extract and lemon juice, mixing in well.
  • Then add in the powdered sugar, mixing until smooth and creamy.
  • Finally, mix in the lemon zest to finish up your frosting.
  • Now you're ready to frost and layer your cake. I usually like to frost between layers as I add them. Then frost all over the outside of the cake, including the sides.
  • Then you can add blueberries and lemon slices to the top, whatever your preference.
  • Slice and serve!

Notes

*You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. I actually used fresh for this recipe.
HOW TO KEEP BLUEBERRIES FROM SINKING IN A CAKE
A good way to keep blueberries from sinking to the bottom of your cake layers, is to toss and coat them with a tablespoon or two of cake flour (or cake mix, if you're using them in a cake mix recipe) before adding them to your cake batter. This helps them to stick to your cake batter, so they don't sink.
You can also use corn starch. But I usually just take a tablespoon or two of flour out of my already measured flour for the cake because it's easy to do.
*HOW DO I GET LEMON ZEST?
Simply put, you use a lemon zester and a real lemon. A lemon zester allows you to grate the colorful part of a lemon and use that for flavoring your favorite lemon recipes.
While you could use lemon extract in your cake recipe, I highly recommend the unbeatable natural flavor of real lemon zest. Especially when it's so easy to zest a lemon, why use anything but this?
Just be sure to wash your lemons well before zesting. I usually soak any fruits or veggies in a water/vinegar bath before consuming.
HOW SHOULD I STORE THIS CAKE?
I recommend storing any leftovers in a cake carrier in the fridge, mostly because of the cream cheese frosting.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 485kcal | Carbohydrates: 69g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 372mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 48g
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