A stunning lemon blueberry cake filled with a bright lemon curd and frosted with a blueberry ombre buttercream. This fresh, summery cake is as tasty as it is pretty!
It's been my goal to share more cake on the blog. I haven't shared a lot before because I am terrible at frosting cakes. I want everything to look perfect and I usually end up really frustrated by the end. But then I realized that like macarons, I won't get any better unless I keep on practicing. So, this lemon blueberry cake is me practicing.
A reader requested a lemon blueberry cake after seeing me share one on social media. It was a gorgeous cake from a bloggy friend. I wanted to take that and make it my own. Fill the cake with the delicious and bright lemon curd I shared earlier and try my hand at making an ombre.
I didn't want it perfect. I wanted it rustic and messy with a beautiful transition of color. For my first time... well, I think I did alright. What do you think?
I am in love with the flavors here in this lemon blueberry cake. Lemons and blueberries are a natural pair and I really wanted to play to that here. I am in love with lemons in dessert. It's my favorite dessert flavor so I wanted to amplify that as much as possible without forgetting the blueberries.
I folded in about two cups of wild blueberries so you can find blueberries studded throughout the cake. You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. I used frozen wild blueberries from Wyman's because I am in love with it. to really punch the lemon flavor, I decided to use my lemon curd which adds this amazing fresh brightness to the cake.
One note about the curd. You have to let the cake sit for a while before you can cut into it or else the curd will spill all out. My recommendation is to cook the curd until it is thicker than what you normally have it.
You can even add a cornstarch slurry (2 teaspoons of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water mixed together) to the curd when you are making it to make sure it gets nice and thick for the lemon blueberry cake.
One baker mixed the lemon curd with a bit of whipped cream and loved the results!
Recipe Card
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 cups cake flour
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- zest of 2 lemons
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup buttermilk room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups blueberries
- 1 jar [lemon curd]
For the Buttercream
- 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter 2 ½ sticks, room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- zest of half a lemon
- ⅓ cup heavy cream give or take a few tablespoons
- 2 - 3 tablespoons blueberry jam I made mine, but you can use store bought
Instructions
- Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans at least 3 inches high. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- Beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well between each addition of the egg.
- Alternate between adding the flour (in three additiona) and the buttermilk (in two additions). Begin and end with the flour. Do not overmix!
- Gently toss the blueberries with some flour, then fold into the cake batter.
- Evenly divide the batter among the cake pans and bake until an inserted toothpicks comes out clean - roughly 45 - 50 minutes (do not worry if it takes you a bit longer than this for the cake to bake through, I find it can be a bit temperamental with baking times)
- Allow the cake to cool for about 15 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. I like to chill the cakes overnight.
- Trim the top of the cake so it is level as needed. Cut the cakes in half so you have four round layers.
- For the buttercream, beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well until combined. Add in the salt, extract,and zest then mix well. Add in the heavy cream a tablespoon at a time until the buttercream is smooth. Remove a portion of the frosting and place in a piping bag. Remove a third of the remaining buttercream and mix in the blueberry jam one tablespoon at a time until it reaches your desired color.
- Pipe a ring around the outer tops of three of the layers. Fill with lemon curd. Place the layers on top of one another, putting the naked layer on the top. Frost the cake with a small portion of the buttercream to create your crumb coat. Place the cake in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes for the crumb coat to set.
- Place the regular frosting on the top of the cake, and the blueberry buttercream around the botom half of the cake. Smooth out the frosting so it is an even layer over the cake. The white and blue frosting will intermingle in the middle to create the ombre effect.
Colleen says
Well..this caught my eye yesterday and I came back to it today. Mmm! I would love this, but I will have to save this one for when we can start having company over. 1.25 lbs of butter...luscious...but for just two people in the house...they'd be rolling us down the street..lol. It is officially saved though, in my "company worthy" recipe files. I think it looks beautiful. I have a glass lazy susan that I bought at the dollar store one time that I used to frost a cake this way at Easter. I am not a cake baker or "froster " at all, and I think I did a pretty good job for the first time...lol..(surprised myself!)
Danielle says
Looks delicious. How far in advance can this be made?
Amanda says
So, I tend to prefer to make most of the components ahead of time and assemble closer to when you are ready to serve. The curd and cake layers can be made up to a week in advance (I freeze my layers) as it makes it easier to level and frost. I then make my frosting around when I am ready to serve. Once it's made, I will level and assemble the cake. The finished cake itself can last at least up to three days, but it is usually gone before we reach that point in my house!
Corin Olivares says
I made it for a dinner party and it was a huge hit! It was actually the first fancy cake I’ve attempted so I was surprised I was successful. (Must have been the well written instructions and beautiful pics )
The only change I made was to fold in some slightly sweetened whipped cream into the lemon curd for the layers. It lightened the lemon flavor nicely and thickened it up so the cake layers stayed intact when cutting.
Super happy with this recipe and will definitely make again!
Amanda says
That's awesome! I am so glad you liked it. I will need to add the whipped cream into the lemon curd as an optional way to put together the cake in the recipe!
Eden Passante says
Wow! Lemon blueberry cake is one of my favorite sweet treats! I will definitely be trying this one out!!
Eden Passante says
So pretty! Love this!
Marsha | Marsha's Baking Addiction says
This cake is stunning? Love the colours!
Marsha | Marsha's Baking Addiction says
I meant stunning! Lol
Elizabeth @ Confessions of a Baking Queen says
Love the ombre frosting on the cake. So smart with the blueberries. And such a classic winning combo!
Amanda says
Thank you! I was nervous about the ombre, but it turned out okay!
Sabrina says
Beautiful cake and I will always love that lemon-blueberry combination!
Kathryn @ Family Food on the Table says
Summer cake perfection! I love lemon and blueberry together but you really stepped that flavor up with the lemon curd and frozen wild blueberries (which we love too!) And oh wow, you definitely did a great job with the icing - I'd say you don't need any more practice!!
Blair says
Can I just face-plant into this cake?! Oh my goodness, it's beautiful!
Alida @ Simply Delicious says
Wow! This cake is so beautiful. And lemon and blueberry are a match made in Heaven. Definitely trying this soon!
Dani says
Why would I make a cake of yours when I'm the first paragraph you say "this is just me practicing".
Amanda says
More specifically, I said, " I haven’t shared a lot before because I am terrible at frosting cakes. I want everything to look perfect and I usually end up really frustrated by the end. But then I realized that like macarons, I won’t get any better unless I keep on practicing." I never made any mention of me practicing my cake baking skills, but rather my ability to smoothly frost a cake. If that deters you from making a perfectly delicious cake, then I recommend going to the many other talented people who are more skilled at frosting cakes than I. 🙂
Marlene says
Do you think this cake batter would work for cupcakes as well? Any idea how long to bake them? One guideline I saw was to check at about half the time for a whole cake...Love the flavor combo!
Amanda says
Cupcakes take about 18 - 20 minutes... sometimes longer, depending on how wet the batter is. My recommendation is to start checking them at about 18 minutes, use the toothpick test and check every 5 - 8 minutes until done! These would make really yummy cupcakes. You can fill them with the curd and frost with a mix of blue and white frosting. Or just use the cake as a nice base! Let me know how it comes out!
Marlene says
Thanks, Amanda. Do you think they'd freeze? If not, how far in advance could I make them?
Amanda says
I think they would freeze unfrosted and unfilled as cupcakes. I freeze my cakes (including this one) and cupcakes all the time! I think every cake I've made, I've frozen because it makes frosting them easier. I only sometimes freeze cupcakes, but every time I did, it was successful. As long as you leave it in something air tight, you should be good to go!