This lemon blueberry cake is a tender, moist layer cake bursting with fresh blueberries and bright citrus flavor, all wrapped in a dreamy whipped cream cheese frosting. The combination of lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, and juicy blueberries creates a cake that feels both light and celebratory - perfect for Mother's Day, birthdays, or anytime you want a crowd-pleasing dessert with a spring-fresh feel. With a soft crumb built from a blend of cake flour, buttermilk, and sour cream, each slice is juicy, flavorful, and unforgettable.
Lemon and blueberries are a match made in heaven. I wanted to create a soft, tender cake that was sandwiched between layers of lush whipped cream-style frosting. Thanks to the butter and oil in the ingredient line up this cake stay nice and moist. Bursting with spring flavor this cake is perfect to celebrate Mother's Day or Easter but quite honestly delicious all year round. Due to the cream cheese whipped cream, you need to store this cake in the refrigerator but I suggest letting it sit for 10-15 minutes before indulging in it to take the chill off.
If you love lemon and blueberry check out this lemon blueberry loaf cake is a classic we make every spring.
This post was sponsored by LorAnn Oils All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Confessions of a Baking Queen possible.
What Makes This Cake Shine
- Cake flour: Helps create a soft, tender crumb that supports the lemon and blueberries without being heavy.
- Buttermilk & sour cream: Bring moisture and richness while keeping the cake balanced and tender.
- Lemon zest & fresh lemon juice: These deliver fresh citrus brightness that balances the sweetness and highlights the blueberries.
- Neutral oil + butter combo: Keeps the cake moist (oil) while adding rich flavor (butter).
- Blueberries: Gently folded into the batter so they stay suspended rather than sinking - juicy pops of flavor in every bite.
- Whipped cream cheese frosting: Light and airy, with lemon emulsion to reinforce citrus notes without weighing the cake down.
For an easy and quick lemon cake recipe check out my lemon olive oil cake recipe.
For ingredient quantities please reference the recipe card below. On the recipe card there is a button for US or M (Metric) measurements.
Featured Review
"This cake is so delicious! Two of my favorite things, lemon and blueberries! Will definitely be making it again."
Janice
Layered Delight: Here's How
Make sure to get down and look at the cake at eye level to see if it is level or not, and adjust as necessary.
Don't Skip These (From My Kitchen to Yours)
- After testing this recipe multiple times, I learned that room-temperature buttermilk and sour cream blend into the batter more smoothly, leading to a more tender crumb.
- In my testing, I found that coating the blueberries in just a bit of flour before folding helped keep them suspended evenly in the layers instead of sinking.
- I found that chilling the cake in between frosting layers helps you create a beautiful cake.
★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!
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PrintRecipe Card
Layered Lemon Blueberry Cake with Creamy Frosting
This lemon blueberry cake is a tender, moist layer cake bursting with fresh blueberries and bright citrus flavor, all wrapped in a dreamy whipped cream cheese frosting. The combination of lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, and juicy blueberries creates a cake that feels both light and celebratory - perfect for Mother's Day, birthdays, or anytime you want a crowd-pleasing dessert with a spring-fresh feel. With a soft crumb built from a blend of cake flour, buttermilk, and sour cream, each slice is juicy, flavorful, and unforgettable.
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8-10 Slices 1x
Ingredients
Cake
- 300 grams (2 ½ Cups) Cake Flour
- 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- 350 grams (1 ¾ Cups) Granulated Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Zest
- 4oz (½ Cup) Butter, softened to room temperature
- 4oz (½ Cup) Neutral Oil, I like Avocado Oil or Vegetable Oil
- 4oz (½ Cup) Buttermilk, at room temperature
- 4oz (½ Cup) Sour Cream, at room temperature
- 2oz (¼ Cup) Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 Teaspoons LorAnn Organic Lemon Emulsion
- 3 Large Eggs, at room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups Blueberries, Fresh or Frozen (If Frozen Do Not Thaw)
- 1 Tablespoon All-Purpose Flour
Lemon Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16oz Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
- 100 grams (½ Cup) Confectioner's Sugar
- 2 Teaspoons LorAnn Organic Lemon Emulsion
- 16oz (2 Cups) Heavy Whipping Cream
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and heavily grease two 8-inch cake pans or two 9-inch cake pans, and set them aside. Your oven must be properly preheated for your cake to bake properly.
- In a bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a large bowl with an electric handheld mixer combine the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest, and granulated sugar. Once fully combined for 30-60 seconds add the softened butter in chunks and mix until incorporated and the mixture becomes like wet sand.
- In a bowl combine the buttermilk, sour cream, oil, lemon juice, and lemon emulsion then add to dry ingredients and mix for 60 seconds, you want to really incorporate everything to make sure the batter builds structure. Add in the eggs and mix for an additional 45-60 seconds, there should be no trace of egg left. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is evenly combined. In a small bowl combine the blueberries and flour. Gently mix in ¾ of the berries into the cake batter. Pour cake batter into prepared pans and top with remaining blueberries scattered on top, gently press into cake batter ever so slightly.
- Quickly and gently place the pans in the oven and do not open the oven door until at least the 25-minute mark, if you have an oven light use it! Do this very quickly and don't close the door too abruptly. Your cakes should be done baking in the 33-38 minutes mark for 8-inch cakes. If you press a toothpick into the center it should come out with no wet batter, or you can gently press the top center of the cake and it should bounce bake immediately, the sides of the cake will be coming away from the edges of the pan. Set on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes before inverting onto the wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
Frosting
- In the bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk attachment whisk the cream cheese, lemon emulsion, and powdered sugar for 2 minutes. Make sure to scrape down the bowl once or twice to ensure everything is evenly incorporated.
- While the mixer is still on medium-high speed very slowly pour/stream in the heavy cream. Whip for another couple of minutes after the cream has been added until you get a thick whipped cream texture do not over-mix. You want stiff peaks though so let it get nice and fluffy. The texture should be like a thick whipped cream not like buttercream frosting.
- Using a serrated knife saw off the dome of the cake to create a flatter, even surface. Then slice the cake in half. Place the bottom layer on the serving plate and place two large ice cream scoops of frosting on the cake then use a small angled spatula to spread an even layer of frosting onto the first cake layer then top with the second cake layer upside down to create a flatter top surface. Make sure to get down and look at the cake at eye level to see if it is level or not, and adjust as necessary. Repeat with the second layer of cake by slicing it in half and frosting it. Add a thin layer of frosting around the whole cake to create a crumb coat, then place the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes or freezer for 10 minutes to set it. Frost with remaining frosting and add blueberries to the cake and lemon zest. Since this is a soft frosting I like to set the cake in the freeze or fridge for 15 minutes to set up.
- Store the cake in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, although best tasting the first two days. For best results, let the cake come to room temperature for 10-15 minutes before enjoying a slice.
Notes
- Freezing: Slice the cake into individual servings or freeze it whole. Place on a freezer-safe platter and cover in plastic wrap tightly, twice, this helps prevent freezer burn. When ready to eat let the cake thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Prep Time: 25 Minutes
- Cook Time: 35 Minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Carol Anne says
This cake is sooo good! I wish i could eat it all day
Janice says
This cake is so delicious! Two of my favorite things, lemon and blueberries! Will definitely be making it again.
Elizabeth Waterson says
Yay!! So happy to hear you loved this cake!! Thank you so much for the lovely review Janice!! Take care. XX Liz
Petra M Stolte says
300 grams are 1½ cups not 2½ cups. Otherwise the cake sounds delicious
Elizabeth Waterson says
Hi Petra, cake flour is 120 grams per cup so it is 2 1/2 cups for 300 grams of cake flour. Maybe you were confused with sugar it would be 1 1/2 cups at 300 grams but eh cake flour is a lot lighter in weight. Hope this helps! Please let me know if you try the recipe! XX Liz
A. Moore says
Can you make this in a 9x13 Pan?
Elizabeth Waterson says
Hi there, I have never made it in a 9"X13" but I would think you can. I would guess the baking time would be around 30-35 minutes. Please let me know if you try the recipe! XX Liz
Victoria says
The cake itself is very good, but something is really wrong with the frosting measurements. I followed the instructions exactly how it was written and wound up with soupy pourable frosting. I had to add another 3/4 cup of confectioners sugar and another 1 Tablespoon of the lemon emulsion. Elizabeth, can you or someone else tell me what happened? Thank you. p.s. I'm unable to access my email right now, so Please post your responses here and I'll be checking back in.
Heather Forsyth Kehr says
This is really delicious and super moist! I followed all instructions to the T, using fresh, high quality ingredients. My only disappointment was that the frosting (while certainly delicious) produced a texture that was nothing like the picture. I should have realized that including so much whipping cream would mean a frosting that doesn't hold up to piping. The frosting in the photo really does look more like buttercream or a thick cream cheese frosting than what the recipe produces. But, again, it's a very lovely recipe...not too sweet and really delicious.
Elizabeth Waterson says
Hi Heather, thank you for the review. I am sorry that your frosting didn't set up. You need to make sure you whip it just enough to thicken the frosting, its a whipped cream cream cheese frosting and if you google many other recipes will call for 8oz of cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups of cream so my ratios of 16oz cream cheese and 16oz heavy cream shouldn't be a problem. I wonder if you didn't whip it long enough or if your kitchen is warm you could always keep it re chill it and then use it. I am happy to troubleshoot further with you if you want to email me, [email protected] or DM me on instagram and we can go back and fourth and I can share a video of me making the frosting. LMK!! XX Liz
Patti says
This cake was delicious! So light and moist! My husband ate 3 pieces! I will definitely make it again. My blueberries seemed to settle to the bottom of the cake which was fine, but is that expected?
I do have a couple of questions.
1. Can I make the cake, then freeze it and frost before serving?
2. Have you ever used it for cupcakes? If yes, would you use the frosting as a filling, plus frost the cupcakes. The frosting was so light and delicious.
Thank you so much!