Buttery Lemon Blueberry Cake
- PREP 20min
- COOK 1hrs
- TOTAL 1hrs 20min
This blueberry cake recipe was inspired by pound cake. Thanks to melted butter, eggs and heavy cream, the texture is tight-knit, moist and very tender. We make this in a square baking pan, but a tall (at least 2 inches) round 8-inch or 9-inch cake pan will also work.
To minimize all the blueberries sinking to the bottom of the cake (some will anyway), we add plain batter without any blueberries added to the bottom of the baking pan first. Then we combine the blueberries with the remaining batter and spread on top of the first blueberry-free layer.
You Will Need
8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/3 cups (170 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (240 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
2 cups (280 grams) fresh blueberries, about 1 pint blueberries
Directions
Center a rack in the oven and heat to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-by 8-inch square pan. Place the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked on top of the other (this helps even baking).
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
In a large bowl, rub the sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, vanilla and almond extract together until the sugar is moist and fragrant. (We use our fingers to rub aromatics into the sugar.) Whisk in the eggs until blended then whisk in the cream.
Switch to a large rubber spatula. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, stirring gently until they disappear and the batter is smooth. Fold in the melted butter in 2 parts. The batter will be smooth and thick.
Bake Cake
Spread about 1/3 of the batter in the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Fold in all but a handful of the blueberries to the remaining batter left in the bowl.
Layer the blueberry-batter mixture on top of the batter already in the baking pan. Smooth the top then scatter remaining blueberries over the batter.
Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. When baked, transfer the cake, in the pan, to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the cake and place right side up on the rack. Cool completely before serving.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Make-ahead and Storing: Bake the cake as directed and cool completely. Wrap the unfrosted cake tightly with plastic wrap or place into a resealable plastic bag. Keep at room temperature up to 5 days. If you have added whipped cream to the cake, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Freezing the Cake: Bake the cake as directed and cool completely. Add to a baking sheet and freeze (uncovered) until hard, about 4 hours. When frozen, wrap tightly with plastic wrap then wrap again with foil. Freeze.
- Using Frozen Blueberries: You can use thawed and drained frozen blueberries for this recipe. To prevent the batter from turning greenish blue, try rinsing the thawed blueberries with water then patting dry.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values. We did not include additional whipped cream in the calculations. For reference, 2 tablespoons of whipped cream is about 50 calories.
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