You would never know it from all of my posts about peaches this summer, but my blueberry bushes have been prolific. So I’ve spent the summer looking for the perfect blueberry cake recipe. What I have learned: there are a lot of good ones out there. My brother-in-law liked this blueberry lemon pound cake so much that I made him one for his brithday.
I adapted it from a recipe from Cooking Light. I confess: this blueberry lemon pound cake isn’t as ‘light’ as the original recipe, but it is so yummy (and still uses less butter than a traditional pound cake). It also freezes well.
Yes, it is a little time consuming to make, but it is absolutely worth the effort.
Skip to equipment notes or detailed instructions with pictures.
Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 c. all-purpose flour, divided
- 2 c. blueberries
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 c. sugar
- 1/3 c. butter, softened
- 1/2 c. (4 oz.) mascarpone cheese
- Zest of 1 large lemon
- 4 eggs
- 1 c. (8 oz) lemon yogurt
- Icing
- 1/2 c. powdered sugar
- 4 tsp. lemon juice
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease & flour a 10-inch tube pan OR two loaf pans.
- Step 2 Measure flour. Remove 2 Tbsp. flour and toss them with the blueberries.
- Step 3 In a bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Step 4 Use a mixer to cream together the sugar, butter, mascarpone, and lemon zest at medium speed for 4-5 min. until well-blended.
- Step 5 Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after you add each egg.
- Step 6 Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt.
- Step 7 Fold in most of blueberries, but reserve about 1/3 cup. Pour batter into pan. Tap once to get air out. Sprinkle remaining blueberries on the top of the cake.
- Step 8 Bake at 350˚ for 1 hr. and 15 min. When it is ready a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.
- Step 9 Cool cake for 20 min. on a wire rack. While cake cools, whisk powdered sugar to remove lumps. Then whisk in lemon juice.
- Step 10 Remove cake from pan and drizzle with icing.
Equipment Note
- The easiest (and fastest) way to zest a lemon is with a Microplane. It also is great for grating ginger.*
- I make this cake in an old school tube pan (part of my inheritance from my grandmother). If you don’t have one of these, don’t worry. You can also use 2 loaf pans, but you may need to adjust the cooking time.
Detailed Instructions
Step 1. Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease & flour a 10-inch tube pan OR two loaf pans.
Step 2. Measure flour. Remove 2 Tbsp. flour and toss them with the blueberries. This helps to keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
Step 3. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Step 4. Use a mixer to cream together the sugar, butter, mascarpone, and lemon zest at medium speed for 4-5 min. until well-blended.
Step 5. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after you add each egg.
Step 6. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt – add flour and mix, then yogurt and mix, then flour, then yogurt, and end with flour. Do not over mix. Fold in most of blueberries, but reserve about 1/3 cup.
Step 7. Pour batter into pan. Tap once to get air out – don’t tap more than that or most of the blueberries will fall to the bottom of the cake. Sprinkle remaining blueberries on the top of the cake.
Step 8. Bake at 350˚ for 1 hr. and 15 min. When it is ready the cake should pull slightly away from the sides of the pan a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean (unless you hit a blueberry – then it will come out blue!)
Step 9. Cool cake for 20 min. on a wire rack. While cake cools, whisk powdered sugar to remove lumps. Then whisk in lemon juice.
Step 10. Remove cake from pan and drizzle with icing. Be sure to ice while the cake is still slightly warm.
Excellent Cake. Pairs well with Don Pablo coffee! Best birthdat present ever!
This is the best cake in the world! So says my son who had this for his 14th birthday – and the whole family agrees. We’ll definitely be making this cake again!
Made this for my grandson’s 14th birthday who said it’s now his favorite cake. We all agree! The only suggestion I have would be to fold in the lemon zest with the blueberries at the end of Step 6 instead of earlier because a lot of the zest wound around the top of the beaters instead of in the batter. I didn’t notice this until after pouring the batter into the pan. Still a fantastic cake!