Moist Lemon Blueberry Cake Recipe

There are some flavor combinations that just feel like they were meant to be together, and lemon and blueberry is absolutely one of them. The bright, zesty punch of lemon cutting through the sweet, jammy burst of a ripe blueberry? It’s a little bit of magic, honestly.

I’ve been making some version of this cake for years, tweaking things here and there, and I think I’ve finally landed on the one. The one that makes people close their eyes when they take a bite. The one that disappears from the kitchen counter in about twenty-four hours flat.

I remember the first time I tested this recipe, I forgot to zest the lemons before juicing them. Total rookie move. I stood there holding two naked, juiced lemons feeling pretty silly. So learn from me — zest first, then juice. It makes life so much easier. Little kitchen moments like that are why I love sharing recipes, honestly. It’s all about figuring it out together.

Ingredients Needed for the Recipe

Let’s talk about what goes into this beauty. Every single ingredient has a job to do, and when they all come together, it’s pretty special. I’ve tested this more times than I can count, so trust me on these.

• All-purpose flour (2⅓ cups / 295g): This is the structure of our cake. It holds everything together but stays nice and tender thanks to what we add next.
• Cornstarch (¼ cup / 30g): Okay this is my little secret weapon. Replacing a small amount of flour with cornstarch helps create that super soft, almost delicate crumb. It’s like giving the cake a cozy blanket.
• Baking powder (2 tsp) and baking soda (½ tsp): These two are our leavening agents. They work together to give the cake lift and help it rise up light and fluffy instead of dense and sad.
• Salt (½ tsp): Don’t skip this. Salt doesn’t make the cake salty, it makes all the other flavors pop. It balances the sweetness and makes the lemon taste more like lemon.
• Unsalted butter (6 tbsp / 86g) at room temperature: Butter gives us flavor and richness. Using some butter along with oil is a game-changer for both taste and texture.
• Unflavored vegetable oil (¾ cup / 141g): I use canola oil here. Since oil is liquid at room temperature, it keeps the cake incredibly moist for days. It’s the reason this cake stays tender long after it’s baked.
• White granulated sugar (1⅔ cups / 333g): Sugar does more than just sweeten. It also helps with browning and keeps the cake moist. When we cream it with the butter and zest, it starts to release all those lemon oils.
• Lemon zest (2½ tbsp, from about 2 lemons): This is where the big lemon flavor lives. The oils in the zest are so aromatic and intense. Make sure you only get the yellow part though, the white pith underneath is bitter.
• Large eggs (3) at room temperature: Eggs add structure and stability. Room temperature eggs mix into the batter much more smoothly than cold ones, which helps prevent the batter from curdling.
• Milk (2 tbsp / 26g) at room temperature: Just a tiny bit adds a little extra moisture and helps thin the batter slightly.
• Plain unsweetened yoghurt (¾ cup / 185g) at room temperature: Yoghurt is a hero ingredient here. It adds tons of moisture and its natural tanginess actually makes the lemon flavor shine even brighter. It’s a beautiful partnership.
• Fresh lemon juice (¼ cup / 55g): This gives us that fresh, mouth-puckering lemon kick that balances the sweetness. The acid in the juice also reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
• Fresh blueberries (1½ cups / 250g): Little bursts of jammy fruit in every slice. Fresh are my preference, but frozen work too with a couple adjustments.
• One batch of cream cheese frosting: I use my go-to cream cheese buttercream recipe. It’s tangy, smooth, and not overwhelmingly sweet. The perfect partner for this cake.

One quick note on measurements. I always recommend using a kitchen scale and the gram measurements if you can. Baking is a science, and weighing ingredients is just so much more accurate. Cup measurements can vary depending on how you scoop, but grams don’t lie.

How to Zest Lemons the Right Way

Before we even get to the mixing bowl, there’s one tiny step that makes a huge difference. Zesting lemons might seem simple, and it kind of is, but there’s a right way and a wrong way. I learned this the hard way after ruining a batch of cookies years ago with bitter zest.

You want to use a fine microplane or zester. Hold the lemon in one hand and run the fruit over the fine teeth, rotating as you go. Only grate the bright yellow outer layer. The moment you start seeing white underneath, stop and turn the lemon. That white pith is seriously bitter and it will absolutely ruin the delicate lemon flavor we’re after.

I like to zest the lemons right over the bowl with the sugar sometimes. The sugar helps catch all those fragrant oils, and then when you rub it all together with the butter, it just amplifies everything. It’s a small sensory moment that makes the whole process feel a little more hands-on and real.

How to Make Lemon Blueberry Cake?

Alright, let’s get to the good part. I’ll walk you through this step by step, the way I do it in my own kitchen. Put on some music, maybe pour yourself a cup of coffee, and let’s bake something beautiful.

Step 1 – Prep Your Pans and Oven

First things first, preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) if you’re using a conventional oven. If you have a convection oven with a fan function, you’ll want to lower that to 160°C (320°F) because the fan bakes things faster and hotter. I always forget this and have to double-check, so don’t feel bad if you do too.

Take two 8-inch round cake pans and grease them really well. I use my homemade cake release, but butter and flour work great too. Here’s the thing though — this cake is so moist and tender that it has a tendency to stick. So I also line the bottoms with a circle of parchment paper. It’s an extra step, I know, but it saves you from that heartbreaking moment when half your cake stays in the pan.

Step 2 – Mix the Dry Ingredients

Grab a medium bowl and sift in your flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sifting isn’t just for show — it aerates everything and makes sure there are no lumps of baking powder hiding anywhere. Then just whisk it all together by hand to distribute everything evenly and set the bowl aside for now.

I like to get all my mise en place sorted before I start mixing wet ingredients. It makes the whole process smoother and I’m less likely to forget something. Plus, once you start creaming butter, you kind of want to keep moving.

Step 3 – Cream Butter, Oil, Sugar, and Lemon Zest

In a large bowl, add your room temperature butter, vegetable oil, sugar, and all that lovely lemon zest. Now grab your electric mixer — hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment both work. Beat it on medium speed for about three full minutes. You’re looking for it to become light and creamy, almost fluffy.

This step is important because we’re dissolving the sugar and really working those lemon oils into the fat. The mixture should look pale and smell incredibly fragrant. Don’t rush this part. Set a timer if you have to. Three minutes makes a difference.

Step 4 – Add Eggs One at a Time

Crack your first egg into the bowl and mix until it’s fully incorporated before adding the next one. Same thing with the third. Adding them one by one helps the emulsion stay smooth and prevents the batter from looking curdled or separated.

If the mixture looks a little funny at this stage, don’t panic. It will come back together once we add the rest of the wet ingredients. Just keep going.

Step 5 – Add Milk, Yoghurt, and Lemon Juice

Pour in your milk, the plain yoghurt, and the fresh lemon juice. Mix everything together until it’s well combined. At this point, the batter might look a little thin or even a bit curdled. That’s totally fine, I promise. The acid in the lemon and yoghurt is just doing its thing with the dairy.

Now here’s where we switch gears. Set your electric mixer aside. The rest of the mixing is going to be done by hand with a spatula. This helps prevent overmixing, which can make the cake tough.

Step 6 – Fold in the Dry Ingredients

Add all of your pre-sifted dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Using a spatula, gently fold it all together. Fold from the bottom of the bowl up and over, turning the bowl as you go. Stop mixing as soon as you don’t see any more streaks of flour. A few small lumps are okay. Overmixing at this stage develops gluten and makes the cake dense, so be gentle.

Step 7 – Coat and Add the Blueberries

Here’s the trick to keeping your blueberries from all sinking to the bottom. Toss them gently in a tablespoon or so of flour. Just enough to lightly coat each little berry. Then add them to the batter, discarding any extra flour left in the bowl.

Fold the berries in with just a few turns of your spatula. You want them distributed evenly, but you don’t want to mix so much that the batter starts turning purple. A few streaks of color are fine and actually kind of pretty. Be extra gentle here — crushing the berries will turn your whole batter grayish.

Step 8 – Divide and Bake

Divide the batter evenly between your two prepared pans. I like to use a kitchen scale for this so I know they’re exactly the same weight and will bake up to the same height. Take a moment to gently spread the batter and try to distribute those blueberries so some are near the top too.

Pop them in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. No wet batter. Every oven is different so start checking at 35 minutes.

Step 9 – Cool the Cake Layers

Once baked, let the cakes cool in their tins for about 15 to 20 minutes. This gives them time to set up so they don’t fall apart when you try to move them. Then carefully turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

These cake layers are soft and delicate, so handle them with love. Peel off that parchment paper from the bottoms and let them sit until they’re 100% cool. Never frost a warm cake, it’ll just turn into a melty mess.

Tips

Over the years I’ve picked up a few little tricks that make a big difference. Here are the ones I come back to every single time I make this cake.

• Room temperature ingredients really matter. Cold eggs or cold yoghurt can make the batter seize up and not mix properly. Take everything out of the fridge about an hour before you start baking.
• Don’t overmix the batter once the flour goes in. I know I keep saying it, but it’s because it’s so important. Mix until just combined and then stop.
• If your kitchen is warm, pop the flour-coated blueberries in the freezer for ten minutes before adding them to the batter. It helps them hold their shape even more.
• When measuring flour, spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off. Scooping directly with the cup packs the flour down and you’ll end up using too much.
• Use a serrated knife to level the cake tops if they domed at all. A flat surface makes stacking so much easier and looks more professional.

Working with Frozen Blueberries

Fresh blueberries are wonderful, but let’s be real — they’re not always in season or affordable. Frozen blueberries work perfectly fine here, you just need to handle them a little differently.

The most important rule is to keep them frozen. Do not let them thaw first. Thawed frozen berries are basically little sad puddles of mush that will bleed purple into your batter and turn everything gray. So keep them in the freezer until the very last minute.

Coat them in flour just like you would with fresh berries, but work quickly so they stay cold. Fold them in gently and get the pans into the oven. Because the berries are frozen, your cake might need an extra five minutes or so of baking time. Keep an eye on it and use that toothpick test.

One other thing — frozen berries can sometimes create little pockets of moisture around them in the baked cake. It doesn’t affect the taste at all, but you might notice slightly denser spots. Totally normal and still delicious.

Storing and Serving Suggestions

This cake is at its absolute best the day it’s made, but let’s be honest, leftovers are a beautiful thing. Here’s how to keep it tasting great.

Because of the cream cheese frosting, this cake needs to be refrigerated if you’re keeping it for more than a day. The sugar and fat in the frosting act as preservatives for a little while, so you can leave it out at room temperature for the day you serve it. But overnight, into the fridge it goes.

Place it in an airtight container so it doesn’t pick up any weird fridge smells. When you’re ready to eat it again, let it sit at room temperature for about thirty minutes before serving. The cake softens up and the frosting gets creamy again. Cold cream cheese frosting is tasty but the texture is so much better when it’s not straight-from-the-fridge firm.

As for serving, this cake is pretty perfect on its own. But if you want to go all out, a handful of fresh blueberries on the side and a little dusting of powdered sugar makes it look extra special. It also pairs beautifully with a cup of hot tea or a glass of cold milk. Basically any way you serve it, people are going to be happy.