This lemon blueberry cake is an easy 8-ingredient single-layer cake packed with fresh blueberries and a soft and moist texture.
It’s perfect as a snack or after dinner, and it takes just 5 minutes to whip together.
Table of Contents
Check out our best plant-based dessert recipes!
This lemon blueberry cake recipe is the moistest, softest, easiest cake you’ll ever bake!
No kidding here; this recipe is a breeze to put together as we make it with simple everyday ingredients – and without eggs.
The crumb’s texture is soft, moist, and light. The cake slices perfectly. The blueberries get juicy and slightly gooey and infuse the cake with their incredible flavor and beautiful purple color.
We make the cake in 3 easy steps. First, we whisk the wet ingredients together in a bowl. Second, we sift the dry ingredients and give them another quick whisk.
Third, we fold the blueberries and transfer the cake batter to a springform pan or cake pan before baking it for 50 minutes.
To ensure the blueberries don’t sink to the bottom of the cake, we toss them in a tablespoon of flour.
Honestly, we could make this one every day and eat it for breakfast (there’s less sugar than in a bowl of cereals), as a morning or afternoon snack, and even as a dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Ps. This is not a complicated, layered cake with multiple cake layers and cream cheese frosting. Instead, it’s an easy, one-layer, blueberry-packed cake—no need for a stand mixer, just a bowl, whisk, and cake pan.
Ingredients
Blueberries
You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. If you use frozen blueberries, add them to the cake batter while they are still frozen.
Also, your cake might take slightly longer to bake with frozen berries.
Lemon
The lemon blueberry cake should taste like lemon and blueberries, so we use lemon zest and fresh lemon juice.
If you like a milder lemon flavor, you can half the quantity of lemon zest and juice.
Vanilla
You can use vanilla extract or the seeds of a vanilla pod. The vanilla flavors the crumb of the cake, and it tastes delicious with the blueberries.
Flour
Standard all-purpose flour is all you need. However, if you want to make the cake more wholesome, you can use half wholewheat flour and half all-purpose flour.
To make the cake gluten-free, use a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour mixture.
Sugar
We use white sugar for our cakes. You can substitute brown sugar, coconut sugar, and palm sugar for white sugar.
Milk
You can use regular milk or plant milk. We use unsweetened soy milk.
Oil or butter
You can use neutral vegetable oil such as canola oil or sunflower seed oil interchangeably.
Or you can substitute unsalted butter or dairy-free butter for oil. If you use butter, multiply our oil amount by 1.25.
Baking powder
The baking powder helps the cake rise and get light and soft. Make sure your baking powder hasn’t been lying in your pantry for too long, as it might lose its rising abilities.
We recommend using unopened baking powder.
Salt
Salt is optional. You can add a pinch of sea salt or kosher salt if you like.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line an 8 or 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper.
Note: a springform pan is one that opens on the side, which makes it easier to remove the cake once baked. You can use a regular cake pan; However, it’ll be a little more complicated to take the cake out.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: grated lemon zest, lemon juice, milk, sugar, oil or melted butter, and vanilla extract.
Sift in the flour and baking powder.
Whisk wet and dry ingredients until most lumps are gone, and you have a smooth batter. It should take you about 1 minute with a manual whisk.
Tip: don’t overmix the batter, or your cake will turn out too compact, heavy, and gummy.
In a separate bowl, toss 1 1/2 cups of blueberries with a tablespoon of flour.
Tip: tossing blueberries with flour prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the pan once they are in the batter.
Add the blueberries to the cake batter and fold them in gently with a spatula.
Transfer the cake batter to the springform pan.
Add the remaining 1/2 cup of blueberries on top of the cake.
Bake in the oven at 350°F or 180°C for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
Let the cake cool down for 10 minutes in the cake pan before transferring it onto a wire rack to cool down completely.
Optionally, dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with our lemon glaze. Cut with a serrated knife.
Variations
Lemon blueberry pound cake
Don’t have a springform pan or cake pan? Bake a lemon blueberry pound cake instead.
It’s soft, moist, and packed with juicy blueberries. And the lemon glaze on top is finger-licking good.
Check out our lemon blueberry pound cake recipe.
Blueberry muffins
You can use the same recipe as our lemon blueberry cake (minus the lemon juice) to make gorgeous blueberry muffins.
They are easy to make and quick to bake, and you can bring them with you for a quick treat when you are out and about.
Check out our blueberry muffins recipe.
Easy Apple Cake
With a similar batter (without lemon), you can make a deliciously soft, easy, and moist apple cake. The process is the same as our lemon blueberry cake, except we substitute apples for blueberries and cinnamon for lemon.
This one is a reader’s favorite because it’s an absolute crowd-pleaser.
Check out our easy apple cake recipe.
Easy Pear Cake
Same batter, different fruit. In this one, it’s pears’ time to shine. Pear cake is probably the most underrated cake out there.
It’s incredibly and undoubtedly delicious! Soft, moist, sweet, and packed with pear and cinnamon flavor.
You are going to fall in love with this cake!
Check out our easy pear cake recipe.
Questions
Yes, you can use frozen blueberries instead of fresh ones.
In our tests, the cakes and muffins made with frozen blueberries take slightly longer to bake, and rise a little less than cakes made with fresh blueberries.
No, there is no need to thaw frozen blueberries when baking cakes, muffins, or pound cakes.
The best way to add lemon flavor is to add fresh lemon juice and freshly grated lemon zest to the cake batter.
Storage
Store this lemon blueberry cake under at room temperature cake dome or wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 5 days.
You can freze the cake for up to 3 months. To do so, let it cool down completely, then transfer into a freezer frendly plastic bag and freeze.
Thaw in the refrigerator over a few hours, or in the microwave with the thawing function.
More easy baked recipes
If you (also) love easy but delicious baked goods, take a peek at our reader favorites. They’re perfect for the holidays and special occasions:
- Zucchini muffins with grated zucchini and chocolate chips
- Whole baked apples with cinnamon sugar and walnuts
- Sweet potato muffins with easy microwave sweet potato
- Vegan carrot cake: a light and airy cake for autumn and winter
- Healthy banana bread: a perfect breakfast or brunch idea!
- Blueberry muffins: light and sweet, they’re ready in just 30 minutes!
- Easy zucchini bread with walnuts and chocolate chips
- Healthy baked pears: an easy 30-minute sweet treat with plant-based ingredients
Desserts
Baked apples
Desserts
Zucchini Muffins
Desserts
Baked Pears
Breakfast
Sweet Potato Muffins
Breakfast
Vegan Banana Bread
Desserts
Vegan Carrot Cake
Breakfast
Vegan Zucchini Bread
Desserts
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Equipment
- Springform pan or cake pan (diameter from 8.5 to 9 inches or from 21 cm to 23cm). We use 8.5 inch/21 cm.
- Whisk or electric mixer.
Ingredients
WET INGREDIENTS
- ½ lemon grated zest
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 cup milk we use soy milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup canola oil or sunflower oil, or ⅓ cup melted butter
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or beans of one vanilla pod
DRY INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups all-purpose flour + 1 tbsp to toss blueberries
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 cups blueberries divided 1 ½ cups in the batter, ½ cup on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line your springform pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: grated lemon zest, lemon juice, milk, sugar, oil or melted butter, and vanilla extract.
- Sift in the flour and baking powder.
- Whisk wet and dry ingredients until most lumps are gone, and you have a smooth batter. It should take you about 1 minute with a manual whisk.
- In a separate bowl, toss 1 ½ cups of blueberries with a tablespoon of flour.
- Add the blueberries to the cake batter and fold them in gently with a spatula.
- Pour the cake batter into the springform pan.Add the remaining ½ cup of blueberries on top of the cake.
- Bake in the oven at 350°F or 180°C for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.Let the cake cool down for 10 minutes in the cake pan before transferring it onto a wire rack to cool down completely.Optionally, dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with our lemon glaze.
Notes
- A springform pan is one that opens on the side, which makes it easier to remove the cake once baked. You can use a regular cake pan; However, it’ll be a little more complicated to take the cake out.
- Don’t overmix the batter, or your cake will turn out too compact, heavy, and gummy.
- Tossing blueberries with flour prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the pan once they are in the batter.
Nutrition
If you liked this blueberry cake, you might also love:
Collections
30 Fall Recipes (easy meals)
Collections
40 Vegan Desserts
Collections
30 Vegan Brunch Recipes
Collections
Sรบper fรกcil y se ve exquisita
Gracias por la receta ๐
So easy, so delicious (:
This cake is just awesome. We make it at least twice a week, we love it that much. But today i swapped cranberries for blueberries and orange for lemon, the batter stayed the same. What can i say, the result was fantastic. Thank you so much for your great recipes
Hi Sabine, That’s great, I am really happy this cake is a success in your home! Great idea with cranberries and orange, Nico and I need to try that.
Thank you for your kind comment. All the best, Louise
I measured all the ingredients correctly but could not whisk โ could barely mix wet into dry ingredients. What is the problem?
Hi Susan,
I am sorry the cake didn’t work for you.
I just double checked and all ingredients seems correct.
Could you explain in more detail what you mean by “could not whisk”? Was it too dry?
Thanks,
Nico
A delicious breakfast treat, yet easy enough to make any day of the week!
Hi Holly, I’m delighted you liked the blueberry cake – I hear you, it’s one of my favorites for a morning treat! Have a great Sunday. Cheers, Nico