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Bursting Blueberry Lemon Layer Cake…to celebrate the weekend. Three layers of light and fluffy lemon cake swirled with a mix of fresh blueberries and blueberry jam. Each cake layer is frosted generously with whipped blueberry mascarpone buttercream. This cake is mouthwatering and oh so delicious. Every bite is layered with fresh berries, hints of lemon, sweet vanilla, and filled with creamy buttercream. This is the perfect berry-filled cake for any and all occasions. Bonus? It’s simpler to make than you’d think, and so very pretty…with barely any added effort.
And here I am, back with another layer cake, simply because they make me happy and I needed a happy cake in my life this week. You do too. Trust me on that.
Just like flowers, pretty (and delicious) food has a way of being able to completely turn my day around. It’s maybe kind of cheesy to admit, but I have a love of beautiful things. And when they happen to be incredibly delicious beautiful things? Well, that’s just an added bonus that makes food like cake the BEST.
And I don’t think many of you will argue that, because who doesn’t love cake, you know?
muti colored buttercream
1st cake layer
1st cake layer with buttercream
2nd cake layer
2nd cake layer with buttercream
cake before covering in buttercream
The story of how this cake came to be is really pretty simple. In an effort to surround myself with more color and “pretty” things, I picked up a whole bunch of fresh berries and ordered way too many edible flowers. When purchasing the berries and flowers, I really didn’t have an idea as to what I would make with them. I just knew something good would follow.
Almost as soon as the flowers arrived at my doorstep, I began baking this cake. Something about the purple-toned dahlias and faded white elderflowers screamed blueberry cake to me. Instead of thinking twice about it, I just started cooking. Less than 2 hours later I was putting the finishing touches on what is now one of my favorites cakes… Yes, I kind of have a lot of favorites.
Here are all the details.
Start with the cake. It’s a combination of a fluffy vanilla cake, lemon cake, and blueberry cake. It’s so moist, just perfectly sweet, and has a hint of lemon flavor throughout. To get a really incredible and intense blueberry flavor, I used a mix of both fresh blueberries and blueberry jam. So yes, that’s double the blueberry action, and yes, this cake is very heavy on blueberry flavor. Every bite literally bursts with berries and it’s maybe one of the best things you will eat.
Kind of dramatic, but also kind of true.
For the buttercream, I had a lot of over the top ideas. But in the end, I actually stuck with something a bit simpler and did a blueberry-mascarpone buttercream. Since I really wanted this cake to be heavy on the blueberry flavor, I didn’t want the buttercream to compete with the cake, I wanted it to compliment.
Enter this mascarpone buttercream swirled with a small amount of blueberry jam to give the cake a very pretty color. Not going to lie, I did attempt an ombre frosted cake. But it didn’t really work out just as I envisioned in my head. Oddly, I’m OK with that, and even odder? I love the imperfect look.
It’s effortlessly pretty…
Which brings me to the best part about this cake. It’s actually fairly easy to make, and pretty too.
No special ingredients, nothing fancy, just pantry staples, and a whole love of blueberries. If you have access to edible flowers, those are of course welcome, but not needed.
I know a lot of people, myself included, can stress to create a cake that’s frosted perfectly. But what’s great about this blueberry cake is that it should look like a swirly, messy, unperfect cake. Just have fun swirling on the buttercream and don’t worry too much about how it looks. Promise, in the end, the cake will be beautiful no matter what.
And most importantly?
It’s going to be GOOD…SO GOOD.
There are not enough words to describe how good this cake is, but just know that every forkful is filled with fresh berries and sweet jam. Each layer is moist, hinted with lemon, and layered with sweet buttercream.
It’s exactly what you should bake this weekend. And with that, let’s take a summer Friday and happily make our way to the kitchen. It’s time for cake.
Thank God!
If you make this bursting blueberry lemon layer cake, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Bursting Blueberry Lemon Layer Cake.
Servings: 24
Calories Per Serving: 1583 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup melted coconut oil (can use melted butter or canola oil)
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 3 3/4 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup high-quality blueberry jam
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw using frozen)
Blueberry Buttercream
- 3 sticks salted butter, at room temperature
- 4 ounces mascarpone or cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4-5 tablespoons high-quality blueberry or blackberry jam
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 3 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter/spray with cooking spray.2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand-held mixer) beat together the coconut oil, yogurt, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, buttermilk, lemon juice, and zest. Add 3 3/4 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. 3. Toss the blueberries with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour and fold them into the batter. Swirl in the blueberry jam, leaving a few streaks of jam throughout the batter, it shouldn't be fully incorporated.4. Pour the batter among the 3 cake pans and bake 30-35 minutes, until the tops are just set and no longer wiggly in the center. Remove and let cool five minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the pan and turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack. Cover and let the cakes cool completely before assembling.5. To make the buttercream. Add the butter, mascarpone, and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat the butter and powdered sugar together until the butter is light and fluffy. Divide the buttercream between 3 bowls. Mix 1-2 tablespoon jam into 1st bowl, then 2-3 tablespoons jam to the 2nd bowl. Leave the 3rd bowl plain. 6. To assemble, place one cake layer on a serving plate or cake stand. Spread the darkest colored buttercream over the cake. Add the 2nd cake layer and spread with the lighter colored buttercream. Add the final cake layer and spread with the white buttercream. Lightly frost the outside of the cake, swirling the different shades together. It's shouldn't look "perfect". Chill 30 minutes. Serve, or store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
This post was originally published on June 7, 2019
I am having trouble finding blueberry jam at my local stores and don’t have time to wait for an Amazon shipment! Could I use blueberry preserves instead??
Hey Anna! Blueberry preserves will be just fine!! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Hi Teighan!
I want to make this for my sister’s birthday today, but we are going on a picnic, so I want to make cupcakes. Any reason why this wouldn’t work as cupcakes/suggestions? PS – I love HBH so much I basically tell someone new about it every day 🙂
Hey Sarah! I am sure this will be great in cupcake form, but it will make A LOT…probably close to 32 cupcakes. I would bake them for 20-25 minutes, but I am not sure as I have not tested the recipe. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe and happy birthday to your sister! Thank you! xTieghan
I am getting ready to make this but am not sure about one thing. I would rather use butter so do I use two sticks of butter (1 cup) and melt OR should I melt enough butter to equal 1 cup? Thanks for your help!! Can’t wait to eat this!!
Hey Beth! You should melt 2 sticks of butter, that will equal 1 cup melted. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Do you know what’s so great about this cake? Except for the taste, nothing is perfect about it! The blueberries, the jam, the colored and uncolored frosting is distributed in just the most perfect chaotic manner. I am kind of a perfectionist when it comes to making sure that everything turns out *just so*, and this cake let me relax and just enjoy creating something and it tasted SO GOOD!
I love that about it as well! So glad you enjoyed making this and eating it! Thank you! xTieghan
This recipe was absolutely phenomenal – thank you so much. I put lemon curd in the layers as it was for a lemon addict’s birthday and it went down a storm!
Thank you again!
V x
Thank you so much! I am so glad you loved this recipe V! xTieghan
I made this for the first time yesterday and it didn’t turn out the best. Was there meant to be 3 + 3/4 cups of flour? Seemed like a lot and made the batter like a dough. My hand mixer struggled to mix it. Or was it meant to be 3 x 3/4 cups of flour?
Also I can appreciate you are located in USA or Canada but the recipe calls for 3 sticks of butter. I had to google how much a stick is. I’m based in Australia and our butter sticks are 250 grams each! Lucky I didn’t use 750 grams of butter for the icing! I love your recipes and follow you on insta so it would be great if your recipes could be a little more specific with the measurements.
Hey Katerina, you need 3 cups + 3/4 cups flour. For the butter, 3 sticks is equal to 339 grams butter. How much butter did you end up using? Sorry you had some trouble. We’ll work on trying to implement more measurements, but it’s hard to do and I don’t want to be messing up the conversions. Again, so sorry! xTieghan
If I am going to use butter instead of the coconut oil as the first ingredient should I use salted or unsalted, and 2 sticks correct?
Hey Kristin! I like to use salted butter, and yes, 2 sticks. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan,
I am an avid fan of all you do, and have been following you since you started (or close to it!). I have made…and loved….quite a few of your recipes, although I am not a major whiz in the kitchen! That being said, I am planning to make this cake for the July 4th weekend coming up, but wanting to duplicate as close as possible. Can you tell me where you got the edible flowers and what kind they are? I am seeing a lot on Amazon, but really hoping to find the same ones you used…..Thank so much!!!
Hey Shirley! You are so sweet! Thank you for follwoing for so long! I buy my flowers online (link below!). These are dahlias and elderflowers. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe and happy 4th of July! Thank you! xTieghan
https://www.shop.gourmetsweetbotanicals.com/category.sc?categoryId=3
Hey, I was wondering how many grams are 3 sticks of butter? I love all your recipes, I can’t wait to make this one!
Hi Sarah! It is 339 grams all together! I hope you love this recipe! xTieghan
Hope you haven’t already answered this but where did you order your edible flowers from? Thanks!
Hi Misty! I order them online. The link is below! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
https://www.shop.gourmetsweetbotanicals.com/category.sc?categoryId=3
So looking forward to making this cake! Quick question: I am not a huge fan of cream cheese frosting. Do you think this would taste okay using regular vanilla buttercream instead?
Hey Lisa! a regular vanilla buttercream will be so good! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Looked forward to making this, struggled with coconut oil (?) What is the correct way to use this in baking. I found it to be a real struggle. It was the first time I have used it. All in all, a lot of work . I don’t know how to post a picture, it looked beautiful. No flowers but I swirled the frosting as directed and saved a spoonful of jam inside a small cloud of frosting. So it still was beautiful.
Hi Debbie! I am so glad you liked this recipe! Are there any questions I could help you with? Please let me know! xTieghan
My little girls first birthday was coming up and this recipe popped up on my Instagram. Since she’s crazy for blueberries I took it as a sign that I must make this for her party. I am not a baker AT ALL but this was so much easier than I thought! I made this last night for her party today and though in my oven if needed to bake a little longer than listed it actually turned out pretty good. It wasn’t fluffy and was a bit dense but so moist and nice and lemony. People couldn’t believe I made it myself. Thank you so much for being part of my little ones big day!
So glad to hear that this cake turned out amazing for you, Zoha! Thank you so much for trying this! Also, a very Happy Birthday to your little one! xTieghan
Made this recipe for my gender reveal party and it did jot disappoint! Everyone LOOOOVED it and was asking for the recipe!
Love this, and all of your recipes, so much!! I just made this for my daughter’s birthday party and what I’ve tasted so far is AMAZING! My best cake to date! Thank you for always having such easy to follow recipes.
Thank you so much Betsy! I am so glad you loved this recipe! xTieghan