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This foolproof lemon blueberry cake features a moist and fluffy cake bursting with tangy lemon and juicy blueberries throughout. No eggs, milk, or butter is needed.
Love simple yet elegant cake recipes? Try my death by chocolate cake, coconut cake, and Biscoff cake next.
When spring is in the air, and blueberries are in season, my lemon blueberry cake recipe makes a regular appearance. While this cake may look difficult and time-consuming, it’s actually one of the easiest and tastiest cakes you’ll ever make.
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- The texture is truly exceptional. Moist and fluffy in the middle, with a tender crumb and plenty of blueberries throughout.
- It’s made with pantry staple ingredients. No butter, milk, or eggs are needed, and everything is made in one bowl.
- It’s so versatile. I typically make this as a layer cake, but you don’t need to if you prefer just one layer or want to make it as a sheet cake- the ball is in your court!
★★★★★ REVIEW
“Love this lemon blueberry cake recipe! So moist.”- Ariana
Ingredients needed
- All purpose flour. Either plain flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour. Be sure to sift your flour to ensure that there are no clumps in the batter.
- Baking soda. Reacts with the vinegar to help give the cake the fluffiness and rise without eggs.
- Salt. Brings out the sweetness.
- Sugar. I like using white sugar for the cake, but brown or coconut sugar also works. Just be wary that the cake will be darker in color if you choose one of the latter two.
- Lemon juice. For a more pronounced lemon flavor. Please use fresh lemon juice as the bottled kind can often be bitter once baked.
- Vinegar. Use either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
- Oil of choice. Any neutral flavored oil, like canola oil, vegetable oil, or safflower oil.
- Water. To mix everything together. You can also use your favorite milk.
- Vanilla extract. A must for any good cake.
- Blueberries. Either fresh or frozen blueberries. If you use frozen berries, don’t worry about thawing them out.
- Cream cheese frosting. You can either use a store-bought one or try my homemade recipe for it.
How to make a lemon blueberry cake
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Make the batter. Add your dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk together. Add the wet ingredients before folding through the blueberries.
Step 2- Bake the cake. Transfer to an 8-inch cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Step 3- Frost the cake. Let the cake cool in the pan completely before frosting.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Try to use fresh blueberries rather than frozen ones, as they will ensure the cake is evenly cooked. If you can only use frozen ones, do not thaw them beforehand.
- The oven’s make and model can affect the cake’s baking time. Mine took 32 minutes, but it can take up to 45 minutes. Check up around the 30-minute mark, then 2-minute increments.
- This makes a single cake. Double the ingredients for a two-layer cake, and triple them for a three-layer cake.
- For a more pronounced lemon flavor, add fresh lemon zest to the batter or add some lemon juice to the frosting (I find one teaspoon to be plenty).
- Make lemon blueberry cupcakes or muffins by baking the batter in a muffin tin. I recommend reducing the baking time to 18-20 minutes.
Storage instructions
To store: Leftovers need to be stored in the fridge, as they will spoil at room temperature. Keep the cake in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap. This will ensure it will be kept for at least five days.
To freeze: Leftover cake slices can be placed in a ziplock bag and stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
To avoid blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake, lightly toss your blueberries in some flour.
As this cake has no eggs or dairy in it, it is suitable for a vegan diet.
Alternative flours like coconut, oat, or almond won’t work well, as they require eggs and/or butter for stability.
More blueberry recipes to try
- Blueberry baked oatmeal
- Blueberry oatmeal cookies
- Healthy blueberry muffins
- Blueberry galette
- Blueberry banana bread
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour gluten-free, if needed
- 1 cup sugar brown or coconut sugar work.
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 5 tablespoon olive oil
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup blueberries fresh or frozen
Cream cheese frosting
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese softened
- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line an 8-inch cake pan with cooking spray and set aside. You can also line the base of the pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda, and mix well. Add the oil, water, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Fold through your blueberries.
- Transfer the cake batter to the lined cake pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan completely, before frosting, if desired.
- To make the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Slowly add in the powdered sugar until combined. If the frosting is too thick, add a little water. If too thin, add more powdered sugar.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published April 20218, updated March 2023, and republished May 2024
This cake was very good. I made it as a double layer cake over Memorial Day. Have you ever tried making it in a 9 x 13 pan? I wanted to try it, just to make it quicker for an outing.
Thank you
I think that would work well!
Can I make this as cupcakes? If so, do you have a suggestion for how long to bake them?
Thanks & love your recipes! We make your banana egg pancakes almost weekly 🙂
I don’t see why not, you’ll need to reduce the baking time to compensate.
Could I make this as cupcakes? If so, do you have a suggestion for how long to bake them?
Thanks & love your recipes! We make your cottage cheese banana pancakes almost weekly 🙂
Wowza! I made these and had all the rave. This might be my new favorite summer cake!
Only note: I left out the white vinegar. I wasn’t sure what the purpose was (maybe tang? My husband hates anything vinegar so I left it out), but it turned out great
I thought this would be a great recipe to try with my family because they’re trying to eat healthy. Instead of using real flour I used coconut flour! I would not recommend that at all!
This doesn’t surprise me, as coconut flour is NOT in the recipe.
I googled diabetic friendly blueberry and lemon cake and this came up, just wanting to verify it is in fact ok for diabetics, as both my mother and father in law are diabetic and i am making it for her birthday
I’m not sure, Annette- It’s best to speak to a medical professional to confirm.
Hello! Wondering if you have ever tried this with cassava flour or if you think it would work?
can i use cassava-cauliflower baking mix instead of flour?
No idea, never used it before. Feel free to experiment and see
The flavor of this cake was wonderful! I’d definitely make it again.
To intensify the lemon flavor, I did add 1 tsp lemon zest.
The cake turned out quite wet… did anyone else have this issue?
I might try 1/2 cup of water next time (instead of 3/4 cup water).
(for the frosting I drizzled a thick mixture of powdered sugar and 1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice over the top… the cake was delectable).
Excellent! I made it for my 91 year old mother who must avoid salt, dairy, eggs… for health reasons. I added 1 tsp lemon zest to the cake batter & drizzled the cooled cake with glaze (powdered sugar/fresh lemon juice).
Would definitely make this again but instead of 3/4 cup water…. reduce it to 1/2 cup water, since the cake was a little too moist (still delectable though).
This was sooooooooo good. I used whole wheat pastry flour and opted out of the frosting and used vegan whipped cream. I was tempted to eat the entire 8″ square pan but had to use portion control. Such a quick and easy recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Tip for those with newer ovens like myself: Since I like my cakes a bit moist, I baked mine at the max 20 minutes.
Hi I used the base of this and turned in to carrot cake so good. Best carrot cake I’ve eaten
thank you so much!
Hi there! If I were to make this a 6in 3 layer cake would I only need to double the recipe? or triple?
Thank you! 🙂
I’d triple it to be safe 🙂
Hi, What size tins please?
8-inch cake pan.