Blueberry Lemon Loaf Cake

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Josh claims he doesn’t like sweets, but he does. Chocolate isn’t his favorite, but that doesn’t stop him from devouring my cookies:) He also loves anything lime or lemon. We both aren’t the biggest cake fans, but it was his birthday and you have to have cake, right?

I decided to make a blueberry lemon cake for his birthday BBQ. It is a spin off of one of our favorite loaf cakes. This time I added in fresh blueberries and I am glad I did. They made the cake extra special!

Josh was excited for his cake, but our niece, Aubrey, was VERY excited. She couldn’t wait to sing Happy Birthday to Uncle Josh. She helped him blow out his candle. She was one happy camper!

You can’t go wrong with this cake. It is easy, very moist, lemony, and the blueberries add extra goodness and love. This is great for any celebration or just because! And don’t skip the syrup or glaze, it makes the cake! Bring on the lemon!








Blueberry Lemon Loaf Cake
Adapted From Barefoot Contessa

(Printable Recipe)

1 ½ C. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 C. plain whole-milk yogurt (I used low fat sour cream)
1 ⅓ C. sugar, divided
3 extra-large eggs
2 tsp. grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ C. vegetable oil ( I used canola oil)
¾ cup fresh blueberries (coated with flour to stop them from sinking)
⅓ C. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Glaze:
1 C. confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 ½ by 4 ¼ by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the sour cream, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Slowly fold in the blueberries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the ⅓ C. lemon juice and remaining ⅓ C. sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake. Slice and serve!

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Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
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  1. Wow that cake looks beautiful and delicous, i still have to wait for bluberry season here. Well i better put like this, when it is cheper 🙂

  2. What a great cake! Looks awesome (especially that shot with the icing dripping off!!) Glad he had such a nice birthday.

    OH MY GOSH- the oatmeal lime cookies are awesome! I used about 6 drops of key lime juice and the zest for only one lime. The lime flavor is just perfect. Josh LOVES them. Your cookies rock! Open a bakery…right now!

  3. This looks great. I’ll have to give it a try.
    What a cutie your niece is and a big helper!

  4. The cake looks delicious, and your niece is adorable with those big baby blues! Hope all is well…

  5. My SIL just served a lemon loaf with lemon curd (for Mother’s Day)and I was thinking how I should make it. This recipe is now rattling around in my brain. I’m thinking I must make it. 🙂 The blueberries are a bonus!
    Very cute little niece!

  6. I LOVE blueberry in batters. I would love to try this one.
    And I have to try those oatmeal lime cookies after seeing them on Erica’s site.

  7. I want that for MY birthday! That is a gorgeous loaf cake – I actually think I may make that this weekend – I love loaf cakes with yogurt and it is so beautiful!

  8. Every time I see someone make a variety of this cake, I always plan on making it and then it just slips my mind somehow. That being said, I’m headed to the store right now to get the ingredients to make this asap!

  9. Mmmmm I’m in for anything involving blueberries and lemon 🙂 I like to use lemon flavored yogurt too when making breads like this, just adds a little extra lemon flavor 🙂

  10. Delicious! I’m so into lemon right now (I made a strawberry/lemon cake yesterday) and this looks great. I love blueberries with lemon.

  11. Ooh, wow 🙂 If I had fresh blueberries now I’d definitely not wait for any birthday to make this! 🙂

  12. Yummy!
    I love that picture of Josh and Aubrey! Not only is Aubrey cute, but that husband of yours is pretty darn cute and adorable, too

  13. This looks incredible, Maria! What a great birthday treat for Josh. And how cute is little Aubrey licking her lips?

  14. I’ve made a similar cake before, and the blueberries settled. Never knew that coating them in flour would help. Great tip! No more blueberry-bottomed cakes for me!

    I’ll have to try this. I like the idea of using yogurt–though I’ll probably opt for non-fat.

  15. What a gorgeous looking cake Maria! But I must say, again…your niece is so adorable! No wonder she is the life of the party..:)

  16. Wonderful. My mother made the Barefoot Contessa lemon cake for Easter this year. It was so delicious.

  17. De-licious! Can’t recall if I ever mentioned it to you, but I made the coconut lime cake for a friend’s birthday in April, it was awesome, too! We’re not big cake fans here either, but yum to citrus in a cake! (My husband just really hates frosting mostly.)

  18. This looks like an incredible cake! I actually made a similar cake once in a silicon loaf pan and it became completely misshapen. Yours looks so much better!

  19. Oh yum. I have about six different blueberry muffin or cake recipes but always look forward to new ones…this one looks delicious!

  20. I love lemon and blueberry together! And a cake from Ina? It’s a recipe for something great 🙂

  21. I have been wanting to try this cake FOREVER! So yummy and although I love chocolate, I think I prefer fruit desserts.

  22. This looks like a perfect birthday cake! You always have such incredible goodies coming out of your kitchen!

  23. here’s how i’d eat my slice(s): first bite=blueberry-less top middle, last bite=blueberry-full bottom corners. 🙂

  24. Blueberry and lemon cake looks delicious! My husband also claims not to like sweets but he actually does especially anything with bananas or blueberries.

  25. No fresh blueberries here, but I do so want to make this…it’s YUM!!!

  26. Oh my goodness, how could you not like this? It looks and sounds amazing! the glaze alone had me swooning. -e

  27. I love Ina’s recipes…that cake looks wonderful. Blueberry and lemon is a winning combo! Love that icing too!

  28. Your neice is so cute!!!
    Like you said the cake is so moist and soft. I guess the sour cream did that to it.
    Not to mention your great baking skills added to it.

  29. This looks absolutely delicious. Fresh blueberries in a lemon cake. Perfect combo!

  30. WOW oh WOW what a beautiful cake. happy belated birthday wishes to Josh.

    I just love your photos – stunning!

    My apologies for not calling by earlier due to my ongoing back problem.

    Rosie x

  31. I’ll take lemon and blueberry any day, great combination!
    This looks so good, and ooh that icing.
    Cute photo too!
    LL

  32. Yum, I bet the blueberries were awesome in that lemone cake. I’ve actually made Ina’s recipe before though I had mixed emotions. I liked it MUCH better after the second day. 🙂
    ~ingrid

  33. It’s almost blueberry season in the garden state (NJ), can’t wait to make this loaf!

  34. Your niece is adorable- if the loaf passed her approval, it must be great! I know how picky kids are.

  35. The cake looks amazing since I love blueberry and lemon together! Happy birthday to Josh and by the way Aubrey is a doll!

  36. After just having made this recipe from seeing your mini bundts, I can attest to how great this recipe is – and blueberries, to die for.

  37. Beautiful. I want to bookmark this and try it out sometime. Sounds like you had a wonderful Bday BBQ for your hubs!

  38. looks delicious. next time toss your blueberries in a small amount of flour before adding them in and they’ll be less likely to sink to the bottom during baking

  39. This looks incredible. I love the combination of blueberries and lemon and I’m looking forward to trying this.

  40. I make your cake today for our 4th of July celebration tonight. I secretly hope no one likes it so I can have some with coffee in the morning. Ha. It’s delicious. Moist, tastey, lemony–everything I love about cake. Thanks. Jan

  41. Just wanted to share that I made this last night and it was a big hit! We were fighting over the last piece! Going to back a few more loaves today to use up the rest of my buttermilk. This was AMAZING and so easy too!!!