Lemon Blueberry Sheet Cake
The ultimate summer cake, Lemon and Blueberry Sheet Cake is an easy recipe you’re going to love. Topped with tangy cream cheese and sour cream frosting, this cake stays moist for days!
Servings: 16 servings
Equipment
- 1 9" x 13" baking pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ⅓ cup buttermilk (314 millitres)
- ¼ cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (390 grams)
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (226 grams)
- 2 cups granulated sugar (400 grams)
- 4 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
- 4 large eggs
- ¾ cups blueberries (190 grams)
- 1 tablespoon flour
Cream Cheese Sour Cream Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened (226 grams)
- ¾ cups powdered sugar (90 grams)
- ¾ cup sour cream (170 grams)
Instructions
Make the Lemon Blueberry Sheet Cake
- Heat the oven to 350°F.
- Line a 9" x 13" baking pan with parchment paper, leaving enough paper to overhang both long edges. Lightly spray the pan and paper with cooking spray.
- Combine the buttermilk and lemon juice in a small jug and set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt).
- In a separate large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, pour in the sugar and add the lemon zest. Use a fork to mix the zest and sugar for a minute so the zest releases its oils and the sugar is scented with lemon.
- Add the softened butter to the bowl and use the electric mixer or stand mixer to paddle the sugar and butter together until it is light and fluffy. This will take about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time and continue to mix until each one is incorporated before adding the next one.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add ⅓ of the flour and then ½ of the buttermilk mixture. Repeat and end with the final ⅓ of flour. Mix until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Toss the blueberries in 1 tablespoon of flour and gently fold into the cake batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 35-40 minutes.
- The cake is ready when the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Notes
Ingredient Notes
- Buttermilk: This tangy milk combines with lemon to give the cake its tang. I originally tried it with regular milk as adding citrus to it results in something similar to buttermilk, but when I tried it again with buttermilk, I found the cake was a bit moister and lemonier. If you only have regular milk, go ahead and use it, your cake will still taste delicious.
- Lemon zest: This is where you get all of the sweet lemon flavour. I use a small-hole cheese grater to zest my lemons as I find it the easiest tool to use. Make sure when you’re zesting that you only take the yellow part of the peel and leave the white pith behind.
- Fresh blueberries: Fresh is better than frozen in this recipe. Frozen berries would make the cake too wet.
- Ingredients at room temperature. Always start with room temperature ingredients. It makes it so much easier to combine everything.
- Don’t overmix. Resist the urge to overmix the cake batter. Just mix until the traces of flour are gone. If you keep on mixing, you could end up with a heavy tough cake, which is something no one wants!
- Start checking early. Start checking if your cake is ready after 30 minutes. Since ovens vary so much, you want to start checking early. Look for the top to turn golden brown; when you insert a toothpick into the centre of the cake, it should come out clean.