Perfectly sweet and bursting with fresh flavors, this lemon blueberry loaf cake is finished with a zingy lemon glaze. Moist, tender and easy to make with simple ingredients, it's a delicious treat for any occasion.
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This lemon blueberry loaf is wonderfully moist and tender, with fresh lemon flavor and juicy blueberries in every bite. Sometimes called lemon blueberry bread, it's really more of a loaf cake, with a soft, cake-like crumb. Finished with a tangy lemon glaze, it's perfect with a cup of coffee or as an afternoon treat.
It's quick and easy to make with simple ingredients, even if you're not a confident baker.
Lemon and blueberry work so well together, if you love this pairing, be sure to check out my Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake, or browse my other dessert recipes.
Ingredients
- Flour: Use all purpose flour for the best results.
- Baking powder: So that the cake rises during baking.
- Salt: For extra flavor.
- Butter: Unsalted butter works best. If you only have salted butter, simply omit the added salt.
- Sugar: We use granulated sugar in the cake batter and confectioners' (powdered) sugar to make the glaze topping.
- Milk: You can use whole or 2% milk.
- Eggs: To bind the ingredinets together. Use fresh large eggs, and free run/organic if you can.
- Vanilla extract: For flavor and sweetness. You can use pure or immitation in this cake, but pure will give you a cleaner flavor.
- Lemons: We use the zest and juice of lemons for a really zingy flavor.
- Blueberries: For a delicious burst of sweetness. They pair so wonderfully with the fresh lemon.
- Sour cream: There's a little sour cream in the glaze for a nice tangy and creamy flavor. It's optional but tastes super good!
How to make lemon blueberry loaf cake
Be sure to scroll down for the full recipe!
- Mix together the dry ingredients (photo 1).
- Cream together the butter and sugar (photo 2).
- Add the eggs to the sugar and mix in the vanilla and lemon zest (photo 3).
- Mix in the flour and milk (photo 4).
- Fold in the blueberries (photo 5).
- Pour into a loaf tin (photo 6).
- Bake until golden brown and let cool (photo 7).
- Mix the glaze (photo 8) and drizzle over the cooled cake.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is perfectly normal, so don't stress! This loaf cake is dense in texture, so the outside of the cake cooks first. The middle then bakes and rises causing it to push the top of the cake apart.
I personally quite like the cracked top appearance, but if you are a perfectionist, you can bake the cake in a tube pan. This will make the cake less thick and cook more evenly.
You can use either, both work well but I find frozen more convenient. When using frozen, don't thaw them first, and work fairly quickly with them, otherwise your batter will turn a nice purple color.
Grease the loaf tin with oil, and then line the bottom and short sides of the tin with parchment. Leave an overhang of parchment over the sides of the tin so that it's easy to lift out.
I love hearing from you!! If you have tried this lemon blueberry loaf cake, be sure to scroll down, give it a star rating and let me know what you thought!
Lemon Blueberry Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups all purpose flour (225g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup butter (175g) (softened)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
- ⅔ cup milk (150ml)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- zest of two lemons
- 1 cup blueberries (190g)
For the lemon glaze
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- juice of ½ lemon
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325F / 170C. Line a loaf tin with parchment, or grease VERY well.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl and set aside.1¾ cups all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add the butter and granulated sugar to another bowl. Cream together until pale yellow and well combined.¾ cup butter, ¾ cup granulated sugar
- Beat the eggs, and slowly add to the butter and sugar. Add in two or three increments, fully combining before adding more.2 eggs
- Stir in the vanilla and lemon zest.1 tablespoon vanilla extract, zest of two lemons
- Add half of the flour and milk and fold in, before adding the remaining flour and milk, combining so no dry flour is left.⅔ cup milk
- Fold in the blueberries.1 cup blueberries
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared loaf tin.
- Bake for around 1 hour, until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Take the cake out of the oven and rest for 10 minutes before removing it from the tin and placing it on a cooling rack. Let cool completely before glazing it.
- Whisk together the lemon glaze ingredients and drizzle over the cake.1 tablespoon sour cream, juice of ½ lemon, 1 cup confectioners' sugar
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients to make the pound cake batter. This will allow the ingredients to combine more easily so that you have an even texture throughout the cake.
- Beat the eggs and the sugar really well together until it is a light yellow in color.
- The quickest way to make the cake batter is using an electric hand mixer. You can make it by hand, but it will take a little while longer, and make sure that everything is well mixed.
- Don't grease your cake tin with butter.
- Test that the cake is done by inserting a toothpick into the center. It should be clean when you remove it.
- Let the lemon blueberry pound cake cool completed before icing it. It's best to place the cake on a cooling rack to let the air circulate.
- This glaze is fairly thin. If you prefer a thicker icing, stir in some more confectioners' sugar.
- Recipe adapted from Love Foodie's vanilla pound cake.
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