My sunny homemade Blueberry Pound Cake recipe is a fantastic way to to bring summer into the kitchen. It's full of sweet blueberries, fresh lemon flavor, has a tender crumb, and a heavenly glaze speckled with vanilla bean.
Love summer berries? Try out my refreshing blueberry moscow mule, strawberry shortcake muffins, or bakery style blueberry muffins!
The Secret to A Moist Blueberry Pound Cake
Blueberries are finally in season in the Blue Ridge mountains, and are we taking advantage of that? You bet your sweet tuchus we are!
My blueberry lemon pound cake with vanilla glaze is exactly the recipe I make every year and it leaves no crumbs behind!
When you think of pound cake, you think of rich, moist cake with a tender crumb that is perfect with a dollop of whipped cream and with a cup of coffee. That to me is the perfect slice of pound cake, and this one doesn't disappoint.
And why is that? Because my blueberry pound cake is a rich, buttery cake that is incredibly moist thanks to the not-so-secret ingredient: full-fat sour cream.
The addition of sour cream not only acts as a reactive ingredient to the baking soda and baking powder, providing great lift and crumb to your cake, but it keeps it super, super moist as well. And a moist pound cake is a well-loved pound cake.
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Jump to:
- The Secret to A Moist Blueberry Pound Cake
- Why you'll Love this Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake Recipe
- What is a Pound Cake?
- Equipment
- Key Blueberry Pound Cake Ingredients
- The Trick to Distributed Blueberries
- How to Make the Best Blueberry Pound Cake
- 3 Delicious Glazes to Elevate Your Blueberry Pound Cake
- Pro Tips
- Serving Suggestions
- How to Store, Freeze, and Thaw your Pound Cake
- FAQs
- More Cake Recipes
- Blueberry Pound Cake
Why you'll Love this Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake Recipe
Full of Sweet, Juicy Blueberry Flavor - I pack in 1 ½ cups of blueberries in this recipe!
A Baking Classic - we're giving a twist to the classic pound cake: juicy blueberries bursting with sweetness, and bright, fresh lemon!
No-Fail Recipe - follow my recipe to the tee and you will have a beautiful, perfect pound cake every time!
Simple Ingredients - there's nothing crazy in this recipe at all. Fresh lemons and blueberries and your typical baking ingredients (butter, eggs, flour, etc.). That's it!
What is a Pound Cake?
Pound cakes were created sometime in the 1700s in Great Britain. Almost everyone in the country was illiterate during that time, so a written recipe wasn't around.
Traditionally made with a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour was really easy to remember; and it made enough cake to feed a large family and some neighbors, usually ending up as a cake that weighed many pounds!
Traditional pound cake recipes have equal amounts of sugar, butter, eggs, and flour. It was a heavier, denser cake than modern pound cakes are because it had no leavening, so people relied on just whipping air into the cake.
In the South we joke that pound cake will make you gain a pound or two, so I grew up with that idea for its name, but nope. Throw that out the window, honey. Never feel guilty about a sweet slice of some good pound cake!
Equipment
Cake Release - this is my go-to recipe whenever I get into the baking mood. My first ever blueberry pound cake years ago was thwarted when I only greased my pan with some shortening. Cake goop has never let me down.
Kitchen Scale - 100% my best baking friend and it needs to be yours, too. A kitchen scale will make sure everything is correct down to the gram so you're not wondering about how to scoop flour and whether the humidity is throwing things off after you already got your cake in the oven. A must have.
9x5 inch loaf pan.
Parchment Paper - parchment paper gives us double insurance that our cake will come out of the pan smoothly. Only use it in the loaf pan, though. Don't use it if you're using a bundt cake pan.
Mixing Bowls and Whisk.
Hand Mixer or Stand Mixer - don't try to cream butter and sugar by hand, it's so hard, y'all. That's my warning, haha!
Silicone Baking Spatula.
Cake Tester - I absolutely love this cake tester so much. It changes colors when the cake is ready, so there's no guess work.
Serrated Knife - this won't squash your cake when you slice it!
Key Blueberry Pound Cake Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour - we need the structure that AP flour can bring, while still having a delicate enough crumb for cake. Cake flour may not hold the heft of all that butter and blueberries.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder - there's a lot of acid in this recipe, so we need not only to use it to our advantage by using lots of leaveners to activate and bubble up in the cake, but to neutralize any excess acidity with our leaveners.
- Sour Cream - Using sour cream keeps the pound cake batter thick while keeping our baked pound cake moist. It makes our pound cake denser and richer than if we added Greek yogurt or buttermilk.
- Unsalted Butter - always have your butter at room temperature, especially when you're creaming it in a recipe. Too cold, it won't be able to cream and get light and fluffy enough to capture the bubbles from the leaveners and give us a light, tender crumb.
- Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest - all that lemon flavor really comes from the zest of the lemons, while the juice not only gives a refreshing brightness, but also helps out with that baking soda reaction. It's my failsafe for this foolproof blueberry pound cake loaf!
- Vanilla and Almond Extracts - there is just something about the way that blueberries and almond extract come together to make such a beautiful flavor. It was sorely missed any time I didn't add it to this recipe.
- Fresh Blueberries - blueberries are in season, it's time to use them up! If it's not blueberry season for you, use frozen (Individually Quick Freezing, or IQF) blueberries. These were frozen at their ripest, at their peak, so you don't have to worry about rotting or old ones.
The Trick to Distributed Blueberries
Time for a baker's secret: the way to get mix-ins well distributed throughout, rather than having them all sink to the bottom of the cake, is to toss them in a little flour.
This trick coats the blueberries so when it's time to bake this cake, the flour coating helps absorb the released juices and keep them afloat where they are in the batter.
How to Make the Best Blueberry Pound Cake
Preheat the oven to 350ºF with a rack in the center of the oven so the cake cooks evenly.
Step 1 | Slather your loaf pan in cake release or baking spray, then line it with parchment paper and set it aside.
Step 2 | Whisk together the flour, kosher salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
Step 3 | Cream butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy with an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat the batter well after each addition. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl!
Step 4 | Add the rest of the wet ingredients for our loaf cake: the sour cream, fresh lemon juice and zest, the vanilla and almond extract. Mix until it's all homogenous.
Step 5 | Now add the dry ingredients in batches and mix with a spatula. You don't want to overmix or the cake will end up dense. Just gently mix it in about a third of the dry ingredients at a time, and don't forget to scrape the bottom of the bowl.
Step 6 | Just before the flour mixture is fully incorporated, toss the blueberries in about 1 tablespoon of flour. Then carefully fold them into the cake batter.
Step 7 | Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan then sprinkle more blueberries on top of the cake.
Step 8 | Bake your cake for just under an hour, until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean with a few moist crumbs and the top is golden brown.
Let the cake cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and turn the cake out onto on a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 9 | Pour icing over the cooled cake It's an easy glaze of 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoon milk, and a teaspoon of vanilla whisked together. It'll set up in about 30 minutes.
3 Delicious Glazes to Elevate Your Blueberry Pound Cake
While I have included the recipe for a yummy vanilla bean glaze, here are three other ideas for glazes that are just as perfect for this blueberry lemon pound cake.
- Lemon Glaze: Enhance the bright flavors of blueberries with a tangy lemon glaze.
- Combine powdered sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of zest to the glaze for an extra burst of citrus aroma.
- Cream Cheese Glaze: Indulge in a rich and creamy glaze that complements the blueberry pound cake's sweetness.
- Beat room temperature cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.
- Spread the glaze generously over the cake for a velvety finish.
- Almond Glaze: Add a complementary sweet almond twist to your blueberry pound cake with this delightful glaze.
- Combine powdered sugar, almond extract, and milk to create a smooth glaze.
- Garnish the glaze with slivered almonds for an appealing presentation.
- Allow the glaze to set before serving for a glossy finish.
Pro Tips
Creaming butter and sugar is how you get great cakes with perfect crumb, do not skip it!
Always use fresh baking powder and baking soda - These two ingredients lose their potency pretty quickly, with a lifespan of about 6 months before they aren't reliable. So if this is to impress your in-laws or beat out Jessica at the bake sale, go buy fresh ones at the grocery store.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve slices for brunch with hot coffee or tea and a side of fresh berries.
- For dessert, drizzle chocolate sauce, dust the slices with powdered sugar, garnish with mint leaves and edible flowers, and serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
- Experiment with different flavors and ingredients to customize your blueberry pound cake! Substitute blueberries with raspberries, blackberries, or a combination of berries or add warm spices like cinnamon or nutmeg for a cozy twist.
How to Store, Freeze, and Thaw your Pound Cake
Storage: Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and keep on the counter at room temperature for up to 5 days. Because of the butter, we don't want to keep it in the fridge because it'll harden.
Freeze the blueberry pound cake: Wrap each slice of pound cake in multiple layers of plastic wrap. Place the slice in a freezer safe zip-top bag. Store the pound cake slices in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Thaw: Remove the pound cake slices from the fridge and thaw at room temperature until softened, warm in a low oven (around 300 degrees F) and enjoy!
FAQs
Yes! Thaw the frozen blueberries and drain them before using in this recipe, we don't want it to get too wet and mess with the chemistry of the pound cake.
Use a 6 cup bundt cake pan instead of the 9x5 inch loaf pan, just make sure to slather it in baking spray or cake release goop very well since you won't be using parchment paper in the bundt pan.
The secret to good pound cake is full-fat ingredients like sour cream for moisture, and creaming your butter and sugar very well for a tender crumb.
Toss the blueberries in a little bit of flour. The flour coating absorbs some of the juices in the beginning of baking, so the rest of the cake is able to build structure and support the weight of the cooked, juicy blueberry.
More Cake Recipes
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Blueberry Pound Cake
Ingredients
Blueberry Pound Cake
- 1 ½ cups 215g + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoon 113 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ⅓ cups 262g granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 ½ tablespoon 7g lemon zest
- ¼ cup 59 mL lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon vanilla bean extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup 120g full-fat sour cream, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups 249 g blueberries, divided*
Vanilla Bean Glaze
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 2 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Blueberry Pound Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F/165 degrees C. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9×5 inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, sift the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt with a sifter or whisk. Set aside.
- Cream the unsalted butter and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer on medium speed (or a stand mixer using the paddle attachment on medium speed) until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
- Beat in the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until they are just combined before adding the next one.
- Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla paste or extract, almond extract, and sour cream and mix just until combined.
- Stir in the flour mixture with a silicone spatula in batches just until well incorporated in the wet ingredients. Don't over mix, or you'll end up with dense cake.
- Toss 1 cup of the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour in a separate small bowl. This will ensure your blueberries are well-distributed throughout the pound cake instead of sinking to the bottom.
- Gently fold the flour-dusted blueberries into the pound cake batter using a silicone spatula.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared loaf pan, give the pan a few hearty taps onto the countertop and sprinkle the remaining blueberries on the top.
- Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, checking for doneness with a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake. When it comes out with a few crumbs and no wet batter, your cake is ready.
- Cool in the pan for 30 minutes before lifting out of the pan with the parchment paper to a wire rack to finish cooling down.
Vanilla Glaze- In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the glaze when ready to serve the pound cake.
- Once the baked cake is cooled completely and placed onto a serving plate, generously pour the lemon glaze evenly over the top.
- The glaze will set up over the pound cake within 10-15 minutes.
Serve your blueberry pound cake glazed and at room temperature.
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