Fresh lemon and blueberry flavors
Why do the flavors of lemon and blueberry go together so well? This is a difficult question to answer, as I’m sure there are people out there who don’t like the flavor combination. And in the most basic terms, it’s probably because fresh blueberries that are in season are lovely and sweet, while most varieties of lemon are quite tart, creating a nice balance of sweet and tart that a lot of people love.
But I also think it’s because blueberries only offer up a mild flavor – no offense, blueberries – and it almost feels like lemon helps bring out the flavor of the blueberries, much like salt does both in cooking and baking. The combo then means you get a nice lemon flavor, but you can still taste the blueberries. Regardless of the why, it’s a flavor combo that we absolutely love, and we’re so excited to share this lemon blueberry loaf cake recipe with you in today’s post!
Lemon blueberry loaf cake: the perfect summer treat!
Picture a lovely blue sky, lots of sunshine, and you’re sitting outside with a fresh cup of coffee (or tea, if that’s more your speed) and a delicious slice of cake. Each bite just melts in your mouth, tender and soft with a beautiful lemon flavor, little bites of blueberry bringing bursts of freshness and sweetness. The lovely browned butter streusel on top adds a richness and crunchy texture to the cake, so much so that you might be tempted to add it to every loaf cake you ever bake. Honestly, that sounds like an ideal summer afternoon to me!
Keep the blueberries afloat…
If you’ve baked a few cakes with fresh fruit, you know that the challenge is always getting an equal distribution of the fruit throughout the sponge. It’s often heavy and will tend to sink to the bottom. We like to use a common trick/tip, which is to coat the blueberries in flour before adding them to the batter. However, this won’t always work, especially if the blueberries are quite big, as they’ll still sink. So, make sure to cut any massive blueberries in half, coat them in flour, and then what we like to do is add the blueberries to the loaf pan in batches, alternating with the batter. This gives you the optimal distribution of blueberries throughout the loaf! And if you have any other tips or tricks, make sure to share them in the comments.
Ingredients you’ll need
This lemon blueberry loaf cake is so nice and fluffy because we use oil in it, which is how we prefer to make a lot of our sponges. Butter makes cakes more dense and tender, and adds a great flavor, so we tend to use it for rich pound cakes where you want it to contribute a lot of flavor. For other cakes, like this one, oil provides a neutral flavor, is easier to work with, and gives the cake a lovely texture!
To make the cake, you’ll need sugar, eggs, milk, vegetable oil, lemon juice, vanilla extract, all-purpose or plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and blueberries. You can replace the vegetable oil with any neutral oil or olive oil. For the streusel topping, you’ll need butter, brown sugar, regular sugar, all-purpose or plain flour, salt, and vanilla extract. Finally, to decorate, you can make a simple icing with powdered sugar and lemon juice or just decorate with powdered sugar.
How to make this lemon blueberry loaf cake
To make this lemon blueberry loaf cake, start by browning the butter for the streusel topping and setting it aside to cool. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and prepare a loaf pan. In a bowl, massage lemon zest into sugar, then whisk in eggs, milk, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Prepare the blueberries by washing, cutting larger ones, and tossing them in a bit of the dry mix.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients in stages, folding the batter gently. Layer the batter and coated blueberries in the pan, finishing with a final batter layer. Mix the streusel dry ingredients with the cooled brown butter and sprinkle it, along with extra blueberries, over the top. Bake for 40–45 minutes, cool, then drizzle with a simple lemon icing before slicing and serving.
Other lemon recipes for you to try
If you’re a big lemon fan, then make sure you try out these recipes, also on our blog! If there are any other recipes you’d like to see in the future, drop them in the comments.
- Lemon meringue buns
- Lemon poppy seed cupcakes
- Mini pavlovas with lemon curd and blueberry compote
- Lemon bundt cake
- Citronroulade (Lemon roulade)
- Citronmåne (Lemon moon cake)
- Citronsnitter (Lemon bars)
Lemon Blueberry Loaf Cake
Ingredients
BATTER
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 125 grams granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 60 ml milk (room temperature)
- 120 ml vegetable oil
- 60 ml lemon juice
- Splash of vanilla extract (optional)
- 240 grams all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 150 grams blueberries
STREUSEL TOPPING
- 50 grams unsalted butter
- 35 grams brown sugar
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 70 grams all purpose flour
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
ICING
- Powdered sugar
- Lemon juice
Instructions
- Brown the butter for the topping by adding butter to a small pot on the stove, on medium heat. Swirl the butter in the pot, keeping a close eye on it. It'll boil at first as the water content evaporates, and then start to foam, which is when the milk solids start caramelizing. Once it turns lightly golden, remove from the heat as it will continue browning! Set aside to cool down while preparing the rest of the cake.
- Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Line a medium-sized loaf pan with parchment paper, and/or grease the sides as needed.
- Add lemon zest and sugar to a medium mixing bowl. Massage the lemon zest into the sugar to make it extra lemony.
- Add the eggs to the sugar and lemon zest and whisk together for about a minute. The mixture should lighten in color.
- Add the milk and vegetable oil to the egg and sugar mixture. Whisk well.
- Add the lemon juice to the wet ingredients, whisking well again. It should not separate or curdle the mixture when added. If you want, add a splash of vanilla extract at this stage as well!
- In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the batter: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk these ingredients together well to combine and get rid of big lumps.
- Prepare the blueberries for the cake by washing them well, then cutting any large blueberries in half (anything larger than about 1cm or 1/2in will likely sink in the batter, so cutting them helps them suspend a bit better!). Set aside a handful of blueberries for the top, then toss the rest of the blueberries in about a tablespoon of the dry ingredient mixture and coat them well.
- Add half of the dry ingredients for the batter into the wet ingredients, whisking together gently. Then add the second half and whisk again gently before switching to a rubber spatula and folding the mixture together until well combined.
- In the prepared loaf pan, add one third of the batter to the bottom. Sprinkle half of the flour coated blueberries on top of the batter. Add another third of the batter, then distribute the rest of the blueberries. Add the last third of the batter on top and smooth out the top.
- Finish making the streusel topping by combining flour, brown sugar, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add in the cooled brown butter and vanilla, then mix together until it forms clumps.
- Sprinkle the streusel topping over the cake evenly. Add the reserved blueberries to the top as well!
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, checking with a knife or a skewer in the center of the cake for doneness – it should come out of the cake clean when inserted.
- Let cool on a cooling rack, removing from the loaf pan after about 10-15 minutes to fully cool.
- Make a simple icing with powdered sugar and lemon juice. We don't tend to measure this, just add sugar and a splash of lemon juice in a bowl until it gets to a drizzly consistency. Drizzle over the top of the cake, slice, and enjoy!
