Blueberry Pound Cake
This Blueberry Pound Cake recipe combines the delightful tang of blueberries with the rich, buttery flavor of a classic pound cake. Moist and tender, this homemade treat is perfect for any occasion or as a simple indulgence.
I spent months testing cake batter mixing methods and ingredients to create the perfect classic Pound Cake.
This Blueberry Pound Cake is a variation of my favorite sour cream pound cake. The slight tang of sour cream perfectly compliments the berries.
When you add chunky ingredients like berries to cake batter, it’s always a struggle to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake. Cake batter is fairly thin, so when the batter warms up in the oven, the solid bits easily sink before the batter is set.
You’ll often find recipes that instruct you to toss the berries with a little flour to keep them from sinking. I tried that method and it doesn’t work that well.
I created a two step process to keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake. Read the special section at the end of the post to see how it works.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Blueberries – Fresh blueberries work best in this recipe, but you can use frozen berries in a pinch. Frozen berries will give off some juice and may turn the cake slightly grayish-green. But it will taste fine.
- Cake Flour- Low protein cake flour makes a cake with a super soft crumb and enables the batter to hold lots of liquid for a very moist cake.
- Sour Cream – Acidic sour cream tenderizes the cake and the flavor is wonderful with the berries.
- Lemon – Just a whisper of lemon in the cake and glaze enhances the blueberry flavor.
How to make Blueberry Pound Cake
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Toss the blueberries with water and flour to create a paste on the berries. Set them aside while you make the batter.
- Sift the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl with the sugar.
- Combine the eggs, yolks, lemon zest, vanilla and half the sour cream in a bowl.
- Toss the butter into the dry ingredients and mix until the batter starts to form.
- Add half the sour cream.
- Cream the batter until it lightens in color and becomes aerated.
- Add the egg mixture.
- Scrape the bowl and fold the batter to ensure all the ingredients are combined.
- Spread 1/4 of the batter into the pan.
- Fold the berries into the remaining batter.
- Dollop the blueberry batter over the plain batter and spread it to an even layer.
- Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the center springs back when lightly pressed.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 15-20 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack set over a clean sheet pan. Because of the moisture in the berries, the top of the cake will settle at it cools.
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice to make the glaze.
- Glaze the cake while it’s still slightly warm so the glaze melts into a smooth, shiny coating.
- Wait for glaze to dry before transferring the cake to a serving platter.
How to keep blueberries from sinking in batter
- Spread some of the batter into the pan before adding the berries. Because it’s at the bottom of the pan and closest to the heat source in the oven, this plain batter will set up fairly quickly in the oven. This will form a crust that will stop the berries from going all the way to the bottom.
- Sprinkle a little water over the berries to moisten them (if you’re using frozen berries you can skip the water since the frozen berries are already moist). Then toss some flour over the moistened berries. The flour and water form a paste on the berries which helps trap them in the batter.
Check out the difference between the two cakes in the following photo.
The cake on the left was made folding plain blueberries into the batter. The cake on the right was made with a flour paste on the berries.
You can use this same technique to keep chocolate chips from sinking in cake batter.
Storage
Blueberry Pound Cake will keep for 3-4 days at room temperature and can be frozen for up to 2 months.
More Pound Cake Recipes
- Lemon Yogurt Pound Cake
- Pistachio Pound Cake
- Honey Pound Cake
- Coconut Pound Cake
- Chocolate Pound Cake
- Marble Pound Cake
- Key Lime Pound Cake
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Blueberry Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 oz blueberries (2 cups, fresh or frozen)
- 1 teaspoon flour
Cake Batter
- 3 large eggs (room temp)
- 4 egg yolks (room temp)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large lemon
- 4 oz sour cream (½ cup, divided)
- 8 oz cake flour (1 ¾ cups, see note)
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 10 oz granulated sugar (1 ¼ cups)
- 8 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)
Lemon Glaze
- 8 oz confectioner sugar (2 cups)
- 2 oz lemon juice (¼ cup)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Generously butter and flour a tube pan or Bundt pan.
- Toss 10 oz blueberries with a teaspoon of water until moistened (see note). Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon flour and toss until the flour coats the berries to form paste. Set the berries aside while you make the cake batter.
- Combine 3 large eggs, 4 egg yolks, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract, finely grated zest from 1 large lemon and half of the sour cream in a small bowl, whisk to combine and set aside.
- Sift together 8 oz cake flour, ¼ teaspoon table salt, and 1 teaspoon baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add 10 oz granulated sugar to the flour and mix at low speed for 10 seconds. Add 8 oz unsalted butter to the flour and mix until combined. Add the remaining sour cream and increase the speed to medium. Mix for a full 2-3 minutes. The batter will lighten in color and texture. If using a hand mixer add another minute to the mixing time.
- Scrape the bowl and beater thoroughly. On low speed, add the egg mixture in 3 increments, scraping the bowl after each addition. Mix just until the eggs are incorporated.
- Pour ¼ the batter into the prepared pan and spread to cover the bottom of the pan. Fold the blueberries into the remaining batter and add that to the pan and spread to an even layer. Bake at 350°F until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (about 55 minutes).
- Cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes before turning the cake out onto a cooling rack set over a clean sheet pan (see note).
- Whisk together the confectioner's sugar and lemon juice to make the glaze. The glaze should be the consistency of thin pancake batter. Adjust the sugar and/or lemon juice to correct the thickness of the glaze. While the cake is still slightly warm drizzle the glaze over the cake. Allow the glaze to set before moving the cake to a serving platter.
- Cool completely before slicing.
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Delicious! I’ll try it again with different fruit.