Last updated on June 11th, 2025.
This Lemon Blackberry Cake is easy to make, beautifully vibrant, and perfectly balanced with tart lemon and sweet blackberries. Its moist, tender crumb makes it a delightful treat for any occasion.
I love going to my local grocery stores and buying all the beautiful and vibrant fresh produce; I always get more than I can handle because ripe berries and fresh fruits have always been a source of inspiration to my baking journey, whether its cakes: like Raspberry white chocolate cake, Mango Pound Cake, and Jewish Apple Cake. Or pies: like Blackberry Ginger pie or Blueberry Pies. Nature is the best inspiration, and this Lemon Blackberry Cake is another example.
In this recipe, instead of mixing the blackberries into the batter, I pureed them and swirled them into the batter. The color changes into beautiful light purple (and sometimes pink, depending on the blackberries) and the cake gets this beautiful vibrate interior, second only to the tender, buttery and moist texture of the cake.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
The complete recipe, including measurements, is at the bottom of this post in the recipe card. Here is a quick description of the key ingredients.
- Frozen or fresh blackberries. If using frozen blackberries, make sure to thaw them first, strain them from the liquids, and gently pat them dry before using them. Feel free to experiment with different berries like raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries for other flavor variations.
- Unbleached all-purpose flour and potato Starch. The combination helps create a stabilized structure that is also tender without getting too chewy or soggy from the blackberries juice. If you don’t have potato starch at hand, skip it.
- Full Fat Sour Cream. Sour cream is the best ingredients to add to pound cake such as this one, the acidity in it balances the sweetness coming from the sugar. It also speeds to baking time meaning that less moisture is evaporating from the cake. It can be replaced with buttermilk, or plain greek yogurt (5%).
- Fresh squeezed Lemon juice and lemon zest. Fresh is the key, and is what adds a bright, fresh layer of flavor to the cake.
How to Make Lemon Blackberry Cake
- Place the blackberries in a medium bowl and mash them into a puree using a fork. Place the puree over a sieve, and stir it using a spoon to remove excess liquids.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and potato starch in a separate bowl, and mix the sour cream, vanilla, and fresh lemon juice in a separate bowl.
- Rub the sugar and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl, then beat it with the butter until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Start with medium speed, then gradually increase to medium-high.
- On medium-high speed, add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- On low speed, add the flour mixture alternating with the sour cream mixture in three additions starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
- Mix 1/3 of the cake batter in a large bowl with the blackberry puree. Then scoop the lemon batter alternating with the lemon blackberry batter into the pan. Bake
Tips
- For best results, ensure you use room temperature ingredients; this is critical for the cake’s success. Cold, or uneven in temperature ingredients do not incorporate well, and we end up with a dense chewy cake.
- Do not over-mix the batter, especially when adding the flour. I like mixing the flour’s last portion using a rubber spatula.
- This recipe yields one large bundt cake (10-12 cups), enough for 12-16 slices, depending on the size of each slice. You can also bake in a loaf pan, the critical thing to pay attention to is not to fill the pan over 3/4 full.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30-40 minutes before inverting it to a wire rack, and don’t allow it to cool in the pan. Otherwise, it will get stuck in it. Check the out side of the cake If too warm to hold with my hands, than it needs more chilling time.
Topping and Serving Ideas
This tender and moist pound cake is great by itself with no additional topping, but here are some ideas for special occasions:
- Top with homemade whipped cream and fresh berries.
- Use some of the liquids from the blackberry to make blackberry frosting. Mix one-two tablespoons of blackberry juice with one cup of powdered sugar.
- Add a lemon glaze to the cooled cake for an extra lemony kick. Mix 1 cup of powdered sugar with two tablespoons of lemon juice until smooth, and drizzle it over the top of the cake.
- Brush the cake with Lemon simple syrup: mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, and 3/4 cup sugar, bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Storing and Freezing
Cover the Lemon Blackberry Cake with aluminum foil or place it in an airtight container (a cake dome is best) and keep it at room temperature for up to 2 days.
For freezing, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap and place it in a freezer-safe container or a freeze bag. It can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months. Remove the cake from its wrapping and let it defrost at room temperature.
More Recipes You Might Enjoy
Pear Cake, Chocolate Blackberry Cupcakes, Fruit Galette
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Lemon Blackberry Cake
Ingredients
- 1 pkg Fresh Blackberries (frozen is ok) (170g)
- 2 3/4 + 1 TBS Cups AP Flour (340g)
- 1.5 tsp Baking Powder
- 0.5 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 TBS Potato Starch
- 1 1/4 Cup Full Fat Sour Cream (300ml)
- 1/4 Cup Fresh squeezed Lemon juice (60ml)
- 1 Cups Unsalted butter, soften (200g)
- 2 1/2 Cups Sugar (500g)
- 2 tsp Fresh lemon zest
- 4 Large Eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Grease a 12 cups bundt pan.
- Using a fork, mash the blackberries to a fine puree. Place the puree in a sieve over a bowl and set aside.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir to incorporate and set aside.
- In a large measuring cup, mix the sour cream and lemon juice.
- In a bowl of a standing mixer, place the sugar, butter, and lemon zest and beat on medium speed until fluffy and light. About 4-5 minutes.
- With the mixer on medium-high speed, add the eggs one at a time, waiting for each egg to completely incorporated before adding the next.
- Add the flour in three additions alternating with the sour cream mixture. Starting and finishing with the flour mix.
- Once you have added the last portion of the flour mix, turn the mixer off, and using a rubber spatula mix any flour.
- Scoop about 1/3 of the batter into a medium size clean bowl and fold in the blackberry puree.
- Spoon the batters into the greased pan using regular-sized cookie spoons in alternating patterns (white batter next to blackberry batter).
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or just until a skewer comes out clean from the center of the cake.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Notes
- To achieve optimal results, make sure to utilize ingredients at room temperature, as this factor plays a crucial role in the success of the cake.
- This delightful blackberry lemon cake can be prepared using either a stand or electric mixer (hand mixer).
- Take care not to over-mix the batter, especially when incorporating the flour. I prefer to add the last portion of flour and mix it gently with a rubber spatula.
- This recipe is designed to yield one large bundt cake (10-12 cups) or two eight or 9-inch loaf pans lined with parchment paper. The key is not to fill the pan more than 3/4 full.
- After baking, allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes before gently inverting it onto a wire rack. Avoid leaving it to cool in the pan, as this may cause it to stick.”
At what point do you use the blackberry sugar? I’ve read the recipe twice now and I don’t see any specific instructions about that. Do you sprinkle it in the pan BEFORE you spoon in the batter? Do you sprinkle it over the cake immediately after removing the cake from the pan?
The blackberry sugar is just like dusting the cake with powdered sugar. You can skip it all together, I added the dried freeze blackberries to it just to add some color.
I LOVED making this. It’s simple and delicious. I couldn’t believe how tender the cake turned out! I don’t think I added enough blackberries, so next time I’ll add more and I’ll add a blackberry drizzle on top. I like a little zing with my fruity cakes. Thanks for the recipe ❤️
Thank you so much Nichole! love this idea of the drizzle!!
Lovely recipe..very informative on baking science too. Can I make eggless version of this cake ??? If yes what is the option?? Thank you
Hi Shruthi
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any egg subdivisions, so sorry I wish i could help.
This looks beautiful! Could I substitute the potato starch for a different starch (like tapioca or corn)? And does the texture of the cake change very much if it is left out?
The cake’s texture will not change much if you leave the starch out.