My Lemon Blackberry Cake is a moist, tender Bundt cake bursting with fresh lemon flavor and swirled with sweet, juice blackberry puree. The bright citrus flavor pairs beautifully with the berries, while the blackberry swirl adds a gorgeous pop of color and fruity flavor to every slice. It’s an easy, impressive cake that’s perfect for gathering, afternoon coffee, or whenever fresh blackberries are in season.
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 throughout my baking journey. And if I do not have a go-to recipe like my Jewish Apple Cake I just buy even more and start testing a new recipe for my Pound Cakes Collection.
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.
The 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. Because we are purring the berries, we can use fresh, or frozen. If using frozen blackberries, make sure to thaw them first, strain them from the liquids, then gently pat them dry over a paper towel 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. This cake is rich in liquids, and for it to remain tender and not too dense, I used potato starch instead of a higher amount of flour. The starch creates a stable structure that is also tender without making the cake too chewy or soggy from the blackberry juice. If you don’t have potato starch on hand, you can 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.
Let’s Bake!
- For best results, 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.
- Your oven is different than mine, and the cake might bake for longer, or less time than the recipe specifies. So make sure you pay attention to the cake, and not the timer. The cake is ready with a few moist crumbs comes out from the center that is closer to the oven’s door.
We do not discard the blackberries seeds, and for the most part, they do not soften during baking. Personally, I never mind it, I kind of like the crunch, but it is important to note.
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.
Moist & Tender Lemon Blackberry Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Cup (150g) Blackberries (fresh or frozen)
- 2 3/4 + 1 TBS Cups (340g) AP Flour
- 1.5 tsp Baking Powder
- 0.5 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 TBS Potato Starch
- 1 1/4 Cup (300ml) Sour Cream at room temperature
- 1/4 Cup (60ml) Fresh squeezed Lemon juice
- 1 Cups (225g) Unsalted butter, soften
- 2 1/2 Cups (500g) Sugar
- 2 tsp Fresh lemon zest
- 4 Large Eggs at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and place an oven rack at 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 (340g), potato starch (1 tablespoon), baking powder (1.5 teaspoon), and baking soda (1/2 teaspoon). Stir to incorporate and set aside.
- In a large measuring cup, mix the sour cream (300ml) and lemon juice (60ml).
- In a bowl of a standing mixer, place the sugar (500g), butter (225g), 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.
- Reduce mixer speed to low then 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).
- Use a wooden skewer, or a butter knife to swirl the batter into the cake pan.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or just until a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs from the center of the cake.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
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.