This is the best blueberry pound cake, it's loaded up with fresh blueberries and drizzled with a simple lemon glaze. This is a classic loaf cake that is buttery, soft and so moist. Plus, you only need 10 simple ingredients to make this pound cake!
I am always up for a pound cake! These classic and simple cakes are perfect for potlucks, celebrations, gatherings and bake sales. Last year I made my cranberry lemon bread and blackberry bread, so I thought it would be fun to make a summer version of it with juicy blueberries!
Based off the same recipe, this blueberry pound cake is made with simple pantry ingredients and bursting with blueberry flavor. This is such an easy recipe, you are going to love this delicious blueberry pound cake!
If you love baking with fresh blueberries, you have to try my bakery style blueberry muffins, lemon blueberry cookies, blueberry lemon coffee cake and blueberry oatmeal muffins!
Jump to:
Why you'll love this blueberry pound cake!
- Simple ingredients - this recipe uses simple ingredients that I'm sure you already have at home, nothing fancy here.
- A secret trick - I'm using a food processor here to create lemon sugar - this is going to give so much lemon flavor! I first saw this over on food52 and thought it was an amazing idea! The rest of the wet ingredients are added to the food processor before folding in the dry ingredients.
- A thick batter - because this loaf cake batter is quite thick, you don't have to worry about all of the blueberries sinking to the bottom. Plus, I've got a few tips on how to make sure that really doesn't happen!
Ingredients Needed
- Flour: I've only tested this recipe with all purpose flour, known as plain flour in the UK.
- Baking Powder: this is going to give us that rise, make sure your baking powder hasn't expired!
- Butter: I always use unsalted butter in my recipes to control the salt.
- Blueberries: it's best to make this recipe during blueberry season, when fresh blueberries are bursting with flavor! Try to use small blueberries if you can, they're less likely to sink in the batter.
- Lemon: we're going to add a little bit of zing and brightness to the pound cake by adding some lemon zest and lemon juice.
- Sour Cream: I love adding sour cream to loaf cakes to make them extra moist and light!
Substitutions & Variations
- Use wild blueberries instead of regular blueberries.
- Swap out sour cream for full fat natural yogurt.
- Use almond extract instead of vanilla extract.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Grease an 8.5x4.5 inch loaf pan with butter or baking spray and line with parchment paper. Wash and pat dry the blueberries. Toss with a tablespoon of flour in a small bowl and set aside.
Step 2: In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour with the salt and baking powder.
Step 3: Pour the white sugar into your food processor with the lemon zest. Process for about 20 seconds. The sugar should turn a very pale oil - this is the lemon oils being released giving us lemon sugar!
Step 4: Add in the sour cream, eggs, melted butter, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Process again for 20-30 seconds.
Step 5: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a rubber spatula until there are no more streaks of flour. Gently stir in the blueberries.
Step 6: Pour into the prepared pan. Bake in an oven preheated to 340°Fahrenheit/170°Celsius for 80-90 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Weighing your ingredients - I always recommend using a weighing scale when baking as it is the most accurate way to bake! It is so easy to add too much flour, leading to a dry loaf cake.
- Fluff and Sprinkle Flour – if you aren’t weighing your ingredients and are using measuring cups, then use the fluff and sprinkle method to measure your flour. Go to this link here to find out how to do that. It’s important to have the right amount of flour in this recipe as we don’t want a dry loaf.
- Don't overmix the batter - as soon as there are no more streaks of flour you should stop mixing the batter. Overmixing can lead to a tough and stodgy pound cake.
- Perfect slices - use a serrated knife to get perfect slices of cake! I recommend wiping the knife with a paper towel after every slice to get a clean slice.
- Use the right pan - I'm using an 8.5x4.5" loaf pan from USA pans. If you use a 9x5 inch loaf pan please note that it will need less time in the oven and won't be as tall.
Recipe FAQs
First I make sure to toss them in some flour. Then, I try to only use smaller blueberries, leaving the larger ones to decorate the top of the glaze! Smaller blueberries are less likely to sink. Then to really make sure they don't all sink, a pour about ¼ of the batter into the prepared loaf pan before I stir in the blueberries. This will give you a buffer of batter!
My top tip is to carefully take the pound cake out and try to listen - do you hear a ton of bubbles? That's batter that isn't quite finished! I'll put the loaf cake back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes if it's quite loud. I also insert a toothpick in the center of the loaf cake and it should come out with little to no crumbs.
If you don't have a food processor I recommend using your hands to mix the lemon zest with the sugar to help release the oils. Then, make the rest of the recipe in a large bowl with an electric mixer.
Storage
Keep the blueberry pound cake in an airtight container or tightly wrapped with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. To freeze, place cooled slices in a freezer bag or ziploc bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Let thaw before enjoying.
Try these recipes next!
Have you made this recipe? Please rate the recipe below! Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @alpineella and Pinterest!
Recipe
Blueberry Pound Cake
Equipment
- 8.5"x 4.5" loaf pan
Ingredients
Loaf Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup sour cream room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 cup blueberries washed and dried
- 1 tablespoon flour for tossing the blueberries
Glaze
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar sifted
- 6 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon butter melted
Instructions
Blueberry Pound Cake
- Preheat your oven to 325°F/170°C. Grease and line a 8.5x4.5" loaf pan.
- Wash and dry your blueberries. Toss with 1-2 tablespoons of flour in a small bowl and set aside.1 cup blueberries, 1 tablespoon flour
- Melt your butter in a microwave or in a small saucepan. Once melted, set aside.1 cup unsalted butter
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.2 cups all purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- In a food processor or large blender, blend together your sugar and lemon zest. Do this for about 20-30 seconds, or until the lemon zest releases their oils and your sugar takes on more of a yellow color.1 ½ cups granulated sugar, zest 1 lemon
- Stop the food processor and pour in your wet ingredients - melted butter, vanilla extract, fresh lemon juice, 3 eggs and sour cream. Blend together for 20 seconds.1 cup unsalted butter, 3 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ¼ cup sour cream
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold everything together with a rubber spatula. Fold until there are no more streaks of flour. Add in your blueberries and fold those into the batter.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan and tape it on your counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 80-90 minutes, a tester should come out clean. If the loaf cake becomes too brown on top, tent with foil.
- Take out of the oven and let cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Glaze
- In a bowl or jug, whisk together all of the glaze ingredients. It should be very thick.1 cup confectioners' sugar, 1 teaspoon butter, 6 teaspoons lemon juice
- Pour the glaze over the cooled loaf cake. Enjoy!
Sweetee
The cake turned out so delicious. Very moist and full of flavor. For the glaze, i split the ingredients in half and drizzled a thin layer on top.
Ella
Thank you so much for your review!
Donna
I couldn't locate the measurements of the ingredients. Where would I find them in this article? Looking forward to making this cake.
Thanks
Donna
Found the measurements. Thanks for a great recipe
Ella
Glad you found them 🙂 hope you enjoy the recipe!
Nancy
Is there anything I can substitute for the 1/4 cup sour cream?
Ella
You can use plain yoghurt instead!