Lemon and Blackberry Cake

This Lemon and Blackberry Cake has such a superior quality to it. Supremely soft, smooth and serene, the lemon flavour is just subtle enough to allow the blackberry undertones to come through. The blackberry and lemon icing then intensifies this gorgeous flavour mix.

This Lemon and Blackberry Cake is, quite simply, a cut above a "normal" sponge cake.

The close crumb of the cake comes from the magical addition of sour cream and milk. These both blend together to create a beautiful softness to the cake texture.

I was gifted a Nordic Ware Brilliant Bundt tin a while ago and I have been waiting for an opportunity to use it. I totally adore Nordic Ware products, nothing else compares, they are pricey but they are well worth it and they last a lifetime. Nordic Ware Bundt tins are made from cast aluminium which ensures equal heat distribution through the cake batter whilst baking. Their groves are also well defined to give a lovely clean and crisp shape to the Bundt cake.

I mean feast your eyes for a second on this beauty ⬆

It is a fact that a cake that looks like a flower can only bring happiness.

Plus it's super easy to make.

Love a Bundt Cake? Try my
Almond, Blueberry and Limoncello small Bundt cake recipe

Why make this Lemon and Blackberry Cake?

Beautifully soft cake ✔️

Dotted with sweet, ripe blackberries ✔️

Excellent "please all" recipe ✔️

Very easy to make ✔️

Equipment

Bundt 10 cup tin or 2 x 23 cm cake tins

Pastry brush (if using Bundt tin)

Stand mixer or hand mixer with bowl

Another large bowl

Spatula

Fine mesh sieve

Ingredients and Substitutions

Unsalted butter and caster (superfine sugar): are beaten together to create a light and airy cake.

Plain (all-purpose) flour: the flour adds structure to our cake by forming gluten. If using self-raising flour only add 1 teaspoon of baking powder because it comes pre-loaded with its own.

Baking powder: we add two teaspoons because this ensures that our cake rises sufficiently.

Fine salt: helps develop the flavours in our cake.

Large eggs: eggs to help bind the Lemon and Blackberry Cake batter together.

Lemon zest and lemon juice: are added to the cake batter and icing to give a subtle lemon flavour.

Vanilla extract: added for a little extra flavouring.

Sour cream and milk: these are the secret weapon of this cake. They give the cake a muffin-like really soft texture.

Blackberries: we use whole blackberries, or halved if very large. The blackberries tunnel through the cake batter as it bakes which is why we place them into the top. The reason we don't mix the blackberries in with the batter is because they can turn it pink. Not a good look. To create our blackberry icing we push a few blackberries through a sieve then use the juice and discard the pulp.

Icing sugar (confectioner's sugar): for the icing on our cake.

Instructions

1. Grease your Bundt tin using softened or melted butter as this helps to get into all of the crevices.
2. Then coat your tin with a little flour as an added insurance to prevent the cake from sticking to the tin.
3. If using sandwich tins, grease them and line the bases with greaseproof paper.
4. Beat your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This ensures that lots of air is incorporated.
5. Sift together your flour, baking powder and salt to introduce more air.
6. Beat in one egg at a time along with a spoonful of your flour mixture, on a low setting. Mix until just incorporated before adding the next egg.
7. Beat in your vanilla essence, lemon zest and lemon juice until just mixed in.
8. Mix together your sour cream and milk separately.
9. Gradually add some of your milk mixture to your cake batter and beat together on a low setting. Add a spoonful of flour mixture in between to prevent it curdling.
10. Beat your Lemon and Blackberry cake batter on a high setting for about 10 seconds to ensure everything is fully mixed together and it is nice and airy.
11. Fill your Bundt tin or sandwich tins with your cake batter.
12. Cut any large blackberries in half and then press them into the top of the cake batter making sure you space them out so that they don't' converge on each other.
13. Bake for 55-60 minutes, the cake is ready when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
14. Cool the cake in your tin for 10 minutes and then carefully invert it onto a cooling rack so that it continues to cool.
15. Make your blackberry icing by taking about 6 large blackberries and pressing them through your sieve, then discard the pulp.
16. Mix the blackberry juice into your icing sugar along with a teaspoon of lemon juice, the consistency should be quite runny.
17. Drizzle your blackberry and lemon icing over your cake and decorate with leftover blackberries.

Top Tips

• Ensure your ingredients are at room temperature, this is vital because there are quite a few dairy ingredients in this Lemon and Blackberry cake recipe. If these ingredients are all at room temperature they will easily emulsify and trap air and therefore create a fluffy cake texture.
• Your butter needs to be very soft or even melted when greasing your Bundt tin. This will allow it to get into every crevice. This is important because it ensures that that none of your Lemon and Blackberry Cake sticks to the pan.
• Bake your cake in the lower third of your oven to ensure an even rise. We bake this cake at a relatively low temperature as this prevents an annoying pointy rise, not good for a Bundt in particular!
• Use a small palette knife if you can, or a teaspoon, to drizzle your icing in-between the ridges of your Bundt tin if using the same tin that I used. Gently coax the icing over the sides to leave a delicious little splodge of blackberry icing that trickles down to the base. Yum.

Variations

You can replace blackberries with blueberries in this cake and it will work just as well.

Or leave the blackberries out entirely and just make it as a lemon cake. If so, make a lemon syrup and drizzle it onto the cake whilst it is still hot from the oven. This ensures it is lovely, lemony and moist. For guidance, see my Easy Lime Drizzle Cake with Lime Frosting and use lemons instead of limes.

Then use extra lemon juice in your icing to create a zingy lemon icing.

Storage

This Lemon and Blackberry cake will keep for 3-5 days in an airtight tin. Remove any blackberries used for decoration first as they can go off very quickly.

It can also be frozen.

FAQ

Linked Recipes

These are some similar recipes that you might also like to try:

Lemon Victoria Sponge Sandwich

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Almond, blueberry and Limoncello Bundt Cake

📖 Recipe

Lemon and Blackberry Cake

This Lemon and Blackberry cake has a superior quality. Supremely soft, smooth and serene, the lemon flavour is just subtle enough to allow the blackberry flavour to come through. The blackberry and lemon icing enhances the intensity of the cake flavour.

5 from 2 votes

Rate this Recipe

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American, British

Keyword: blackberries, Blackberry cake, Bundt cake, lemon cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 14 slices

Calories:

Author: Ella's Better Bakes

Follow at @ellasbetterbakes or tag #ellasbetterbakes!

Alter quantities (metric only) 14 slices

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Here's what you'll need...

• Bundt 10 cup tin or 2 x 23cm cake tins
• Pastry brush (if using Bundt tin)
• Stand mixer or hand mixer with bowl
• Spatula
• Fine mesh sieve
• Bowl for flour mixture

Ingredients you'll need...

Lemon and Blackberry Cake

• 2 tablespoon flour to flour your Bundt tin
• 230 g unsalted butter softened but not overly-soft - plus extra for greasing tin (US = 1 Cup)
• 375 g caster sugar superfine sugar (US = 10½ tbsp)
• 4 large eggs at room temperature , in shells weight is approx 256g
• 350 g plain flour all purpose flour (US = 2½ Cups)
• 2 teaspoon baking powder must be level
• ¼ teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract use good quality eg Neilsen-Massey
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice use fresh lemons
• 120 ml sour cream at room temperature (US = ½ Cup)
• 120 ml milk at room temperature (US = ½ Cup)
• 120 g blackberries 30 average sized blackberries - washed and halved if large

Lemon and Blackberry Cake Topping

• 100 g blackberries about 20 average sized blackberries
• 100 g icing sugar (US = ¾ Cup)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon lemon zest

Here's what we do...

Lemon and Blackberry Cake

• Set your oven to 150°C Fan/170°C/340°F/Gas mark 3
• If using a Bundt tin, grease the tin by spreading softened butter over all of the insides of the tin using your pastry brush, ensure you get into all of the crevices. Then sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of flour and shake the tin to ensure it lightly covers all of the insides. Shake out any excess. If you are using sandwich tins, grease the tins and line the bases with greaseproof paper.
• Take your butter and sugar and beat together until they are soft, lighter in colour and have an easily spreadable consistency.
• Wipe the bowl down with your spatula to ensure all of the butter and sugar are mixed in.
• Sift together your flour, baking powder and salt into your other bowl.
• To the butter and sugar mixture, add one egg and a heaped dessert spoonful of flour and beat on a low setting until just combined.
• Repeat another 3 times until all of your eggs have been used.
• Again wipe down the bowl with your spatula to ensure all of the mixture is incorporated.
• Add your vanilla essence, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix until just combined.
• Mix together your sour cream and milk separately.
• Add ¼ of your milk mixture to your batter and mix on a low setting until just combined.
• Add a heaped dessertspoonful of flour and mix in on low until just combined.
• Repeat the above two steps until all of your milk mixture and flour mixture have been mixed in.
• Again wipe down the sides and base of your bowl with your spatula to ensure that everything is totally incorporated.
• Set your mixer to a high setting and give the batter a fast blast for about 10 seconds.
• Tip the mixture into your Bundt tin, or divide equally between your sandwich tins
• Take your blackberries and pop them in the top of the batter, spaced apart and just pushing down slightly so mostly submerged. They will continue to sink as they bake.
• Bang the tin down on your work surface a couple of times to release any large air bubbles in the batter.
• Bake in the centre of your oven for about 55-60 minutes, until a skewer or cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Leave to cool in your tin for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Lemon and Blackberry Cake Topping

• Take 50 grams (or 12 average-sized blackberries) and squidge them through a sieve.
• Discard the pulp and mix the blackberry juice into your icing sugar.
• Add a teaspoon of lemon juice, or enough to make the icing runny enough to drizzle over the cake.
• Drizzle over your cake, and then decorate with your remaining raspberries.

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Supporting Notes

• Ensure your ingredients are at room temperature, this is vital because there are quite a few dairy ingredients in this Lemon and Blackberry cake recipe. If these ingredients are all at room temperature they will easily emulsify and trap air and therefore create a fluffy cake texture.
• Your butter needs to be very soft or even melted when greasing your Bundt tin. This will allow it to get into every crevice. This is important because it ensures that that none of your Lemon and Blackberry Cake sticks to the pan.
• Bake your cake in the lower third of your oven to ensure an even rise. We bake this cake at a relatively low temperature as this prevents an annoying pointy rise, not good for a Bundt in particular!
• Use a small palette knife if you can, or a teaspoon, to drizzle your icing in-between the ridges of your Bundt tin if using the same tin that I used. Gently coax the icing over the sides to leave a delicious little splodge of blackberry icing that trickles down to the base. Yum.

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