Buttermilk Blueberry Cake is a delicious summer cake recipe that bakes and rises high and is full of fresh and juicy blueberries.
Many years ago, I cut this recipe out of a magazine at a doctor’s office. This is a cake recipe that actress-turned-Food-Network personality Valerie Bertinelli shared in the magazine. She described it as a lighter cake that she’s made for many years. I can see why it’s a repeat recipe for her. It’s really a lovely summer blueberry cake with great flavor.
How to make Buttermilk Blueberry Cake:
The batter is pretty typical. A wet batter is made that includes buttermilk, egg whites and lemon zest. There is only 1/2 cup of oil in the whole cake. It’s combined with the dry ingredients to create the complete batter for the cake. Fresh blueberries that have been tossed in flour are stirred in (the flour keeps the blueberries from sinking into the cake while baking).
The batter is then scraped into the pan and topped with a few more fresh blueberries. Sprinkle a little coarse sugar on top before baking.
What kind of pan do you need for this cake?
The pan you’ll use to bake this cake is important to note. Because this buttermilk blueberry cake bakes up tall, you will definitely need to use a 9-inch springform pan. If you don’t have one, you should buy one. You’ll use it for cheesecakes! The batter fills the 9-inch springform pan and it rises well above the top when baking. Don’t try to substitute a 9-inch round cake pan in this recipe unless you take quite a bit of the batter out to make some extra muffins with it.
It bakes up tall and beautiful!
How to make your own buttermilk:
Add 1¾ tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice to a measuring cup, then pour the milk in the cup to the 1¾ cup line. Let it sit for 5 minutes or so and you will have homemade buttermilk!
This Buttermilk Blueberry Cake can be served as dessert, an afternoon snack or as a coffee cake to eat with breakfast. The nutritional information included in the recipe is figured assuming the cake will be cut into 24 servings. This will give you a smaller slice of cake. I recommend you consider it to be 12 or 16 servings and enjoy a larger slice! If you’re counting Weight Watcher points, figure 24 servings- a link to the WW points is included in the recipe card below.
Since the recipe only calls for lemon zest and no actual lemon juice, you might consider squeezing your lemons and saving the juice for later (it freezes well). Alternatively, you can combine some of the lemon juice with powdered sugar and drizzle a glaze over this cake. This Buttermilk Blueberry Cake is a nice summer dessert. I love that it’s a lighter dessert. The whole family will like this one. Enjoy!
Blueberry Cake Recipes:
- Blueberry Lemon Loaf Cake
- Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake
- Fresh Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Blueberry- Zucchini Sheet Cake
- Blueberry Dump Cake
- Lemon and Blueberry Upside Down Cake
- Blueberry Crumble Layer Cake
- Blueberry and Lime Pound Cake
Buttermilk Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
- 3¾ cups all purpose flour
- 2¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1¾ cups buttermilk
- 1½ cups granulated white sugar
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg whites
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (or 12-ounces frozen blueberries, thawed)
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons coarse sugar (such as Sugar in the Raw or Demerara)
Instructions
- Preheat thee oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray. Do not use a 9-inch cake pan- it won't be big enough.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; make a well in the center.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sugar, oil, eggs, egg whites and lemon zest. Pour into the well of the flour and stir to combine (a few lumps in the batter are OK- do not over mix).
- In a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with the 1 tablespoon of flour to evenly coat. Fold all but ½ cup of the blueberries into the batter. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and top with the remaining ½ cup blueberries.
- Sprinkle with the coarse sugar and bake until the cake is brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean, 70 to 75 minutes.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove the outer ring and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I don’t have lemons on hand. Does it need the zest? Have you made it without it?
You can make it without… you just won’t have that lemon zesty flavor.
This recipe was delicious. The cake was moist and not too sweet. I live in high altitude and it was very easy to adjust so it baked up beautifully
I just made this blueberry cake and it was very easy to make! I was wondering if it needs to be refrigerated?
I like to refrigerate cakes that contain fruit, but it’s not necessary.
Has anyone tried making this with Splenda instead of the sugar? Just curious if that is an option.
I have not, but I believe you can sub baking splenda for sugar in most recipes.
Can I use this recipe for making muffins??
You can, but they will be pretty dense. It’s more of a pound cake in terms of texture.