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This lemon blueberry snacking cake is filled with juicy blueberries, topped with crunchy streusel and almonds, and is loaded with lemon flavor. It’s similar to my Raspberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake, but it uses buttermilk for a soft tender crumb.

You’ll love how easy it is to transport this cake. Seriously, bake it in a foil pan, and you can take it literally anywhere. This is a fantastic cake for church potlucks, summer picnics, barbecues, baby showers, meals for families, camping, whatever you can think of.

My aunt is legendary for her lemon blueberry cake. It’s the cake which essentially launched her baking business. When I was in college, we had people who lined up for this cake at our farmer’s market stand.

My aunt’s glorious bundt cake version was using multiple cups of sugar, then topped with a sugar glaze. My version, like all snacking cakes is a little less fussy, with a much lower sugar ratio. I’m all about lowering sugar contents in my bakes in general. Still, with all the flavor and texture in my cake, you will never feel like you’re missing out with this cake.

This is my favorite kind of eat it with a friend cake. It’s that perfect kind of cake you cut up a square and sit down for coffee klatch together.

Lemon Blueberry Snacking Cake

What is a snacking cake anyhow?

Snacking cakes are simple to make cakes that require just a square pan to bake. There’s only one layer, and no frosting required.

They’re easy cakes for beginning bakers or anyone short on time.

Because of their square shape and one layer with no sticky frostings, they are incredibly portable.

Also try my Raspberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake with cardamom crumble for a different flavor variation on the same theme.

Lemon Blueberry Snacking Cake ingredients

Flour: all-purpose
Baking powder: for leavening
Baking soda: for leavening, to neutralize the acid in the lemon and buttermilk, creating lift.
Salt: flavor
Mace or nutmeg: mace is my first choice for its bright floral flavor, but nutmeg is easier to find. They both add a little bit of old-fashioned flavor without being overly spicy.
Sugar: granulated; just enough for the best texture, but not so much that it’s cloying.
Butter: for flavor, texture, fat.
Egg: to help hold everybody together.
Vanilla: more flavor! Make your own vanilla paste.
Buttermilk: for moisture, tenderness. People, if you’ve never tried a buttermilk cake, make this NOW. It’s practically a magic ingredient it makes for such a delicate, delicious crumb.
Lemon juice and lemon zest: this recipe uses Dorie Greenspan‘s amazing trick of rubbing the zest into the sugar. The extra lemon flavor you get from this little trick is so worth the 30 seconds it takes to do!
Streusel: the best streusel topping .
Almonds: sliced almonds and streusel are like peanut butter and jelly.

pieces of lemon blueberry snacking cake on rack

Are snacking cakes healthy?

Everyone has her own definition of healthy. What is true of my snacking cake recipes is that they are loaded with fruit and lower in sugar. If you’re looking to cut back on sugar, this cake, as well as many other in my healthier baking category can fit that bill.

Does that mean that you can eat the whole cake in a sitting? Of course not, that would be silly.

Still, since each piece has less than the sugar in a muffin, I have no problem serving this to my family for breakfast.

I’m a strong believer in cake for breakfast once in a while!

Lemon Blueberry Snacking Cake

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 1 hours
Yield: 16 pieces

Print Recipe

Description

This little cake is stuffed with juicy berries and tender from buttermilk without being too sweet. Since it’s just barely more complicated than making muffins, It’s an easy cake to make when you need to bring a meal to a friend, a baby shower, or pretty much anytime.

Ingredients

Scale

Cooking spray for the pan
2 cups all-purpose flour (260 g)
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg or ground mace (use microplane)
1 stick butter (113 g) at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar (132 g)
2 tsp lemon zest (grated from 1 lemon)
1 egg, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
1 cup buttermilk (236 mL)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Streusel

2/3 cup all-purpose flour (85 g)
1/3 cup light brown sugar (60 g)
3 tablespoons melted butter (36 g)

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
2. Spray an 8″x8″ 2″ tall cake pan with cooking spray, then make a parchment sling. To do this, cut 2 pieces of parchment the width of your baking pan. Lay them on the bottom of the pan, one covering two sides, and the next one covering the remaining two sides.
3. Make the streusel
  - To make the streusel, In a small bowl, mix the flour and brown sugar together until the sugar is evenly distributed in the flour.
4. - Pour in the melted butter, then use a fork to toss the ingredients together. Stir everything together until the crumbs start to form.
  - Cover the bowl, and refrigerate the mixture until you’re done prepping the cake.

Make the cake:

1. Mix the dry ingredients: Whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a small bowl.
2. Combine the sugar and lemon zest into a stand mixer bowl (or use a hand mixer) and rub the zest into the sugar between your fingers for about 30 seconds. In that time, you’ll release more of the lemon’s essential oils, so you’ll get more lemon flavor.
3. Add the butter to the mixer bowl with the lemon sugar. Beat everything for 2-3 minutes until it is light and fluffy.
4. Add in the egg to the butter mixture, then beat to combine until everything is smooth.
5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat to combine for a few more seconds.
6. Measure the blueberries into a small bowl, then top with about 1/2 cup of the flour mixture. Quickly toss the blueberries with the flour. This will absorb some of their moisture and keep more of them on the top of the cake and keep the blue from bleeding into the batter.
7. Measure the buttermilk into a liquid measuring cup, then add the lemon juice and vanilla to it.
8. Alternating dry and wet ingredients: Pour about 1/3 of the remaining flour into the butter and mix for about 5 seconds. Next add in about 1/2 of the buttermilk/lemon mix and mix for about 5 seconds. Continue alternating adding in dry and wet ingredients, finishing up with the flour.
9. Scrape around the edges and bottom of the bowl with a baking spatula, using about 5 turns to finish incorporating the dry and wet ingredients.
10. Quickly add in the blueberries, folding to distribute them in the batter, using 5-6 turns of your spatula.
11. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, then smooth it into one even layer.
12. Finish the streusel: Pull the bowl out of the refrigerator, then use your fork to scrape around the bottom of the bowl to create big crumbs. Break up big crumbles into pieces about pea-sized or slightly larger.
13. Top the cake with the streusel and sliced almonds.
14. Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the edges are light golden brown.
15. Cool the cake for 5 minutes, then use the parchment sling to remove the cake from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
16. This cake is best eaten within 2 days. Keep any leftovers at room temperature, loosely covered with foil.

Notes

Streusel: This recipe uses the same method for making streusel as the homemade streusel recipe. If you make the full streusel recipe, you’ll need about 1/3 of it for the cake. Freeze the rest for later, and you can make this cake in minutes whenever the mood strikes.
Mace? Mace is the orange, lacy outer covering of nutmeg. If you can find it, use mace instead of the nutmeg. It has a more floral taste that is delicious with the lemon.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Additional Time: 0 hours
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Category: Easy cakes
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 piece (2″x2″)
Calories: 233
Sugar: 14
Sodium: 241
Fat: 10
Saturated Fat: 5
Carbohydrates: 32
Protein: 3
Cholesterol: 32

Ways to change up this lemon blueberry snacking cake

Spice it up!: Add in cinnamon or ginger for a spicier taste.
Almond extract: use amaretto or almond extract to punch up the almond flavor.
Change up the berries: I love this cake with frozen blackberries. It’d be great with huckleberries or raspberries as well.
Swap out different citrus juices and zest: lime, orange, or even grapefruit could all work.

How to serve your snacking cake

Cut up your cooled cake into squares. I like 16 pieces if you’re feeding a crowd, or 9 pieces if you’re feeling a little like, “I need a big piece of cake.” Serve it with coffee or strong black tea.

Snacking cakes need nothing extra, but if you want to gild the lily, here’s how: