Say hello to the breakfast (dessert?) of my dreams.
I love pound cake. And lemon. And blueberries. When you put them together, I swoon. So, this pound cake is basically everything.
It happens to be perfect for Mother’s Day as well. Stock up on the ingredients before this weekend, friends! Make the special mom(s) in your life very happy this coming Sunday. This recipe will win you major brownie points with anyone who loves blueberry and lemon together. Promise.
The thing that takes this recipe over the top? The lemon sugar crust.
Not only do I put the lemon sugar IN the actual pound cake batter to sweeten and flavor it up, but I also sprinkle lemon sugar all over the top of this pound cake, so that as it bakes, the lemon sugar cooks into an irresistible crunchy citrus crust. It is heaven.
Whenever I make pound cake or quick bread recipes, I cross my fingers. You never really know how it’s going to come out until after it’s baked. I know this is true for many things. No matter how many times I test a recipe or dream up a flavor combo, this type of baking gives my perfectionist personality a run for its money.
Not only do you have to wait a full hour (usually) for this type of recipe to be ready, but then you really need to let it cool before removing from the pan and tasting it. It’s torture! Especially when your house smells like sweet lemon and blueberries.
This recipe, thankfully, worked out extremely well. The cake is dense (in a good way!) and rich, and each bite pops with bright lemon flavor and juicy blueberries. I mean, just look at all those blueberries! So good. The flavor definitely reminds me of a really rich blueberry muffin.
Usually when I bake, most of the treat goes to Dan’s office for his coworkers to enjoy. Lately, that obviously hasn’t been happening (thank God I haven’t had to wear jeans anywhere in almost two months). And Dan, my sworn lemon-averse husband, ate almost every last morsel of this pound cake. He would come downstairs every morning and have a slice with his coffee.
And this is after he devoured most of these blueberry lemon bars! Maybe I’m finally making him a lemon convert? He’d tell me no. Firmly.
But the proof is in the pound cake!
I’m thinking that I may have to make this cake again for Father’s Day.
Blueberry Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake with Lemon Sugar Crust
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
This Blueberry Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake with Lemon Sugar Crust is moist, dense (in a good way! Like pound cake should be!), perfectly sweet, and brimming with bright lemon flavor and juicy blueberries. It is topped with fresh lemon sugar before baking, which adds a layer of crunch and extra lemony sweetness!
Ingredients
For the Lemon Sugar:
- 1½ cups sugar
- Zest of 2 lemons
For the Batter:
- 1 cup of the lemon sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- ½ cup sour cream
- Juice of 1 lemon (use one of the lemons you zested)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or extract)
- 3 large eggs
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups blueberries (if using frozen, do not defrost)
Instructions
For the Lemon Sugar:
- In a bowl, mix together the sugar and the zest from two lemons.
- Using your hands, rub the zest into the sugar so that the natural lemon oils flavor and perfume the sugar.
For the Batter:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and liberally grease a loaf pan.
- To a stand mixer, add 1 cup of the lemon sugar (reserve the other ½ cup for the topping) and the butter and mix until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add in the sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, and mix after each egg is added. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that all the ingredients are incorporated.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup of the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- To the same bowl, add the remaining ½ cup of flour and the blueberries. Stir to coat the blueberries in the flour. Using a spatula, gently fold the blueberries and residual flour into the batter – do this by hand so that you don’t break up the berries too much.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top.
- Sprinkle the reserved ½ cup of lemon sugar evenly over the top of the batter.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, first checking around 45 minutes, until the edges are golden and the center is set (insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, the cake is done).
- Cool in the pan for 20 minutes and then carefully invert the cake to remove from the pan and set it on a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: breakfast
Hi There. I'm Molly. I'm a food-obsessed, self-taught cook and I can't wait to share my passion for all things culinary with you. My love for egg yolks is just the tip of the iceberg!
I don’t know how that son of mine is able to get himself back to working in the office when there’s food like this around the house!!!! This sounds delicious! And pretty easy too! I don’t know what sounds more tempting, this cake or the lemon blueberry bars. If I can get my act together I may make these this weekend. I think the only ingredient I’m missing is lemons & that’s an easy trip to the produce store in town. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the recipe post. Super delicious. And yes, wish I could share during this time. The blueberries pop in each bite and complements well with the lemon juice in the cake.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it as much as we did! Thanks, Emily! 🙂
Hi Molly! I absolutely love the lemon-blueberry combo! I just finished making this and the smell coming out of the oven was divine. Because I’m celiac, I made this using Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 baking flour, and decreased the flour by about 1/4 cup (as experience has taught me!), and I used wild frozen blueberries, because well, it’s May in Canada during a pandemic, and one cannot just mosey to the farmers market for fresh ones. I baked it for 65 minutes and it came out great. I think next time I may make a streusel type topping with the lemon sugar for extra crunch because I am a texture lover. Thanks again!
So glad to hear this, Genevieve! Thanks for the comment! 🙂
4 stars because I haven’t tasted it yet. Just one issue I had was the receipe called for cooling for 20 minutes, then remove and let cool on the rack. Unfortunately, the cake started to fall apart and lose it’s topping. Next time I will keep it in the pan and remove much later.
Now that I got to taste it – it was really delicious!
Excellent! Delicious would recommend to everyone!