I liked making candied lemons for my Larabar recipe so I started looking for another recipe to use them on. I found an idea for a lemon blueberry buttermilk pound cake recipe with a low search volume keyword so hopefully, I’ll get new visitors. If you are new to the site, welcome! I’ve hidden Easter eggs in my previous blog posts for prizes that have yet to be claimed. Anyway, this pound cake is pretty delicious, the two people I’ve given it to both enjoyed it immensely.
Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pound Cake Notes
The key to this pound cake being so moist comes from the buttermilk. If you don’t have buttermilk or don’t want to buy a container only to use a small amount for this recipe, you can make your own. Replace one tablespoon of milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar. Stir, let it sit for 5 minutes and you have buttermilk ready to go. This can be done right before the lemons get zested so the “buttermilk” is curdling up while you’re getting other parts of the recipe ready.
Once the dry ingredients are combined and the buttermilk has been combined with the lemon zest and juice, the butter and sugar can be whipped. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice while mixing. Once the butter and sugar are light and fluffy, add a quarter of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Next, add a third of the buttermilk mixture and mix to combine. Repeat with another quarter of the flour mixture and a third of the buttermilk mixture.
After the final quarter of the flour mixture has been added, the blueberries can be incorporated. I used frozen boreal blueberries from Trader Joe’s for this recipe.
They’re smaller blueberries that I thought would work nicely in this recipe. Additionally, they were the cheapest option. Coat the blueberries in flour so that they don’t sink to the bottom of the pan while baking. Gently fold the coated blueberries into the batter.
Baking and Topping Notes
Divide the batter between the two prepared loaf pans and place in the oven to bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Depending on the size of the loaf pan used, cook time will vary between 55 minutes and 70 minutes. When a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, the cake is done. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in the pan for ten minutes. After ten minutes, remove the loaf from the pan and let cool on a wire rack for 45 minutes or until mostly cool.
While the lemon blueberry buttermilk pound cake is cooling, the candied lemons and glaze can be prepared. Thinly slice a lemon into rounds, discard any seeds, and set aside. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the lemon slices and cook for around 15 minutes. Flip the lemon slices over halfway through cooking.
When the rinds become translucent and the mixture turns a golden color, the lemons are done. Remove the lemons from the saucepan and place them on a piece of wax paper to cool.
Brush the cake generously with the syrup and top with the candied lemons as desired. Serve the cake while still warm. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The cake will still be good after 3 days, maybe just a little bit dry.
Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pound Cake
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- 2 8-¼ x 4-¼ Loaf pan
Ingredients
- 360 grams all-purpose (AP) flour (3 cups)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 237 ml buttermilk (1 cup)
- 2 tbsp lemon zest (~zest of 3 lemons)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 227 grams Unsalted Butter, softened (2 sticks)
- 450 grams granulated sugar (2-¼ cups)
- 3 Large Eggs
- 165 grams blueberries (1 cup)
Candied Lemons and Glaze
- 200 grams granulated sugar (1 cup)
- 237 ml water (1 cup)
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced
Instructions
Batter Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease the loaf pan and lay a piece of parchment paper the long way across the pan. Use a piece long enough so the ends come up the sides of the pan and can be used as a sling to remove the loaf from the pan.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, lemon zest and lemon juice. Set aside.
- Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice while mixing.
- Add a fourth of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix to combine. Next, add a third of the buttermilk mixture and mix to combine. Repeat with the next quarter of the flour mixture and third of the buttermilk mixture until all ingredients have been added. Remove bowl from stand mixer and beat by hand with a spatula to make sure batter is well combined.
- Take the blueberries and place in a bowl. Add a pinch of flour and toss to coat the blueberries. Repeat as necessary until blueberries are fully coated.
- Fold the blueberries into the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared loaf pans
- Bake the loaves for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the loaves cool in the tin for ten minutes. After ten minutes, lift the loaves out of the pan using the parchment slings and let cool on a cooling rack for around an hour.
Candied Lemons
- While the cakes are cooling, thinly slice a lemon into rounds, removing any seeds.
- Combine the sugar and water in a sauce pot on the stove. Over medium heat, stir until the sugar is dissolved and then bring mixture to a boil.
- Add the lemons to the sugar mixture. Let the lemons cook in the sugar mixture for 15 minutes, flipping the lemon slices halfway through cooking. When the sugar mixture begins to turn a golden color and the lemon rinds are translucent, the lemons are done and the glaze is ready.
- Place the lemon slices on a piece of wax paper to cool. Brush the sugar glaze generously on top of the pound cake while cake is still decently warm. Top with lemon slices as desired and serve.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. After that its probably still decent but maybe a little dry.
