Blueberry Pound Cake
Easy and elegant, this blueberry pound cake is studded with wild Maine blueberries tossed in cinnamon and sugar, then topped with a sweet glaze.
By Yankee Magazine|Apr 08 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanEasy and elegant, this blueberry pound cake is studded with wild Maine blueberries tossed in cinnamon and sugar, then topped with a sweet glaze.
Yield:
Ingredients
Cooking spray
2 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen blueberries)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
2-1/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup orange juice or milk
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons sweet butter, very soft
1 tablespoon lemon zest (optional)
Instructions
Grease standard 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray.
Mix blueberries, cinnamon, and 5 tablespoons sugar and set aside.
Mix together additional sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs.
Add flour and baking powder to mixture. Add salt, vanilla, and orange juice in batter and beat well.
Spread 1/3 of batter into the bottom of the pan. Top with 1/2 of blueberry mixture, forming a ring around the center of the pan. Repeat, ending with the batter.
Bake at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 75-90 minutes. Cool slightly. Remove cake from pan.
Mix confectioners’ sugar, butter, and lemon zest (if using) to make icing and drizzle on cake. Add a little milk if the consistency is too thick.
This was wonderful, however all the blueberries dropped to the bottom of the pound cake once it was cooked. I woulds uggest adding 1/2 the berries to the top of the batter when the pound cake is half cooked. The blueberries will sink down into the batter but not drop to the bottom. Also 2 T of butter wasn’t enough to mix with 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar. I wasn’t able to drizzle the icing.
I read the previous comment about the berries falling to the bottom of the cake. I simply coated them with flour, about 2 tablespoons, and then added the cinnamon and sugar. The berries were distributed thoughout the cake.
It has gotten rave reviews from my family of pound cake lovers!
Having pounds of freshly-picked Michigan blueberries, I was looking for a new use for them. This was it! Although I didn’t have a bundt pan, I used a deep casserole dish. After 65 minutes the center was still not done, but the sides were well-browned and I could remove it from the dish. I turned it upside down and baked it for 3 more minutes in the microwave, which set the center. The cake received absolutely rave reviews from the four parties who shared it, even one who normally doesn’t eat sweets. And he praised it profusely. This recipe will become a regular in our home.
Made it today, June 5, 2014, and it’s absolutely delicious. My only advice would be to generously grease the bundt pan. I had a hard time getting mine out.
I was wondering what sized bunt cake pan was used? That wasn’t mentioned.
Hi Jackie. It’s a standard 12-cup Bundt pan.
Found this recipe when I went to the website to print out a copy of the apple cider muffin recipe. It looked good so I tried it – delicious! I had no issues with the blueberries sinking; between the cinnamon/sugar coating, and the thickness of the batter, they stayed where they were supposed to. I would recommend not using extra large eggs; I used large eggs and the batter consistency was just right. If it’s too thin, the blueberries will sink and you will need to coat with flour. Following the recipe I also found the icing was too thick to drizzle (and I melted the butter rather than using soft butter). I solved this by adding lemon juice, rather than lemon zest, to the icing and it worked a treat. If you don’t like the lemon, just use a little water. Finally, my oven tends to be hot, which will cook the outer parts of the cake, but leave the center soggy. I compensate by lowering the temp and increasing the cooking time and it comes out fine, cooked through but still moist and delicious. Apart from the above, this is a really good recipe and I am now completely hooked, as is my family!
Forgot to add: first time I made the cake, I used milk instead of orange juice (the choices offered in the recipe). The second time I decided to try apple cider, out of curiosity. I liked the cider version the best (I don’t like orange juice so I never have it in the house).
Great tips! Thanks for sharing, Debra! We’re so glad that you and your family enjoyed the blueberry pound cake.
What amount of flour is in the batter? I don’t see any in the recipe.
Hi Cindy. The recipe calls for 3 cups of flour. It’s listed under the eggs in the ingredients list. Thanks!
I would like to substitute butter for the 1 cup of oil. Would 1 1/4 of a cup of butter be correct and what adjustment should be make to reduce the liquid added given the water that will be added with the butter? Thank you.
Hi Christopher. You can substitute 1 cup of melted butter for the 1 cup of oil without any other adjustments. Just be sure to let it cool a bit before adding.
With this season’s fresh blueberries, I got out the recipe again. It was just as wonderful as I remembered it from last season. This time I tried lemonade instead of milk or orange juice and it was delicious! Didn’t even wait to ice it! Yum! Gave some to a neighbor and she loved it so much she asked for the recipe, too!
This sounds delicious!! Going by the market today after work for blueberries!
I sprayed the heck out of the bundt pan, but the cake stuck in there anyhow. The icing was pretty thick, too, even after adding over a tablespoon of milk. I was hoping it would melt and drip down the sides, but it didn’t. I hope at least it will taste good.
Mine is in the oven. It’s been an hour and my toothpick is almost clean. Did I do something wrong? Time states 75 minutes plus. I’m bringing this to work so I hope it’s no raw in the middle …lol ????????????????????????
Still hands down the best recipe I’ve ever found on the Yankee site (Apple Cider Muffins runs a close second). Easy to make, almost no-fail and absolutely delicious. Just made two yesterday. Like a squirrel, I’m preparing for the winter by baking and freezing enough of these cakes to tide me over until next year’s blueberry season!
For those we ho are having trouble getting the cake out of the pan, I recommend using shortening to grease the pan, then lightly, but thoroughly, dusting wirh flour. I use this method with all of my cakes and sweet breads. Do still allow the cake to cool at least 15 minutes before attempting to remove it from the pan. Let it rest longer if needed.
My always successful suggestion for preparing a bundt cake pan is to spray it very generously (every nook and cranny) with a good BAKING spray – the kind that combines flour and oil in the can. I always use PAM’s Baking spray and it never fails to release everything from the pan the first time. Baker’s Joy is another brand. Greasing alone is NOT enough with a bundt cake. The key to success, however, as others have said, is to test for doneness with a long enough tester to be sure it’s done in the center (I’ve seen that a strand of uncooked spaghetti can also be used), let the cake cool at least 15-30 minutes, then place a flat serving plate on top of the pan and quickly turn them over together to release the cake. If it’s not cool enough, it will fall apart!
Wilton Baking spray is excellent for anything baked. Try it….you might just like it!
I keep a plastic knife in my kitchen drawer. If the cake doesn’t drop despite generous spraying and flouring, I run the plastic knife around the edge and the middle. This releases the cake without scratching the pan and the plastic conforms to the shape of the pan so it doesn’t cut into the cake.
DELICIOUS!
can I use cake flour instead of all purpose flour or half and half of both
As we are up in Canada for the summer I am going to get some fresh blueberries and try this recipe. My husband is a real blueberry lover. I make a pound cake very similar to this with chocolate chips. It is great with coffee or even a glass of cold milk. I was lucky enough to purchase my first chocolate chip pound cake at a flea market bake sale and the recipe came with it.
Is this a Bundt cake or a pound cake? The name changes from the heading to the title. I like little cakes so I will use a small springform pan with a glass in the middle, well sprayed.
I use wymans frozen wild blueberries. always good and they dont go to mush like the enormous fresh cultivated berries. I liked the idea of tossing them in the cinnamon sugar I’ll add nutmeg. I like your recipes …
The frozen Maine blueberries to which I have access tend to be seedy. I prefer fresh, but they are the larger berries. Will this work, and do I need to adjust the quantity? Thanks.
Has anyone tried using unsweetened applesauce for all or part of the vegetable oil? I’d like to try it, as it makes the fat content more bearable.
Yes I used 4oz of applesauce- cake came out great
I’d Like to substitute applesauce for the oil as well. Does the 4 Oz applesauce totally replace the cup of oil or just replace 4 Oz ofit?
Can I make a 13×9 cake with this recipe?
I also would like to know if this can be done in a 9×13″ pan.
Me, too!
An 8 x 8 inch square pan holds 8 Cups batter, about the sane as a 9″ loaf pan.
A 9×13 pan would need 16 Cups of batter.
Changing the size of a pan used will change the time and temperature baked at, as well as the type of cake/loaf.
You may need to experiment. I would start with a 8×8 square pan first.
Sorry – responded to wrong recipe.
A bundt pan and a 9×13 are close in size. The 9×13 holds 14 Cups and a bundt pan holds 10 Cups. May want to set aside 4 Cups and bake remaining as muffins. Again watch for doneness.
I have made this cake from Yankees’ Best of New England Inns cookbook for decades and it has never failed. Am making it today for my neighbor’s whose daughter just passed, If using frozen berries dredge them in flour so they don’t sink. I use crisco and flour for seasoning the bundt pan. The photo on this site does not do it justice.
Pamela, I would love to try your Chocolate Chip poundcake recipe that is similar to this. Can you please share? Thank you.
I love Yankee Magazine. The recipes are the ones I remember as a child. Thank you Yankee Magazine.
The best bundt cake ever and the blueberries did not sink. I used my frozen berries that we picked last summer, rinsed the crystals off, laid them out on a paper towel and put them back in freezer until I was ready to coat them in the sugar and cinnamon and then into the cake as instructed. Perfect.
Interesting step to take with frozen berries
I will reduce the cinnamon next time, or use 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg instead. The cinnamon hid the berry flavor.
Absolutely the best blueberry cake ever. I did add 2 tbs. of triple sec orange flavored liquor to the frosting instead of the lemon zest. Sooo good. Cake was gone in a flash! Great served for breakfast or as a dessert.
What a great idea adding triple sec to the frosting! GENIUS! Yum!
This cake is to die for! I feel like I’m eating an authentic European tea cake. I used fresh blueberries and I cut the cinnamon to half of what the recipe called for. Delicious!!!
This looks like a yummy recipe I’ll try today. But this is a bundle cake, not a pound cake. Pound cake gets it’s name for the pound of butter in the original 1700s recipe. Without butter it’s not a pound cake!
I love that people give their tips and experiences about the recipes, but why doesn’t anyone respond to all the questions?
I agree! I would love clarification on the applesauce substitute.
Try using the juice of 1 lemon and 1 cup of confectionery sugar mixed together well, remove the seeds then drizzle over the cake. MRM.
2 1/4 cups of sugar seems quite high. Can you cut the sugar without hurting the recipe?
Hi Susan! We haven’t tried, but imagine you could cut it down by 1/2 cup or so without affecting the recipe. If you try, let us know how it goes!