Loaded with juicy blueberries, this easy-to-make loaf gets its moist, cake-like texture from a special ingredient you don’t usually find in baked goods, frozen lemonade concentrate.
The lemonade adds both sweetness and a bright, lemony flavor that’s accentuated with the addition of fresh lemon zest. In the interest of conserving calories, we’ve kept additional sugar to a minimum too, something we try to do in all of our dessert recipes.
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Loaf
This is an overview of how this dish is made. You’ll find detailed measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version of the recipe below.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a standard loaf pan with butter (8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″).
- Place the blueberries in a bowl, add 1 tablespoon of the measured flour, stir until coated and set aside.
- Whisk the remaining flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, oil, milk, lemonade concentrate and lemon zest together until frothy.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine with a spatula until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated, but don’t over mix.
- Gently fold the blueberries into the batter, mix well and transfer to the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar if desired.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice, stirring until smooth.
- Brush the glaze onto the cake, let sit for a few minutes, then slice and serve.
More Easy Cake Recipes:
To us, an easy cake recipe is one that requires no frosting and we have a few more that fit that bill. Our Golden Delicious Coffee Cake is topped with thin slices of apple instead of streusel or frosting.
Upside down cakes fall into the frosting-free category too. Both our Apple Gingerbread Upside Down Cake and Cranberry Upside Down Cake are fall-inspired twists on the traditional pineapple version.
Lemon Blueberry Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup blueberries, washed, drained and patted dry
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon coarse sugar for decorating, optional
For the glaze:
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a standard (8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″) loaf pan with butter (see notes).
- Place the blueberries in a small bowl, add 1 tablespoon of the measured flour and stir until thoroughly coated. Set aside.
- Whisk the remaining flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, oil, milk, lemonade concentrate and lemon zest together until frothy.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine with a spatula until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated. Do not over mix.
- Gently fold the blueberries into the batter, mix well and transfer to the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar if desired.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice, stirring until smooth.
- Brush the glaze onto the cake, let sit for a few minutes, then slice and serve.
Lynne DeCew says
Can you substitute frozen blueberries?
Lynne Webb says
Hi Lynne,
I think frozen blueberries would work out fine, but I looked into it a bit for you and learned that if you don’t want them to discolor the whole cake you need to rinse and dry them.
Here are the instructions from the baking experts at King Arthur Flour (my favorite brand):
“Rinse berries in cold water several times – until the water is noticeably lighter when you drain them. It’ll start out dark blue, but will gradually shade its way up to a watery red/blue.
When that happens, dry the berries well with several layers of paper towels, top and bottom.
Gently and quickly stir the frozen berries into the batter. You’ll see a few inevitable streaks of blue, but the entire batter shouldn’t turn blue. If that starts to happen – stop stirring, you’re done!”
Let me know if you try this and how it works out!