Lemon Blueberry Layered Cake

Summer is all about lemon and berry desserts and I love them all. We’re starting to work on establishing a garden and have already planted blueberry and raspberry bushes and are attempting a potted lemon tree. While we’re unlikely to get anything from them this year, it’s exciting to think that we’ll be nicely set up next year. This lemon blueberry layered cake is a nice combination of easy ingredients and shortcuts while creating a fresh and lovely summer dessert. It will definitely be a summer favorite!

Ingredients:

Lemon Cake:

3 lemon cake mix boxes from your favorite brand
3 3.4 oz instant lemon pudding mix packets
3 cups sour cream
12 large eggs
1 1⁄2 cups canola oil
3⁄4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3⁄4 cup water
3 9in round cake pans (you can obviously do one at a time if you don’t have 3 pans–I don’t!)
2 10in round cake boards or a cooling tray/sheet/whatever you want to call it

Homemade blueberry jam ingredients:

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
3 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 – 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 1⁄2 cups unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
6 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2-4 tbsp milk
1 large lemon, zested
1⁄4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 large piping bag with star tip

*lemon slices and fresh blueberries for garnish*

Directions:

For the homemade blueberry jam:

Using a medium pot over medium to high heat, combine all the blueberry jam ingredients and stir until the mixture starts to boil.

Gently smash some of the blueberries and lower the temperature. Continue to allow the mixture to simmer and thicken for 10 minutes, making sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom by stirring occasionally.

Once the jam has started to thicken, remove and allow to cool completely.

For the lemon cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray the pans with baking spray or line with baking paper.

Using a standing mixer, beat the cake mix, pudding, sour cream, eggs, oil, lemon juice and water until combined.

Divide the batter evenly between the three cake pans (again, if you don’t have three cake pans or can’t fit all three in your oven, it’s totally ok to bake these one at a time.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.

Remove the cake layers from the cake pans and onto the cake boards/cooling tray to allow the cakes to cool for another hour.

Using a serrated knife or cake leveler, remove the domes from the tops of the cake to create even layers.

Set aside while you make the frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting:

Using a standing mixer, beat all the cream cheese frosting ingredients together until they’re combined, smooth, and hold a peak.

Scoop 2 1/2 cups of frosting into the piping bag and set aside.

Take one cake layer and pipe a thick ring of frosting around the edge of the cake.

Spoon 1 1⁄2 cups of the blueberry jam into the center of the cake layer.

Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting and pipe another ring of frosting around the edge.

Spoon another 1 1⁄2 cups of jam into the center and spread evenly.

Place the third cake layer on top and using remaining frosting, frost the entire cake.

Take the piping bag and pipe dollops of frosting all around the cake.

Place fresh blueberries on top of the cake and enjoy!

You can make this as simple or as fancy as you’d like. I’m not great at the decorating part of baking, so just making pretty dollops of frosting is a win for me. And if you’re interested, the frosting serves as a barrier so that the blueberry jam doesn’t squish out, but you can play around with that, too. This lemon blueberry layered cake is a great summertime treat no matter how you customize it!