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Lemon-Blueberry Poke Cake

A lemon blueberry poke cake and a bowl of blueberries.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks
  • Active Time

    1 hour

  • Total Time

    3 hours, 40 minutes (including chilling time)

Slice into this no-mixer-required, lemony cake and you’ll be greeted with a surprise: bold stripes of bright blueberry filling. The rich glaze adds an extra boost of sweet, lemon flavor.

Ingredients

Makes one 9x5" loaf

For the lemon cake:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For the blueberry filling:

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup blueberries
1 teaspoon unflavored powdered gelatin

For the lemon glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons blueberries
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Special Equipment

A 9x5" loaf pan (preferably metal)
  1. Make the lemon cake:

    Step 1

    Preheat oven to 350°F. Line loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the long sides, and lightly coat with nonstick spray.

    Step 2

    搅拌面粉,烤粉和盐在一个中等bowl. Whisk lemon zest into sugar in a large bowl until very fragrant, about 1 minute. Add eggs, oil, and vanilla and whisk until light in color and slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Whisk in half of the dry ingredients, then whisk in yogurt. Whisk in remaining dry ingredients. Add lemon juice and whisk to combine. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top.

    步骤3

    Bake cake, rotating pan halfway through, until top is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 55–60 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool, about 2 hours.

  2. Make the blueberry filling:

    Step 4

    Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add blueberries, then reduce to a simmer. Smash blueberries with the back of a spoon and continue to simmer 20 minutes.

    Step 5

    Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water in a small bowl; let sit 10 minutes to soften.

    Step 6

    Strain blueberry mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl, pressing blueberries with the back of spoon to release juices. Whisk about 1/3 cup blueberry syrup into gelatin mixture, stirring to dissolve, then pour gelatin mixture over remaining blueberry syrup and stir to combine. Chill at least 1 1/2 hours.

    Step 7

    Run a knife around sides of cooled cake to loosen. Using parchment overhang, transfer cake to a baking sheet or cutting board. Starting at 1 end of cake, use a 1/8" dowel or the thin handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes in rows spaced about 3/4" apart, alternating between 2 and 3 holes per row (you should have about 11 rows of holes).

    Step 8

    Transfer chilled blueberry filling to a pastry bag, turkey baster, or squeeze bottle. Carefully squeeze filling into holes.

  3. Make the lemon glaze:

    Step 9

    Whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp. water in a medium bowl. Transfer cake to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Spread glaze over cake with a spatula, covering the holes. Toss blueberries in glaze bowl to coat, then sprinkle blueberries and lemon zest over cake. Chill until filling and glaze are set, about 1 hour.

  4. Do Ahead

    Step 10

    Lemon cake can be made 1 day ahead. Cake can be baked, filled, and glazed 3 days ahead; chill in an airtight container.

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  • To: gbosch1 from Colorado I'm pretty sure the nutritional info is for the entire cake. The info shows this cake is ONE serving, ha ha.

    • teri79

    • Seattle, WA

    • 6/19/2019

  • Really delicious, but definitely not quick or easy. You don't need the glaze at all - just slather the whole thing w/the blueberry sauce. I made this for mother's day and it was a big hit.

    • Anonymous

    • New York

    • 5/13/2019

  • Seriously...are the nutritional facts correct??? 4077 calories per serving? 133 grams of fat...per serving??? No thanks....I have other recipes that look just a good but without these ridiculous figures! Sorry........

    • gbosch1

    • Colorado

    • 6/21/2018

  • Made this for friends. I am an experienced cook, mine looked NOTHING like the picture:-( Flavor is great, but you need a much bigger whole to get the blueberry to look like the picture. Powdered sugar glaze was just that, a glaze, does not show up white as in the picture.

    • lisam

    • Plover, Wi

    • 7/25/2016

  • I made two at once. I thought it was delicious and moist . I would make the holes in the cake a little larger so I could put more blueberry in the cake.

    • ali_wright

    • Warner Robins, Georgia

    • 7/21/2016

  • I liked this...my husband thought it was stellar...but after digging deeper, I discovered it as really the lemon glaze and zest he liked, not the blueberry "pokes" so much. It was a LOT of trouble for what it is. Next time I will offer him the French Yogurt Cake on this site and put the lemon glaze from this recipe on it--I think that will satisfy us both beautifully.

    • jcmce9323

    • Georgia

    • 7/8/2016

  • One fork-Recipe too complex for basically a poke cake

    • Anonymous

    • Georgia

    • 7/3/2016

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