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This Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake is made with a yellow cake flavored with lemon zest, soaked with lemon juice and blueberry puree, then topped with a light lemon frosting! It’s delicious and perfect for spring!
Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake
This post is sponsored by ALDI, but all opinions are my own.
Can you believe Easter is just a few days away? I am not entirely prepared, but I am excited to spend some time with family and reflect on the holiday.
If you are like me and not entirely prepared and are still looking for the perfect dessert, this is it! Spring is all about the fresh fruit and citrus and this cake combines both of them perfectly. Plenty of lemon and blueberry flavor, and as is the case with poke cakes, it’s quick and easy to put together. Plus, at ALDI the ingredients are easy to find and at great prices too!
This baby took several tries for me to get just right. The correct amounts of lemon and blueberry flavor were not as easy to achieve as I originally thought. The cake starts with a simple yellow cake mix. You could certainly swap it out for a homemade cake, but if you’re going for extra easy here, the mix is the way to go. Some lemon zest is added to the mix to get the lemon party started right in the cake!
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake
While the cake bakes, I suggest putting together the mix that gets poured over top after it comes out of the oven. You’ll start with some fresh blueberries. Puree them by popping them in a food processor with a couple tablespoons of water and sugar. Once everything is pureed, you can pour it through a fine mesh sieve to get rid of the skin of the blueberries. You should end up with about a cup of puree after straining. Add the fresh squeezed lemon juice and sweetened condensed milk to the puree and mix everything together.
Once the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes all over with a straw or end of a wooden spoon, or something similar. Pour the lemon blueberry mixture over the holes and spread it around so it can soak into the holes and the cake. Set the cake in the fridge to cool and soak in all the juices and deliciousness!
Next is the frosting! It’s a light lemon frosting that finishes off the cake beautifully. To decorate the top of the cake, I added some lemon slices and additional fresh blueberries. Can we talk for a second about the blueberries at ALDI recently? I bought several extra containers because they have been so big, juicy and and at a great price lately! Pile those suckers on there!
This cake was a big hit! I love the purply-blue color from the blueberries with the lemon yellow. The moisture from the lemon juice and blueberry puree mixture is off the charts and the flavor is perfectly sweet, fruity and just a bit tart. It was another hit with our church group that even the dieters broke their diets for. 🙂
Watch How To Make It
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Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake
- Prep Time: 45 Minutes
- Cook Time: 25 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes
- Yield: 12-15 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake is made with a yellow cake flavored with lemon zest, soaked with lemon juice and blueberry puree, then topped with a light lemon frosting! It’s delicious and perfect for spring!
Ingredients
LEMON BLUEBERRY CAKE
- 15.25 oz Baker’s Corner Yellow Cake Mix (plus ingredients on box)
- 4 tsp lemon zest (from 3–4 lemons)
- 9 oz blueberries
- 2 tbsp (26g) Baker’s Corner Sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/2 cup (120ml) fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Baker’s Corner Sweetened Condensed Milk
LEMON FROSTING
- 3/4 cup (168g) Countryside Creamery Salted Butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (95g) Carlini Pure Vegetable Shortening
- 5 cups (575g) Baker’s Corner Powdered Sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp Stonemill Vanilla Extract
- 3 tbsp (45ml) lemon juice
- Lemon slices, for decor
- Lemon zest, for decor
- Blueberries, for decor
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a 9×13-inch cake pan with non-stick baking spray.
2. Add the dry cake mix and lemon zest to a large mixer bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Add the additional ingredients listed on the box and follow to package instructions for mixing and bake time.
4. While the cake is baking, add the blueberries, sugar and water to a food processor and puree until smooth.
5. Pour the puree through a fine mesh sieve to remove the blueberry skin bits.*
6. Combine the puree with the lemon juice and sweetened condensed milk.
7. When the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes all over the cake with a straw, the end of a wooden spoon, or something similar.
8. Pour the puree mixture over the top of the cake and let it soak into the cake and holes.
9. Refrigerate the cake while it cools and soaks up the moisture.
10. To make the frosting, combine the butter and shortening with a mixer until smooth.
11. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
12. Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice and mix until combined.
13. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
14. Spread the frosting evenly over the cooled cake, then top with lemon slices, zest and blueberries, if desired.
15. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Cake is best well covered for 2-3 days.
*This step is optional. It doesn’t really affect the final result, other than that you don’t end up with pieces of blueberry skin in/on the cake.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 449
- Sugar: 55.5 g
- Sodium: 280.9 mg
- Fat: 19.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 68.8 g
- Protein: 2.2 g
- Cholesterol: 27.9 mg
Enjoy!
I really love this recipe, but I can’t find vegetable shortening. What replacements can I use? Thank you.
Just use additional butter.
Hey,
I really want to try this recipe, but I live in Norway and we don’t have the Yellow cake mix you use. Can I just bake some plain cake instead, and add the lemon and blueberry? Or is the cake mix essential for this to turn out right?
I personally really like the yellow cake mix with this one, but if you don’t have it, you can certainly use a white cake.
Is it necessary to refrigerate the cake while it cools and absorbs the blueberry mixture? It’s a hassle to deal with the condensation from the warm cake in the cool frig. I have seen other recipes for poke cakes that don’t call for the immediate refrigeration. Thanks!
It should be fine if you don’t refrigerate it for a bit. You’ll want to eventually though.
Best lemon frosting ever! I just finished frosting the cake and it is 10:50 at night, and I seriously licked the whole bowl clean. Can’t wait to try it with the cake and filling tomorrow at our Bible study get-together!
Awesome! I hope it’s enjoyed by all! 🙂
A lemony triumph, Lindsay! I made this delightful cake for Easter and everyone loved it. I was lucky enough to get leftovers, and it’s even better the next day 🙂 I will definitely make this again. It is totally worth breaking a diet for!
Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Valerie!
Hey I have a question I only have 1/4 cups not 3/4 cup so can I just use the 1/4 cup three times and get 3/4
What is it that you only have 1/4 cup of?
Sorry I mean in measuring I don’t know we’re to find 3/4
Ok, then yes you can do 1/4 cup three times.