Delicious Berry Cake with Lemon Curd Cream: Your Ultimate Spring and Summer Dessert
Indulge in the vibrant flavors of spring and summer with this exquisite One-Layer Berry Cake with Lemon Curd Cream. When fresh berries are at their peak, this cake becomes an unparalleled treat, blending sweet, tangy, and refreshing notes into every bite.
Forget the ordinary chocolate or plain white cakes; it’s time to elevate your dessert game with a truly remarkable Berries Cake. What truly sets this recipe apart is the luscious lemon whipped cream, a velvety, zesty topping that transforms a simple cake into an extraordinary culinary experience. Get ready to impress with this bright, beautiful, and utterly delicious creation!
Why This Berry Cake Will Be Your New Favorite Dessert
This Berry Cake with Lemon Curd Cream isn’t just another dessert; it’s a celebration of seasonal flavors and simple elegance. Here’s why you absolutely must try making it:
- A Symphony of Berry Flavors: Unlike single-berry cakes, this recipe incorporates a delightful trio of fresh berries – typically blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. This blend creates an incredible visual tapestry, ensuring each slice is bursting with diverse textures and a complex, irresistible flavor. The berries also infuse the cake with natural moisture, keeping it tender and succulent.
- The Unforgettable Lemon Curd Cream: If your go-to dessert topping is usually plain whipped cream, prepare for a revelation. This isn’t just any cream; it’s a meticulously crafted lemon curd cream that will truly “knock your socks off.” The bright, tangy notes of lemon curd perfectly balance the sweetness of the cake and berries, adding a sophisticated, refreshing zing that elevates the entire dessert. It’s a game-changer!
- Effortlessly Elegant for Any Occasion: This is a single-layer cake, making it far less intimidating to bake than multi-tiered creations. Its simplicity makes it a perfect dessert for intimate small gatherings, cozy family dinners, or a casual weekend treat. Its charming, rustic appearance is inherently appealing, proving that delicious doesn’t have to mean complicated. My friend, Beth, served this exact cake at our recent dinner club, and it received rave reviews from everyone!
- Seasonal Freshness: Designed to shine when fresh berries are abundant, this cake captures the essence of spring and summer. It’s light, vibrant, and incredibly refreshing, making it the ideal conclusion to any warm-weather meal.
Rave Reviews and Enthusiastic Endorsements
Don’t just take our word for it! This Berry Cake with Lemon Curd Cream consistently garners enthusiastic praise. After sharing this exquisite dessert with a group of friends, I received this unforgettable text message:
“That dessert was incredible. Really incredible. Do you plan to share the recipe? I absolutely need it!”
Such heartfelt endorsements speak volumes about the unforgettable taste and appeal of this delightful cake. It’s a proven crowd-pleaser that leaves a lasting impression.
Essential Ingredient Notes for a Perfect Berry Cake
Crafting the perfect berry cake begins with understanding the role of each ingredient. Here’s a detailed look at what you’ll need and some tips for selection:
- All-Purpose Flour: This is the foundation of our cake. All-purpose flour provides the necessary structure without making the cake too dense. Ensure it’s fresh and properly stored for best results.
- Baking Powder: Crucial for the cake’s rise and tender crumb. Always check its expiration date—an inactive baking powder can lead to a flat, dense cake. Remember, baking powder and baking soda are not interchangeable, as they react differently in recipes. (See Expert Tips below for how to test your baking powder’s freshness!)
- Butter (Salted): Butter provides richness and flavor. I prefer salted butter in most of my baking as it subtly enhances other flavors, though unsalted butter with a pinch of added salt works equally well. Always ensure your butter is at room temperature for optimal creaming.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the cake batter, contributing to its tender texture. For a beautiful, sparkling finish on top, coarse sugar (also known as sanding sugar) is recommended. While regular granulated sugar can be used for sprinkling, coarse sugar offers a delightful textural contrast and visual appeal that truly makes the cake pop.
- Eggs (Large, Room Temperature): Eggs bind the ingredients, add moisture, and contribute to the cake’s structure. Using large eggs at room temperature is vital, as they emulsify better with the butter and sugar, resulting in a smoother, more uniform batter.
- Whole Milk (Room Temperature): Whole milk adds moisture and richness. Like eggs and butter, room temperature milk integrates more seamlessly into the batter, preventing curdling and ensuring a consistent texture.
- Fresh Berries: The stars of the show! This recipe is designed for fresh raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. The total amount is specified, but feel free to adjust the ratios or even use just one or two types if preferred, as long as the overall quantity remains the same. When selecting berries, look for plump, firm fruits free from blemishes or mold to ensure the best flavor and texture.
- Lemon Curd: This vibrant, tangy component is key to the extraordinary whipped cream. While you can certainly make your own lemon curd from scratch, a high-quality store-bought option, like Wilkin & Sons Tiptree lemon curd, works beautifully for convenience without compromising on flavor.
Mastering the Bake: Expert Tips for a Flawless Berry Cake
Achieving a bakery-worthy cake is easier than you think with these professional tips:
- Proper Pan Preparation is Key: Nothing is more frustrating than a cake sticking to the pan. To prevent this, always prepare your cake pan diligently. Start by generously greasing the pan with butter or a non-stick cooking spray, ensuring all surfaces are covered. Then, for an extra layer of insurance, line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper. This creates a non-stick barrier that guarantees an easy release every time.
- The Importance of Room Temperature Ingredients: This is a golden rule in baking! Eggs, butter, and milk at room temperature blend together far more effectively than cold ingredients. When butter is cold, it struggles to cream properly with sugar, leading to a lumpy batter and a less tender cake. Room temperature ingredients emulsify beautifully, creating a smooth, homogenous batter that bakes evenly and yields a superior texture.
- PRO-Tip: Alternating Wet and Dry Ingredients: For a stable and perfectly mixed batter, avoid adding all liquid or dry ingredients at once. Instead, alternate between adding the dry flour mixture and the liquid milk mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. This technique helps to maintain the batter’s emulsion, preventing it from separating and ensuring a consistent texture throughout the cake.
- Gently Fold in the Berries: Berries are delicate, so incorporate them into the batter with a light touch. Use a spatula to gently fold them in, rather than vigorously stirring, to prevent them from getting mashed. It’s perfectly normal for some berry juices to “bleed” into the batter, creating beautiful streaks of color and infusing the cake with even more fruity flavor.
- PRO-Tip: Check Your Baking Powder’s Expiration Date: This is a crucial step often overlooked! Baking powder loses its potency over time, and an inactive leavening agent will result in a flat, dense cake. Unlike baking soda, which has a much longer shelf life and is used more frequently, baking powder often expires before you even make a significant dent in the can. To ensure your cake rises properly, you need active baking powder. If you’re unsure about its freshness, perform a quick test: place a spoonful of baking powder into a small bowl of hot water. If it bubbles vigorously, it’s still fresh and ready to use. If it barely reacts, it’s time to replace it.
- Whipped Cream Customization: While the lemon curd cream is highly recommended for its unique flavor, you can certainly top this cake with plain sweetened whipped cream if you prefer. Both options are delicious, offering versatility based on your preference.
- PRO-Tip: Stabilizing Your Whipped Cream: For a whipped cream that holds its shape beautifully and is less likely to separate, chill your mixing bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before whipping. The cold temperature helps the cream achieve maximum volume and stability. Additionally, the cornstarch often found in powdered sugar acts as a natural stabilizer, which is another great reason to use it in your whipped cream!
Frequently Asked Questions About This Berry Cake
Lemon curd is a velvety, sweet, and tangy spread or topping traditionally made from the juice, zest, sugar, butter, and egg yolks of citrus fruits, most commonly lemons. The ingredients are cooked gently over low heat until the mixture thickens to a creamy consistency. Once cooled, lemon curd is incredibly versatile, perfect as a topping for baked goods like cakes, scones, or tarts, a filling for pastries, or even a simple spread for toast. Its vibrant flavor adds a bright, zesty counterpoint to many desserts.
Yes, absolutely! The term “Chantilly cake” typically refers to a cake that is prepared with or served alongside Chantilly cream, which is essentially sweetened whipped cream. Given that this berry cake is generously adorned with a delicious lemon-infused whipped cream, it certainly falls under the delightful category of a Chantilly cake. The addition of lemon curd elevates the classic Chantilly, offering an extra layer of sophisticated flavor.
You can indeed use frozen berries for this cake, though there are a few considerations. Frozen berries will release more moisture and are more prone to “bleeding” their color into the batter, which might result in a slightly more colored crumb. To mitigate the extra juiciness, a useful tip is to toss the frozen berries (do not thaw them first) in a tablespoon or two of all-purpose flour before gently folding them into the batter. This light coating helps to absorb excess moisture, preventing the cake from becoming too wet and ensuring the berries are more evenly suspended throughout the batter.
Discover More Delightful Recipes You Might Love
If you enjoyed this Berry Cake with Lemon Curd Cream, you’ll surely love exploring these other fantastic dessert creations:
- Easy Lemon Posset from Saving Room for Dessert
- Strawberry Lemon Tart with Lemon Curd
- Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Curd Filling
- Lemon Bar Cheesecake
- Lemon Pavlova
- For a versatile topping, consider my Vanilla Bean Chantilly Cream as a delicious alternative to the lemon curd cream.
- Plus, delve into more of my Best Dessert Recipes and Best Cake Recipes for endless baking inspiration!
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Berries Cake Recipe with Lemon Curd Cream
30 minutes
45 minutes
30 minutes
1 hour 45 minutes
8 servings
This delightful one-layer cake is bursting with a colorful medley of fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Served with a generous dollop of our signature sweetened lemon curd whipped cream, it creates a truly delicious and refreshing pairing. Perfect for any gathering, it’s a testament to simple elegance and incredible flavor.
Rated 5 out of 5 stars by 27 reviewers!
Ingredients
For the Berry Cake:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 large egg white, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup fresh raspberries
- ¾ cup fresh blackberries
- ½ cup fresh blueberries
- 2 tablespoons coarse sugar (or extra granulated sugar), for sprinkling on top
For the Lemon Curd Whipped Cream:
- 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
- ¼ cup powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ cup high-quality lemon curd
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare Baking Pan: Generously grease a 9-inch round cake pan with non-stick cooking spray or butter. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper for easy release, then set it aside.
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set this dry mixture aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together until the mixture is light, fluffy, and pale in color. This usually takes 2-3 minutes.
- Add Eggs: Add the whole eggs and egg white to the butter mixture, one at a time, beating briefly after each addition until just incorporated. Avoid overmixing.
- Stir in Vanilla: Mix in the vanilla extract until just combined.
- Alternate Wet and Dry: Gradually add the dry ingredients alternately with the whole milk to the wet mixture. Begin by adding about one-third of the dry ingredients, mix until just combined, then add half of the milk, mix again, follow with another third of the dry ingredients, the remaining milk, and finally the last of the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined after each addition, being careful not to overmix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Fold in Berries: Gently fold in the fresh raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries using a spatula. It’s okay if some of the berry juices “bleed” into the batter; this adds beautiful color and flavor.
- Fill and Sprinkle: Scrape the prepared cake batter into your lined 9-inch cake pan and gently smooth the top with your spatula. Evenly sprinkle the coarse sugar (or regular sugar) over the surface of the batter.
- Bake Cake: Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool Cake: Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack in the pan for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, carefully invert the cake onto the wire rack to fully cool before transferring it to a serving dish.
- Make Lemon Curd Cream: While the cake cools, prepare the lemon cream. In a thoroughly chilled mixing bowl, combine the cold heavy cream and sifted powdered sugar. Beat on high speed with a hand mixer or stand mixer until soft peaks form.
- Finish Cream: Gently fold in the vanilla extract and lemon curd. Continue to beat until the mixture is well combined and holds medium peaks. Do not overbeat, or the cream may curdle.
- Serve: Once the cake is completely cool, slice it into wedges. Serve each slice with a generous dollop of the luscious lemon curd cream and a few extra fresh berries, if desired, for garnish and added freshness. Enjoy!
Chef’s Notes
Always double-check the expiration date on your baking powder. It has a shorter shelf life than baking soda and can often expire before you finish the container. A simple freshness test involves adding a spoonful to hot water; it should bubble vigorously if active.
You may find yourself with some leftover lemon curd cream, and that’s fantastic! This versatile cream is incredibly delicious and can be enjoyed in many ways. Try it as a decadent topping for pancakes or waffles, spooned over fresh fruit or ice cream, or as a delightful accompaniment to angel food cake.
Recommended Baking Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases, helping to support this blog and bring you more delicious recipes!
- Tiptree Lemon Curd
- 9-inch Parchment Rounds
- OXO Good Grips 11-Inch Better Balloon Whisk
- 3 Pyrex Mixing Bowls
- KitchenAid 9-Speed Digital Hand Mixer
- 9-inch USA Pan Bakeware Round Cake Pan
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8
Serving Size:
1 slice
Amount Per Serving (Estimated):
Calories: 480Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 132mgSodium: 315mgCarbohydrates: 55gFiber: 2gSugar: 35gProtein: 7g
Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results.
To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.
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