Lemon blueberry ricotta pound cake is a fruit-filled quick bread made with ricotta cheese, fresh blueberries, and lemon sugar. It’s ready to bake in under an hour and works for breakfast, brunch, or dessert. The ricotta adds moisture and richness, helping to keep this cake fresh for days.
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One of our vices is ordering a muffin, scone, pastry, or a slice of sweet, pound-cake-like bread with our morning lattes. This lemon-blueberry ricotta pound cake blends two of my favorite flavors into a satisfying treat without spending five dollars for a slice. With a prep time of less than 10 minutes, you’ll have this in the oven quickly, and your kitchen will smell amazing. If you love citrus and berry desserts, try our blueberry peach cobbler or this no-bake lemon cheesecake.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
With a few simple pantry staples and ricotta, this pound cake can be prepped in 10 minutes, making it perfect for breakfast or dessert.
The complete ingredient list and measurements are listed in the printable recipe below.
- Ricotta: We replace some of the butter in traditional pound cake with ricotta, resulting in a moist, rich cake. For the best results, we recommend using whole-milk ricotta.
- Blueberries: You can use either fresh or frozen blueberries. We sometimes use frozen blueberries since we always have a bag or two in the freezer. You might get more color bleed in the cake batter with frozen blueberries.
- Lemons: Use fresh lemons to get the best flavor, and be sure to zest them before juicing.
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Pound Cake
Here are the quick, step-by-step instructions with visuals; you can find the full instructions, including the exact ingredients, in the recipe card below.
Pro-tip: Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing and slicing.
1. Make the Lemon sugar: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. With your fingers, rub the sugar and zest together to release the oils, infusing the sugar with intense lemon flavor.
2. Make the Cake Batter: In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, melted butter, lemon sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract, whisking well to combine. Then, whisk in the eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each.
Add all the flour (minus 1 tablespoon), the baking powder, and the salt to the wet ingredients, and carefully fold the dry ingredients into the mixture.
3. Add the Blueberries: Toss the blueberries with the tablespoon of reserved flour and add them to the pound cake batter. With a rubber spatula, carefully fold the blueberries into the cake batter.
4. Bake the Pound Cake: Transfer the batter to a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan that has been lined with parchment paper and bake in an oven preheated to 350°F for about one hour or until starting to brown around the edges. You will know it’s ready when a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20-25 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake. Carefully remove the cake from the pan by inverting it onto the rack and then turning it right-side up.
5. Make the Lemon Glaze: Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth. Once the lemon blueberry pound cake has completely cooled, drizzle it with the lemon glaze. Allow the cake to sit for another 5-10 minutes to set the glaze, then slice and serve.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: To make this pound cake in advance, follow the instructions for prepping, baking, and cooling it. Once cool, store it in an airtight container for up to 24 hours. Before serving, make the lemon glaze and drizzle it over the pound cake.
How to Store: You can freeze leftover pound cake for up to 3 months. Cut the cake into individual slices, arrange them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze them. Freeze the slices until firm, then transfer them to a freezer bag or freezer-safe container. The pound cake can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an air-tight container.
How to Reheat: Leftover pound cake can be enjoyed at room temperature, or place a slice on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 250°F for 8-10 minutes or until the pound cake is warm but not hot.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Tossing the blueberries in flour helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom. We do this for both fresh and frozen blueberries.
- There is no need to thaw the frozen blueberries.
- For lighter, fluffier pound cake, use room-temperature eggs. To quickly bring eggs to room temperature, place them in a bowl with warm water for a few minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
More Quick Bread Recipes To Try
Looking for more quick breads? Try these other recipes:
- Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting – This moist, spiced pumpkin bread, topped with tangy cream cheese frosting, makes a great fall breakfast or dessert.
- Brown Butter Banana Bread – Made with browned butter, ripe bananas, and warm spices, this bread has a tender crumb and rich flavor that regular banana bread can’t match.
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Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Pound Cake
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Equipment
- Loaf Pan
- Small Bowl
- Medium Bowl
- Wire Rack
Ingredients
Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Pound Cake
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- ¾ cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Lemon Glaze
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup confectioner's sugar
Instructions
Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Pound Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Add sugar and lemon zest to a small bowl, and rub them together with your fingers.
- Add ricotta cheese, melted butter, the lemon sugar mixture, lemon juice, and vanilla extract to a medium bowl. Whisk to combine, and then whisk in the eggs, one at a time.
- Add the flour (reserving 1 tablespoon), baking powder, and salt to the ricotta mixture, then carefully fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Toss the blueberries with the tablespoon of reserved flour, then add to the pound cake batter. Carefully fold the blueberries into the batter with a rubber spatula, then transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake the cake for about an hour or until it starts to brown around the edges and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20-25 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake. Carefully remove the cake from the pan by inverting it onto the rack and then turning it right-side up.
Lemon Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice until smooth.
- Drizzle the lemon glaze over the pound cake once the cake has completely cooled.
1 AM MAKING THIS FRIDAY FIR DESSERT AFTER SABBATH CHURCH THIS SATURDAY, GODS 7TH DAY. SABBBATH.
THANKS SOOO MUCH.
My husband doesn’t like blueberries, weird I know, can this recipe be made with other fruit?
Raspberry would be a great blueberry substitute or you could leave the blueberries out and just make a lemon ricotta cake.
Again… can blueberries be substituted for another fruit ( I don’t like blueberries either, and lemons can say by by by as well. So….. can lemon be substituted as well?. I know I’m extra 🥰
Raspberry would be an excellent blueberry substitute. I love cranberry orange cake so substitute the lemon juice and zest with orange and blueberries for cranberries.
I made this for family brunch and everyone loved it! Moist and good lemon flavor.
The cake was easy. I couldn’t believe it! Absolutely scrumptious!
This was full of flavour and so lovely. My whole family really enjoyed this and I’m back to make another one already!
This was so yummy and easy to make.
Hi, I haven’t tried this recipe yet. It looks scrumptious. I was wondering if the recipe could be tweeked. Example: instead use 1/2 the AP flour and the other 1/2 almond flour, also Truvia as a sweetener instead of sugar. I’m trying to cut back on the carbohydrates.
We haven’t tried it with almond flour so can’t guarantee the results but if you do sub out some of the AP flour for almond flour you might need additional egg to help bind the flour.
Don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to sub out Truvia for sugar just adjust the amount based on the package recommendations since it isn’t a 1:1 substitution.
Let us know how it goes.
Made it gluten free and it was delicious! My cousin is gluten intolerant so always looking for recipes that translate well. Thank you for this recipe.
I am so glad that it that you enjoyed it and that it turned out great as gluten free recipe.
Made this and it turned out great! The cake was so yummy and easy to make.