Berry Cake is a moist butter cake with folded-in mixed berries, topped with fluffy whipped cream and a delish berry sauce. It’s mildly sweet and perfect for celebrating the 4th of July, or as a coffee cake all year round.
Do you enjoy coffee cakes? How about berries? If you answered yes to both questions, then you’ve just got to make this BERRY CAKE. It is moist, summery, and patriotic.
The batter is a less dense buttermilk pound cake, with folded-in berries. To make it a stunner, I topped it with whipped cream and a homemade berry sauce. It went from simple to posh… a true red, white, and blue treat!
Take it to your 4th of July celebration, or your next picnic or cookout. It’ll be a hit!
HOW TO MAKE BERRY CAKE
First, preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan well with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Reserve.
Sift flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed for 3-5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
Then, add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition just until the yolk disappears. Do not overbeat! Mix in vanilla. With mixer on low, add half of flour mixture, then all the buttermilk, and finish with the remaining flour mixture, beating until just combined.
Scrape down bowl with a spatula, mixing well. It’s a thick batter (see pic.1). Spread the batter into the prepared pan. In a separate bowl, mix berries with 2 tbsp sugar. Spoon onto the top of the batter and give them a light push down. They will sink 1/2 way into the batter as the cake bakes (see pic.2).
Bake berry cake batter for 45 minutes on the middle rack, or until golden and a toothpick inserted close to the center comes out almost clean. Let cake cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan on a rack (see pic. 3).
Meanwhile, prepare the berry sauce. In a medium pan, mix 1 cup blueberries, 2 tbsp water, 4 tbsp sugar, and 1 tbsp lemon juice over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until blueberries start to burst, about 3 minutes.
Last, whisk cornstarch with 2 tbsp water and stir into the berry mixture. Bring to a boil until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup more blueberries. Let cool.
If not serving berry cake right away, cover cooled cake and store at room temp. Cover and store blueberry sauce in the fridge. Right before serving, top cake with whipped cream and then with blueberry sauce and fresh strawberries. Garnish with fresh mint, or as desired.
What’s is a Butter Cake?
A butter cake is a lighter version of a pound cake, in which one of the main ingredients is butter (e.g. this berry cake). The recipe calls for butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and leavening agents such as baking powder and baking soda.
It came from the English pound cake, which at first used equal amounts, one pound each, of butter, flour, sugar, and eggs to bake a heavy cake. So butter cake is nothing less than a modern variant of the classic pound cake.
Tips for the Perfect Butter Cake
- Measure ingredients right. Make sure to level every cup of flour and sugar with the straight edge of a knife or spatula. Why? Because extra sugar causes a cake to fall, while extra flour makes it dry.
- Ingredients must be at room temp, such as the butter (for creaming) and the eggs (for rising).
- In order to whip air into the cake batter and to have the cake rise during baking, butter must be beaten until creamy; then, sugar must be added gradually, and beaten until mixture is light and fluffy. Another way to make it lighter is to separate egg yolks from whites, then beat the whites and fold into batter.
- In contrast to the classic pound cake, butter cake has leavening agents such as baking powder; baking soda is added to neutralize acidic ingredients such as buttermilk that serve to make cake moister.
- Add eggs one at a time and avoid over beating. Otherwise, cake may develop a fragile crust that crumbles as it cools.
- Alternate dry with liquid ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. This will prevent a curdled batter!
- Grease cake pan well and make sure to either dust it with flour or line with parchment paper. This will help batter to rise to its full volume.
- Bake Berry Butter Cake in the center of the oven, and keep the door closed, otherwise this can cause cake to fall.
- Let cake cool for 10 minutes, allowing it to firm up. Cooling cake for too long in the pan makes it damp and causes it stick to the pan.
How to Store a Berry Butter Cake
The best way to store a butter cake is covered, at room temperature. Avoid storing in the fridge, where it tends to stiffen, dry out, and lose flavor. Since this berry cake is topped with whipped cream, an ingredient that needs to be refrigerated, only top the cake with whipped cream before consuming.
OTHER CAKE RECIPES TO TRY
- Lemon Coconut Pound Cake
- Strawberry Pound Cake
- Sweet Potato Pound Cake
- Banana Upside Down Cake
- Mango Upside Down Cake
- Brazilian Carrot Cake
- Mocha Cake
- Keto Coffee Cake
PIN & ENJOY!
BERRY CAKE
Equipment
- mixer
Ingredients
FOR THE BERRY CAKE BATTER
- 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
use GF all purpose flour if needed - 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar plus 2 tbsp for mixing with the berries
- 3 eggs large
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 cups mixed berries fresh or frozen
FOR THE BERRY SAUCE
- 2 cups blueberries fresh or frozen
- 4 tbsp water
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
FOR THE TOPPING
- 8 oz whipped cream
- 1 cup fresh strawberries quartered
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan well with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Reserve.
- Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar on medium speed for 3-5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Then, add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition just until the yolk disappears. Do not overbeat! Mix in vanilla. With mixer on low, add half of flour mixture, then all the buttermilk, and finish with the remaining flour mixture, beating until just combined.
- Scrape down bowl with a spatula, mixing well. It's a thick batter. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. In a separate bowl, mix berries with 2 tbsp sugar. Spoon onto batter and give them a light push down. They will sink 1/2 way into the batter as the cake bakes.
- Bake berry cake batter for 45 minutes on the middle rack, or until golden and a toothpick inserted close to the center comes out almost clean. Let cake cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan on a rack.
- Meanwhile, prepare the berry sauce. In a medium pan, mix 1 cup blueberries, 2 tbsp water, 4 tbsp sugar, and 1 tbsp lemon juice over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until blueberries start to burst, about 3 minutes.
- Whisk cornstarch with 2 tbsp water and stir in into the berry mixture. Bring to a boil until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup more blueberries. Let cool.
- If not serving berry cake right away, cover cooled cake and store at room temp. Cover and store blueberry sauce in the fridge. Right before serving, top cake with whipped cream and then with blueberry sauce and fresh strawberries. Garnish with fresh mint or as desired.
John / Kitchen Riffs
Love berry season! Eat a ton of them all by themselves, but they also make the baked baked goods. Terrific looking cake — neat recipe. Thanks!
Deb|EastofEdenCooking
Fresh berries for me! The season is always too short. This lush cake is the perfect way to celebrate alll the berries!
john
One of the best cakes ever. It was moist, buttery, and fresh because of the berries.
Mimi
Mmmmmmmmmmmm. I know I’d love this because it looks so nice and moist! I am one who cannot enjoy dry cakes or scones or shortbreads. Fabulous. And, I think buttermilk is an underused ingredient as well. Bravo!
Denise Browning
OMG. I so agree with you. Buttermilk gives a boost of moisture to any baked goodie. My husband loved this cake!