Baking + Sweet, Cakes, Recipes · July 28, 2023

Blueberry Upside-Down Cake

Name: Lemon Blueberry Upside-Down Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 75 min
Ingredients: 3 large eggs; 187 grams low-fat yogurt or skyr; 165 grams granulated sugar (3/4 cup); 63 grams dark brown sugar (1/2 cup); 150 grams olive oil (3/4 cup); 210 grams all-purpose flour (1 1/2 cups); 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; 1 teaspoon lemon zest; 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger; 350 grams frozen blueberries (3 cups); 50 grams granulated sugar (1/4 cup); 1 teaspoons lemon zest (plus more for topping the cake); 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon); 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger; 50 grams turbinado sugar (1/4 cup); 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

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If you, like me, are also in your blueberry obsessive phase – then I invite you to obsess over this Upside-Down Blueberry Cake with me. It’s delicate, moist and filled with lemon flavor, but surprisingly not even close to overpowering. It’s the perfect way to enjoy blueberries at a summer gathering since it’s a showstopper. The top is glossy with lemony blueberries, and the bottom is nice and soft with a pillowy-moist cake. The only thing that could make this blueberry cake better is a big scoop of ice cream, which in the summer, shouldn’t be too hard to come by!

Let’s talk about this Upside-Down Blueberry cake
Ingredients you will need for this Blueberry Cake
How does this cake taste so lemony without lemon juice in the actual batter?
How to prepare the Blueberry Upside-Down Cake
Tricks on flipping an upside-down cake
What is ginger sugar?
Looking for other blueberry baking recipes?
Why is this recipe in grams?

Let’s talk about this Upside-Down Blueberry cake

This blueberry cake lives happily among other upside-down cakes – from pineapple to peach, apple and everywhere in between. I prefer blueberry upside-down cakes because of their vibrant color, but also because we don’t have to candy the blueberries before baking. All they need is a quick toss in sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and ginger, then it’s ready to bake into the glossy, upside-down, top layer!

Ingredients you will need for this Blueberry Cake

3 large eggs
187 grams low-fat yogurt or skyr
165 grams granulated sugar, 3/4 cup
63 grams dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup
150 grams olive oil, 3/4 cup
210 grams all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

For the blueberries

350 grams frozen blueberries, 3 cups
50 grams granulated sugar, 1/4 cup
1 teaspoons lemon zest, plus more for topping the cake
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, about 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

For the ginger sugar

50 grams turbinado sugar, 1/4 cup
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

How does this cake taste so lemony without lemon juice in the actual batter?

This is a great question! And it’s one of my favorite tips and tricks of the baking trade. Lemon juice in cakes can actually make their texture incredibly finicky. Lemon juice is obviously highly acidic, so it interacts with leaveners such as baking powder and baking soda in an intense way. This can cause cakes over rising and collapsing in the middle, cakes to dry out too quickly, and it can also cause an overall acrid flavor if the lemon juice reacts with baking soda too quickly. So, I try to avoid lemon juice in my bakes – for lack of a better pun, the juice is not worth the squeeze for me.

However, blueberries carry lemon flavor amazingly well, and since this is a Blueberry Upside-Down Cake, we coat them in sugar and lemon juice right before baking. The lemon juice seeps down into the cake, giving both the blueberries and the cake a pleasant and perfectly balanced lemony flavor!

How to prepare the Blueberry Upside-Down Cake

Set a rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
Whisk together the eggs. Add the yogurt and sugars and mix well. Whisking constantly, gradually drizzle in the olive oil to create a smooth emulsion.
Add in the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until smooth. Add in the lemon zest and ginger and mix again. Set aside.
In another bowl, toss the blueberries with the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and ginger.
To a greased 9-inch round cake pan, layer the bottom with parchment paper. Layer the blueberries out in an even layer, pressing them as closely together as possible so the batter doesn’t break through.
Gently pour in the batter. Bake for 50-55 minutes at 350°F or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Tricks on flipping an upside-down cake

The important part of an upside-down cake is preserving its beautiful, gorgeous fruit on top. This is incredibly important with blueberries since they are small and prone to escaping. I have a few main tricks when flipping an upsidedown cake:

Let the cake completely cool – this is the most important step! You can flip a warm cake, but at what cost, y’know?
Line the pan with parchment paper on the bottom, but not the sides – this helps the fruit ease onto the parchment paper, and then you can just peel it off.
Use a knife to loosen the sides before flipping – it might seem obvious, but it helps a ton!
And lastly, go slow and be gentle – it’s tempting to rip it off like a bandaid, but use a gentle hand for the best chance of all your fruit in an upside-down cake to stay intact!

What is ginger sugar?

Ginger sugar is my favorite part of this cake. It almost melts into the blueberries, giving a glossy top and a texture that reminds me of cinnamon toast, if your mom ever made something like that!

But ginger sugar is just where you mix fresh ginger in with turbinado sugar. Turbinado sugar is a large-grain, coarse sugar, and it perfectly marries with grated ginger to make a new, aromatic kind of sugar.

You can just mix it though – you need to work in the ginger sugar with your hands, grinding it into the sugar so that the sugar cuts into the aromatics, letting them release their oils and create a fragrant, flavorful sugar. The more you rub the sugar in with your fingers, the more delicious it will be. By the time it’s ready for topping, it should have the texture of damp sand.

Looking for other blueberry baking recipes?

You’ve come to the right blog, I’m practically half-blueberry by now!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Blueberry Muffins

I can confidently say these are the best blueberry muffins I've ever had. They are insanely easy, and the lemon ginger sugar takes them to the next level. They are moist on the inside, fluffy throughout, crispy on top, and packed with fresh blueberries. They are my favorite type of muffin, and now probably my favorite summer recipe.

Check out this recipe

Blue(berry) Cookies | Vegan & Naturally Blue!

I can confidently say these will be the best (and maybe only?) blueberry cookies you've ever had! They are soft in the middle, crispy on the edges, and are filled with melt-in-you-mouth goodness. This recipe uses frozen blueberries to make the cookies naturally blue, but that's not all they do! They help make this cookie recipe vegan, sweet and filled with blueberry flavor. A total winner in my books!

Pumpkin Blueberry Muffins

You don't always think of pumpkin and blueberry as a pairing, but these Pumpkin Blueberry Muffins prove that the combination is perfect. Plus, this recipe uses the full can of pumpkin, so you won't have any awkward leftovers after making this fall season bake.

Check out this recipe

Why is this recipe in grams?

Baking is a very finicky and exact science. The only way to ensure complete accuracy is through measuring by weight, and not volume. As much as I wish I could give you multiple ways to measure ingredients, in this recipe measuring by cups might cause some volatility and miss-matched results. I want to ensure you get the best results with this recipe (and I want to keep this recipe fool-proof!) so I highly recommend getting a small affordable kitchen scale if you want to move forward with this particular recipe!

Plus, it saves dishes – get a small scale and live life in the fast lane 🙂

And that’s everything for this Upside-Down Blueberry Cake!

If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.

And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3

Lemon Blueberry Upside-Down Cake

4.67 from 3 votes

This cake is as easy as it is gorgeous, it's lemony, bright, but fluffy and moist. The blueberries cook perfectly into the top of the cake, making this upside-down cake easy to flip, slice and serve. It's a perfect summer dessert.

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Prep Time:20

Cook Time:55

Total Time:1 15

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blueberries, cake, lemon

Servings: 9-inch cake

Equipment

1 9-inch cake pan
1 sheet of parchment paper