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Mixed Berry Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze - this cake is made with 3 types of berries all combined in one beautiful cake: blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. It's a perfect Summer bundt cake that can be made with either buttermilk, or Greek yogurt, or Kefir. This recipe uses 10-cup bundt pan.
Mixed Berry Bundt Cake
I discovered this triple berry buttermilk bundt cake recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen. When Deb published that blog post, I found myself coming back to her site, just to look at her pictures of this mixed berry bundt cake full of blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries, and not being able to easily forget it. Deb's pictures made it look so enticing that I made this cake 3 times in the last 3 months.
And the only reason I didn't make it even more often is that there is only so much cake that one family can eat! Each time it was with different friends, and each time it was a huge success! The only change that I made to the recipe was to use Greek yogurt (once I used Kefir, too) instead of buttermilk.
While this mixed berry bundt cake is perfect when made with fresh berries in the Summer time, I've made it both with fresh and frozen berries (without defrosting them). And by frozen berries I mean fresh berries that I froze myself, so that each berry remained separate and not clumped together. So, this recipe will work great both with fresh berries and frozen berries (as long as they are separated and not clumped). This makes me very happy, because it means that I can enjoy this mixed berry bundt cake BOTH in the summer AND in the winter.
This triple berry bundt cake also makes a beautiful presentation and is VERY easy to make.
Lemon Glaze
Lemon glaze makes the cake really beautiful, plus it adds the lemon flavor which is out of this world. Here are tips to ensure that your lemon glaze is thick and not runny:
- Use slightly softened, not melted better! The butter should still be able to retain its shape! It should almost be on the firm side but soft enough for you to whisk it using the electrical mixer.
- Use electrical mixer and whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice and butter until very thick and very white.
- To make double sure that your glaze is thick enough, you can put the bowl with the glaze to the freezer for about 15 minutes to make it harder.
- Make sure the cake is completely cooled off before applying the glaze. If the cake is even a little warm, the glaze will melt and will be runny.
What is a substitute for buttermilk in baking?
Greek yogurt, Kefir and buttermilk are good substitutes for one another, so using either one will work in this recipe.
How to make bundt cake with mixed berries
Below are some helpful step-by-step photos of how I made this cake.
Once you followed the recipe (down below) and combined all of bundt cake batter ingredients (before adding the berries) - your cake batter should looks like this:
Next, in a separate bowl, mix the berries with 2 tablespoons of flour. This helps so that they don't sink to the bottom of the bundt pan and don't clump together.
Then, fold in the berries (coated with flour as in previous step) into the cake batter:
Spray the bundt pan with a special Baking Spray with Flour. Then, add mixed berry cake batter to the bundt pan:
Bake your bundt cake at 350 F in the preheated oven for 1 hour or 1 hour and 15 minutes until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Mid-time through the baking, turn the pan around in the oven for even baking.
How to get the bundt cake out of its pan
Sometimes the cakes get stuck to the bundt pans and it seems impossible to get them out without ruining them. So, how do you get a cake unstuck from the bundt pan? Or, how do you successfully release a cake from bundt cake to begin with? Follow the below instructions and you will be able to get your cake safely out of the bundt pan!
- Before you add the cake batter to the bundt pan, make sure to spray you bundt pan with a baking spray, preferably the one that contains flour.
- After you baked your bundt cake, remove the pan from oven, and let the cake cool in the pan for 40 minutes on wire rack.
- After your bundt pan has cooled off for 40 minutes, place the bundt pan (with the cake in it) in the freezer for 30 minutes - the bundt pan will still be quite hot to the touch (even after 40 minutes of cooling), so use kitchen gloves to handle the pan.
- Remove the bundt pan from the freezer after 30 minutes. Invert the bundt pan onto a cake plate and let it sit inverted for a bit to let the gravity do the work (it could take as little as half a minute or as long as 20 minutes, depending on your bundt pan). Then, gently lift the bundt pan and your cake should be released.
Pour the lemon glaze over your cooled bundt cake and you're done! And you don't even need the lemon glaze. This cake is good as is!
More Bundt Cakes:
Ever since I made this mixed berry bundt cake, I've been on a bundt cake obsession and made quite a few more bundt cakes (apple cinnamon, chocolate, etc.). Can you tell I love bundt cakes?!
- Pistachio Bundt Cake
- Peach Bundt Cake with Pecans & Maple-Cream Glaze
- Lemon Raspberry Bundt Cake
- Apple Pumpkin Bundt Cake - one of my most popular recipes around the holidays! Save this recipe for the holiday season!
- Cranberry Apple Pecan Vanilla Buttermilk Cake - another great dessert for the holidays!
- Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Bundt Cake - this cake is made in a beautiful rose shaped bundt pan, and it makes a perfect coffee cake for breakfast!
- Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake - this is really one of the best chocolate cake you'll ever try, and it's made in a bundt pan!
Mixed Berry Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze
Ingredients
Mixed Berry Bundt Cake
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1 medium lemon zest
- 3 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt (or Kefir, or buttermilk)
- 3 cups mixed berries (I used 1 cup raspberry, 1 cup blackberry, 1 cup blueberry)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Lemon Glaze
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (softened, not melted! the butter should still be able to retain its shape!)
Instructions
Bundt cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Use 10-cup bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl, mix 2 ½ cups flour, baking powder and salt and combine thoroughly.
- In a separate large bowl, add together the softened butter, sugar and lemon zest and mix, using mixer, on high setting for about 5 minutes until even consistency is reached and the mixture reaches lighter color.
- Add eggs, vanilla to the butter-sugar mixture and continue beating until well-incorporated.
- Now we'll be adding flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture in 3 gradual steps, instead of dumping all of flour at one time. If you dump all of flour mixture into your butter mixture at one time, it will be more difficult to stir and you won't get a smooth texture. So, we'll be adding flour and Greek yogurt (or buttermilk) in 3 additions:
- With your mixer on low speed, add ⅓ of flour mixture to butter-sugar mixture, beating just a little until all is well combined. Then follow by ¼ cup of Greek yogurt (or buttermilk). Add second ⅓ cup of flour mixture, beating with mixer just to combine. Follow by ¼ cup of Greek yogurt (or buttermilk), beating just to combine. Finally, add third ⅓ cup of flour mixture, followed by final ¼ cup of Greek yogurt (or buttermilk). Again, beat just enough to combine.
- Make sure to have your mixer on low speed while adding flour, otherwise flour might fly around your kitchen. Make sure to not overmix or overbeat, use mixer just to combine the ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, combine berries with 2 tablespoon of flour. This is supposed to prevent berries from clumping together and sinking.
- Note about using frozen berries: I did make this cake with frozen berries without defrosting them. It's important that, if using frozen berries, they should not be clumped together, each berry should be separate (I freeze fresh berries by lining them on a cookie sheet). So you can use both fresh and frozen berries, and in either case you toss them with flour before adding to the batter.
- Using spatula, fold berries into the cake batter, trying not to squish the berries.
- Use 10 cup bundt pan. Spray your cake pan with a Baking Spray with Flour (which works great for bundt pans). Pour batter gently into prepared pan.
- Bake for at least 60 minutes (depending on the oven, it could be as long as 1 hour 15 minutes), until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Mid-time through the baking, turn the pan around in the oven for even baking.
- Remove the pan from oven, let it cool for 40 minutes on wire rack.
How to release the cake from the bundt pan:
- After your bundt pan cooled off for 40 minutes, place the bundt pan in the freezer for 30 minutes - it will still be quite hot to the touch (even after 40 minutes of cooling), so use kitchen gloves to handle the pan.
- Remove the pan from the freezer after 30 minutes, invert the bundt pan and let it sit inverted for a bit to let the gravity do the work (it could take as little as half a minute or as long as 20 minutes, depending on your bundt pan). Then, gently lift bundt pan and your cake should be released.
How to make Lemon Glaze:
- Whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice and butter until very thick and very white. Spread this lemon juice frosting over the top of the cooled cake like shown on the photos.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
This recipe was originally published on October 3, 2012 and republished with updates, baking tips in May 2018.
i only use whole wheat flour will this affect the cake rising, also sub brown sugar for white?
Hi Pam, when I bake with whole wheat flour, I usually use much less of whole wheat flour because it's so dense and heavy. For example, I recently used 1 and 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour for a recipe that would usually demand 2 full cups of regular all-purpose flour. In this recipe, I think you should use 1 and 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour. Brown sugar will be fine in this recipe too in the same amount.
While this cake looks delicious, I'm frustrated that there is not an option to just print the recipe without all the copying and pasting. I can't wait to try it.
OMG! I made this cake saturday for a dinner date and it was amazing! He ended up taking half of it home and we both had it for breakfast the next morning. Very yummy and easy to make and the berries make it look very pretty. Thanks! I look forward to trying more of your recipes 🙂
Alessandra, so glad you liked the cake! It's one of my most favorite cakes, especially in the summer. It's so light and fruity (thanks to all the berries) - it almost makes you feel like you ate a whole bowl of berries and not a cake!
Love this recipe. I made it came out great, but my icing didn't come out white, it was more clear. What did I do wrong?
What is kifer,can I get this at the supermarket,or buttermilk I use all the time
Ann
Kefir is a fermented dairy beverage, you can buy it just about at any grocery store now. The popular brand is Lifeway. It will be sold in the same section where yogurt and cheeses are sold.
Can the Kefir be non-fat or low-fat?
Yes, it can.
Wow, this bundt cake looks amazing!!! So jealous (:
I used only raspberries and I think this is the best fruit cake ever. I love the kefir in there and I think I am done with buttermilk. Thanks so much for sharing. I had to ask a friend to come and get what was left of it so It would b out of my house. I ate half of that cake no kidding!
Ha-ha! I am glad you liked it! I am known to keep the whole cake (or most of it) all to myself too. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Using only raspberries sounds so good! I've been thinking of using currants but did not get a chance to get out to the farmer's market yet.
I made this recipe today and it turned out awesome. The only issue I experienced was the glaze was too thick so I added more butter and lemon juice. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing about how the cake turned out! It's one of my most favorite cakes! I did want my glaze to be very thick - for presentation purposes :).
I made this and can not wait to taste it, tonight! Hope my family likes it too!
You won't be disappointed! This is such a great recipe to use a whole bunch of berries in a cake!
I just made this cake. It took awhile to bake (more like an hour and 25 minutes), but I used frozen berries, which seem to always make things take longer. It turned out beautifully though, and I am excited to serve it tomorrow for a Christmas Eve dinner!
I am glad it turned out well! This is one of my most favorite recipes to use with berries.
When you use frozen berries do you defrost them first or use them frozen
Wow!!! this is amazing! I love it.
Please stop by my blog and check out my recipes at delightsofculinaria.blogspot.com.
Just checked out your blog - it's lovely!
Lovely Cake !! Just what I love to eat !