This Lemon Blackberry Cake with lavender French buttercream is the perfect cake for summer! Every bite of this lavender cake is filled with incredible flavor, reminiscent of a summery, sunny French countryside.
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You’ll love the not-too-sweet cake and cream combined with the zesty lemon and fruity blackberry. The lemon blackberry cake layers are delicate, very moist and bursting with lemon flavor. I love how the lemon zest complements the blackberry flavor.
Lavender Lemon Blackberry Cake Recipe
I am so excited to have Tatyana, one of my blogging friends, share her recipe for this gorgeous lavender cake from her new cookbook! She is such a talented baker and cook. I know you will love this recipe.
Can I Substitute Frozen Blackberries?
I recommend using fresh blackberries for this recipe for best results. If you don’t have fresh berries, frozen ones will work in a pinch.
How to Make the Lemon Blackberry Cake Layers:
- Make sure all the wet ingredients are at room temperature, that includes the eggs, butter and milk. I recommend warming the milk in the microwave for a minute so it’s warm.
- Cream together the softened butter and sugar for a few minutes, until it’s light and fluffy.
- Add the milk to the batter but don’t mix it in just yet. Add the dry ingredients, then use your stand mixer to mix everything together. And don’t overmix the batter, which will cause the cake layers to dome. Mix just until the dry ingredients are combined, about 1 minute.
- To make the cake layers very light and delicate, I use a combination of all-purpose flour with almond flour. Sift that flour! This is so important; no one wants flour clumps in a cake slice.
- Whisk the egg whites separately, then fold them into the batter last, adding even more volume to the batter.
What is French Buttercream?
I fell in love with French buttercream when I was writing my cookbook. There’s something so special about this buttercream that sets it apart from every other frosting recipe I’ve tried! It’s super silky, very smooth and not too sweet.
French Buttercream is made with egg yolks, butter and sugar syrup, which cooks the egg yolks so no need to worry about raw eggs. It’s easy to add flavor, too! You can make it with chocolate, caramel, fruit and extracts, like this recipe with lavender oil. If you’ve never tried it, you’re in for a treat!
How to Make French Buttercream Frosting:
- The sugar syrup: combine the water and sugar in an extra-small saucepan, attach a candy thermometer and resist the urge to stir! Stirring will cause sugar crystals to form on the sides of the pan; not good!
- The egg yolks: these need to be whisked for a few minutes before pouring in the sugar syrup. Then just let the magic happen! The extremely hot syrup will cook the yolks, turning them thick, pale and glossy.
- The butter: soften the butter slightly before adding it to the egg yolks. The butter needs to be added slowly, a few tablespoons at a time. As you’re adding the butter, the frosting will look a little funny. Don’t worry, everything will correct itself; you did not mess up! Just keep adding the butter and the frosting will come together!
Make sure to use lavender oil that is safe for consumption. Most oils are not, so make sure to check the label.
Want to learn more about French buttercream and how to make it? Check out my step-by-step video tutorial for Chocolate French Buttercream!
More Frosting Recipes to Try:
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe – this recipe is very similar to French buttercream, but with egg whites!
- Cupcake Frosting Recipe – easy, delicious frosting for cakes and cupcakes!
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe – easy, delicious chocolate frosting!
Lavender Lemon Blackberry Cake
Ingredients
For Lemon Blackberry Cake Layers
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 1 zest from lemon
- 1 cup milk, lukewarm
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup fresh blackberries
- 1 tbsp corn starch
For French Buttercream
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 5 egg yolks
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 tsp lavender oil
- purple food coloring, optional
Instructions
How to Make Lavender Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F (177C). Line three, 8-inch (20 cm) cake rounds with parchment paper and grease the sides.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with a hand mixer for 2 to 3 minutes, until light fluffy. Add the egg yolks, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Mix again until cream and smooth, then pour in the milk but do not mix.
- In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Sift the dry ingredients into the cake batter. Use a whisk or hand mixer to combine the dry ingredients, milk and batter, mixing just until the flour is incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites high speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until medium peaks form. Add the egg whites to the cake batter and fold in using a spatula, folding gently but thoroughly until well combined.
- Divide the cake batter evenly between the three cake pans, using a kitchen scale for accuracy. Toss the fresh blackberries in the cornstarch, coating the berries well. Drop 6 to 8 berries into each pan, spacing them equally apart. Bake the cakes in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
How to Make French Buttercream Frosting:
- While the cake layers are cooling, prepare the French buttercream. Place the egg yolks into a stand mixer bowl and whisk on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until thick and pale.
- Meanwhile, combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir once to combine the ingredients and attach a candy thermometer to the side. Cook the syrup over medium heat until it reaches 238F (114C), about 7 to 8 minutes.
- Once syrup is ready, remove from heat and with mixer on medium speed, pour the hot syrup into the egg yolks. Take care to pour the syrup away from the whisk attachment to prevent crystalized sugar bits. Once all the syrup is added, turn mixer up to high speed and whisk until the egg yolks are doubled in size and reaches medium peak stage; it should be cooled and just lukewarm to touch.
- Begin adding the butter, about 1 tablespoon (15 g) at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the butter slowly to prevent the cream from separating; this process takes about 8 to 10 minutes. As more butter is added, the cream will thicken and hold its shape. Add the lavender oil and purple food color last.
Assembling the Lavender Cake:
- Once cake layers have cooled, spread a generous amount of buttercream between each layer. Smooth the frosting over the top and sides. Garnish the top as desired, with blackberries, lavender and greens.
Nutrition Per Serving
This stunning cake recipe is from my newly released cake cookbook, The European Cake Cookbook. It’s the first recipe in the ‘Western Cake Recipes’ chapter, featuring decadent French cake recipes. This French-inspired cake is one of my favorites from the book.
What’s your favorite summer cake recipe or filling? Blackberries are definitely one of my favorites!
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I made this cake yesterday. It definitely looks beautiful, I’m not a big fan of buttercream frosting but just couldn’t resist. The combination of colours and flavours were calling my name. So I personally didn’t like the cake even though it turned out perfect, the batter and silky smooth cream was flawless. Some of my guests actually liked this cake and others didn’t. It does have a little bit of bitter taste i’m assuming because of essential oil, so like other commenters said use only couple drops instead of 1/4 tsp. If you like not so sweet, buttercream frosting cake, this cake is for you.
Hi Lana! Thank you for sharing your experiment with the recipe. I am also wondering if the bitterness is because of the type of lavender oil used in the recipe. Was it food grade? The one that I linked in the recipe card is a lavender candy flavoring and it does not leave behind a bitter taste.
I think there’s a misprint in the recipe for the French Buttercream Frosting…instead of “2 cups” butter, I think is should be “2 sticks”. This would make the recipe much closer to Julia Child’s.
Hi, The recipe should be correct – it was a guest post from a baker friend and it’s also the same in her cookbook. I haven’t tried Julia Child’s recipe but now I must find it! Thanks for the tip. Ok, I just took a peek at her recipe. Keep in mind Julia is only using 2 yolks so this frosting recipe is a bigger batch of frosting.
Wondering if I can use Young Living Essential oils – Lavender for this recipe? Instead of using the one from Amazon?
Hi Lisa, I haven’t tested that to advise. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
Hi, for a 6 in. Double layer lavendar cake, how much lavender oil would you use? I know it’s very strong, so I’m not sure.
Hi Cat! I have not made this recipe in 6” pans to advise. This recipe serves 14. I have a tool in the recipe card that may help. If you hover your cursor over the number of servings in red lettering, you can slide left or right to decrease/increase the recipe and it will adjust the ingredient list for you. I would guess that 6” pans would serve about 8-10 people so you can aim for that.
Hi Natasha could I use the juice from frozen blackberries to colour the frosting?
Hi Christine, I haven’t tried that, but I bet that could work! If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
How do you think this cake would do with replacing one of the layers of icing between cakes with some lemon curd?
Hi Jenny, I have not tested that but I think lemon curd would be a great addition to the cake. Lemon curd is soft and could make the cake layers slide so make sure your cake layers are completely cooled before frosting.
Hi Natasha i was wondering how much time in advance can i make the cake?
Hi Ana, I imagine it will be okay to make it ahead a day or two but I haven’t tried making it more than that.
I am interested in trying this recipe out. Is it possible to utilize dried lavender in place of the lavender oil? Maybe some way to make a lavender liquid by steeping the flowers in hot water or something?
Thanks!
Hi Abigail, I have not tried this with dried lavender to advise. We used food-safe lavender oil. If you happen to experiment, I would love to know how you like that.
I would put 1/3 of the essential oil than what the recipe calls for. The cream turned great but the flavor of lavender was ssooo strong.
Hi Natasha,
What kind of lavender oil do you use?
Hi Sandra, here is the lavender oil which is food safe. Any lavender oil that is food safe or safe for consumption will work.
Hi Natasha, would the lavender oil effect someone who has an allergy to lavender? The cake look really good!
Hello Kendall, I’m honestly not sure about that. I suggest researching more about it or ask a professional as I’ve never experienced that one before.
Hi,
I am making this cake for my birthday tomorrow, and just wanted to ask if anyone advises using a different buttercream frosting recipe, and if so, which one should I use?
oh, and no offense! I just don’t want to ruin it.
Hi Daphne, have you tried our Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe?