Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf (2024)

by Audrey August 3, 2020

August 3, 2020

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I do love a good French yogurt cake during any season. And today’s late Summer version includes ripe seasonal blueberries paired with the tang of fresh lemons. It’s moist, zesty and has just the right amount of fresh ripe blueberries. As with most French yogurt cakes, this Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf is an easy and foolproof recipe to make at home. The small trick here is to lightly toss the blueberries in flour so they don’t sink to the bottom of the pan while baking. This ensures the blueberries are evenly distributed into the crumb and offers juicy little bursts of sweetness in every bite…

Cooking notes:

Use 2% m.f. Plain Yogurt.I have tried this recipe with different types of yogurt: 2%m.f, Greek yogurt and Skyr. Surprisingly, the yogurt that produces the best cake texture and taste is the 2%m.f (I thought Greek Yogurt or Skyr would be better, but no!). You want a cake that is dense,but also airy and bouncy – the 2%m.f yogurt cake version is exactly that! Avoid flavored yogurt, only use plain.
Use Organic Lemons.Because we are using zest from the peels, make sure you are using organic lemons which are pesticide free.
Fresh blueberries are best, but if you only have frozen blueberries on hand, you can use them (same quantity) by making sure they are well thawed and well drained. If possible, pat them dry with a paper towel to remove excess moisture.
Instead of brushing the cake with the suggested lemon glaze, you can choose to cover it with a light dusting of icing sugar, or leave it plain.

I hope you’ll love this Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf as much as I do! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf

Print Recipe

Serves: 8 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 50 Minutes 50 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.2/5

( 17 voted )

Ingredients

1 cup (200g) sugar
2 medium lemons, zest and juice
½ cup (120g) plain yogurt (2%)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup (187g) all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp (10g) baking powder
½ cup (112ml) neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed
125g fresh blueberries
1 tbsp flour
1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Make sure your read the cooking notes before you start.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F (180C) with a rack in the middle. Grease a loaf pan with butter, sprinkle the inside with flour , line it with a strip of parchment paper and set aside.

Step 1 -In a medium mixing bowl, combine the sugar with the zest of the two lemons (reserve the lemon juice for the glaze). Rub with your fingers so the zest releases its oils and the sugar becomes somewhat moist and lumpy. Add in the yogurt, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix to combine.

Step 2 -In a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder. Combine into the wet ingredients until just incorporated. Finally, fold in the oil, until just incorporated. The batter should look smooth and glossy.

Step 3 –Toss the fresh blueberries into 1 tablespoon of flour until well coated.

Transfer ½ of the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with ½ of the blueberries. Cover with the other ½ of the batter and sprinkle with the other ½ of the blueberries. Do not push the blueberries into the batter; they will sink a bit as the loaf bakes.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until golden and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack.

Step 4 – Combine the powdered sugar with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, until smooth and pourable. Brush the loaf with the glaze and set aside to cool and harden.

Did You Make This Recipe?

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Did you make this recipe?

I’d love to know how it turned out! Please let me know by leaving a comment below, rate the recipe and/or share a photo on Instagram: tag@pardonyourfrenchand hashtag it#pardonyourfrench. This post may contain affiliate links. Please see myfor more details.

38 comments

Liuska August 3, 2020 - 7:21 pm

Wonderful Recipe! Could one make it with raspberries?
Thank you so much for your blog !

Audrey August 3, 2020 - 8:08 pm

Yes raspberries would work great too! Happy baking!

Carm August 4, 2020 - 12:25 pm

Hi!!
Did you use an 8×4 pan or 9×5 ?

Thanks
Carm

Audrey August 4, 2020 - 3:43 pm

Hi Carm! Great question – My loaf pan is 8.5 x 4.5.

Anonymous August 4, 2020 - 4:45 pm

Thawing my blueberries now and will have a go at it. My fresh blueberries are the larger ones and not as nice for a loaf.
Thanks!!!!

Audrey August 4, 2020 - 7:39 pm

Thanks, happy baking!

Tammy Lynn Belazis August 4, 2020 - 1:15 pm

This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it this weekend.

Audrey August 4, 2020 - 3:44 pm

Great, thank you Tammy and happy baking!

Therese Leon August 4, 2020 - 2:16 pm

Could I make this recipe with less sugar?
And what would be the least amount ?

Audrey August 4, 2020 - 3:46 pm

Hi Therese! Yes absolutely. In most cake recipes, sugar can be safely reduced by about a third without impacting the texture/flavor of the cake too much. So 1 1/3 cup is the least amount of sugar you could use. If you try it out, let me know, I’d love to know how it turned out 🙂 Happy Baking!

Kristine August 12, 2020 - 2:55 am

After having tremendous success baking the lemon poppyseed yogurt cake, I decided to give this one a try. It’s blueberry season and I thought it would be a delicious way to highlight this season’s crop. I made it exactly as described, and did not push down the berries into the batter. They stayed on top and never sunk down, so when it is eaten, many bites do not include berries. Also, because the upper layer of berries did not sink down, the flour coating on the berries is quite visible and it appears that I must have done something wrong. I suppose that if I were to make it again, I would divide the batter into smaller layers when putting it in the pan so that the berries would be more uniformly dispersed.

Audrey September 23, 2020 - 1:24 pm

Hi Kristine, thank you for your review! Another option for the blueberries is to gently fold them in the batter (very gently, so they don’t break). I personally like the idea of layers (to ensure no blueberries burst) but folding is a great option too, especially if you don’t want blueberries to show at the top of cake. 🙂

Eva August 19, 2020 - 6:05 pm

Is there any way i can substitute the yogurt

Audrey August 20, 2020 - 11:11 am

Hi Eva! I never made a yogurt cake without yogurt, so I can’t really give you any accurate recommendations, sorry 🙂

Anonymous December 1, 2021 - 12:14 am

Can I use frozen blueberries or raspberries or strawberries?

See Also

Classic French Quiche Lorraine

Audrey December 7, 2021 - 6:04 pm

Fresh blueberries are best, but if you only have frozen blueberries on hand, you can use them (same quantity) by making sure they are well thawed and well drained. If possible, pat them dry with a paper towel to remove excess moisture.Happy baking!

Lynn August 23, 2020 - 6:53 pm

Super recipe, ate some warm with cream. I would use less powdered sugar for the finishing in future.

Audrey August 24, 2020 - 6:09 pm

Great, thank you for this feedback Lynn!

HenryDurham August 28, 2020 - 3:21 am

Just found your site via Eat Your Books. I’m signing up for your newsletter and will comment after I have baked something.

Audrey August 28, 2020 - 4:51 pm

Thank you!!

Ronak Mehta September 4, 2020 - 10:06 am

I tried out a cake with the above recipe. The cake was very soft and tasty. Thank you.

Audrey September 5, 2020 - 10:56 am

Amazing, thank you!

Annette Coyle October 22, 2020 - 10:14 am

Made the cake was fabulous. Can I put some lemon juice in the cake mixture would like a stronger lemon flavour ?

Audrey October 22, 2020 - 11:21 am

Hi Annette! Thank you for your feedback. You could add lemon juice in lieu of the vanilla extract; although I don’t recommend adding too much lemon juice or it will make the batter too thin. You can also add the zest of a 3rd lemon, for extra lemon flavour without altering the texture of the cake. Happy baking!

Veronica October 30, 2020 - 4:11 pm

Hi, my 13 year old daughter made this yesterday and it was delicious!!! We loved it! 💜

Audrey October 30, 2020 - 5:37 pm

Amazing, thank you!

Sandy November 27, 2021 - 11:36 pm

Love this! I only used lemon juice in my batter . One tbs. I will use 2 next time. It was delicious.. the glaze really adds to the flavor

Audrey November 28, 2021 - 11:23 am

Thank you for your feedback Sandy!

Anonymous June 13, 2022 - 11:03 pm

Yum! I made it with King Arthur equal measure gf flour. I used 2/3 cup sugar, 1/4 cup oil and 2T lemon juice instead and didn’t add the glaze. It was wonderful!

Audrey June 14, 2022 - 6:04 am

Thank you for your feedback!

Vince August 10, 2022 - 2:59 pm

Excellent recipe making it right now for the second time.

Audrey August 10, 2022 - 3:06 pm

Love to hear this. Thanks for checking it out (and remaking it)

Sara Goverman April 20, 2023 - 12:16 am

Delicious! And it looked just like your picture. I only had zero fat yogurt and it worked, but I will buy the 2% for the next one- I think it would be even softer. I will decrease the sugar next time. I’m so glad you gave that hint about reducing sugar in recipes. My only wish is that I had put the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and the wet in a large bowl. It would be easier to incorporate the dry into the wet in a larger bowl. No topping- not needed- delicious on it’s own.

Audrey April 20, 2023 - 10:07 am

Much appreciated, Sara! You should definitely notice a difference between using 0 fat and 2% yogurt. It won’t be lifechanging by any means, but it does give the cake a little more to it. And good tips regarding bowl sizes – always hard with bowls, as everyone has different sized ones… but good to be aware of!

Emma February 25, 2024 - 4:08 pm

I am so pleased with how this cake turned out, really light and fluffy. I had to use olive oil as it was all I had and was worried that it may have been too heavy, but it was beautiful. At the end I used the juice of one lemon and added caster sugar to taste for the glaze (a few tsp), and only needed to use 3/4 of this glaze mixture.
Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe…my cakes always turn out to be a disappointment but your clear instructions made it a success. Look forward to trying your other recipes.

Audrey February 25, 2024 - 5:26 pm

Thrilled to hear this, Emma! Sometimes we just need a little extra guidance and I am so happy my instructions helped you achieve the result you wanted.

Hope you’ll continue to bake and have further success with my recipes.

B Elle Aase March 13, 2024 - 12:14 am

I just made it and now is cooling on the window. Love this cake.

Audrey March 13, 2024 - 8:06 am

Merci, Brenda! I absolutely love this cake as well… lemon and blueberry just marry perfectly, it’s such a nice treat. Enjoy!

Audrey

Bonjour ! I'm Audrey Le Goff, a French cookery writer, photographer, creator of the blog Pardon your French, and cookbook author of Rustic French Cooking Made Easy.

Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf (2024)

Cooking notes:

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Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf

Ingredients

Instructions

Did you make this recipe?

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