This Lemon Poke Cake with Blueberries is full of bright lemon flavor and served chilled. So refreshing and perfect for Summer!
This lemon blueberry poke cake starts with a cake mix, is filled with the most delicious homemade blueberry sauce and is topped with a tangy, lemony whipped topping frosting. It's pretty refreshing on a hot Summer day - especially because it is served chilled!
This lemon poke cake is incredibly flavorful and moist. Sometimes the flavor of lemon cake mixes can taste a little artificial, so to give it more of an authentic, homemade-tasting lemon flavor, I added in some fresh lemon juice and zest. This really adds so much fresh flavor to the cake and makes it super lemon-y! The homemade blueberry syrup is made by simmering some blueberries, sugar and a little bit of lemon juice. You get the most delicious looking pink syrup! After it thickens for a short while, it gets poured into the holes you will create in the top of your cake after it's baked while it's still warm. Then it gets placed in the refrigerator until completely cooled down and chilled.
Why you'll love this recipe
- Bright lemon flavor. This cake is light and bright in flavor and the lemon really packs a punch!
- Make-ahead! This is such a great dessert for entertaining because it makes a large cake AND needs to be made ahead of time.
Ingredients
Lemon Cake
- Lemon cake mix
- Instant lemon pudding mix: You are just using instant pudding powder - the pudding IS NOT prepared for this recipe.
- Sour cream: Use full-fat sour cream. You can also substitute plain greek yogurt.
- Whole milk: 2% also will work fine in this recipe.
- Vegetable oil
- Eggs
Blueberry Syrup
- Blueberries: Fresh or frozen blueberries both work great in this recipe.
- Granulated sugar
- Lemon juice
Frosting
- Powdered sugar
- Frozen whipped topping: Thawed
- Lemon juice
Substitutions & Variations
- To change up the flavors, try using a different flavor of cake mix and instant pudding mix.
How to make a poke cake
- Prepare lemon cake as directed in recipe.
- Poke holes across the top of the cake.
- Prepare blueberry syrup and pour into the holes.
- Prepare frosting and smooth over the cake.
- Chill for 3 hours and serve cold.
A wooden spoon! The end of a wooden spoon is the perfect size to poke holes in the cake for the blueberry syrup to soak into. Poke them about 1 inch apart.
More lemon recipes you'll love:
Did you make this recipe?
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📋 Recipe
Lemon Poke Cake with Blueberries
Ingredients
Lemon Cake
- 1 box lemon cake mix
- 1 3.9 oz box instant lemon pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
Blueberry Syrup
- 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbs lemon juice
Frosting
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 16 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed
- 3 tbs lemon juice
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix and pudding mix. Add sour cream, milk, oil and eggs and beat until smooth.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
For the blueberry syrup
- In a medium saucepan, add blueberries, sugar and lemon juice. Simmer on medium-low heat for 5 minutes or until the natural juices start flowing. Mash them down a bit so more of the juice comes out. Turn stove to low heat and simmer another 5 minutes. Mash one more time then strain through a fine mesh strainer over a bowl to remove all blueberry pieces, you only want the syrup. Allow to cool a bit until the cake is done baking.
- Once cake is done, allow it to cool until warm then poke holes across the entire surface of the cake. Pour blueberry syrup into all of the holes making sure to fill each hole - it will not fill all the way to the top of each hole. Place cake in the refrigerator and chill until cold, about 1 hour.
For the frosting
- Beat whipped topping, powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. The frosting will be quite thin. Smooth over the cooled cake and place back in the refrigerator to firm up for 3 hours.
Notes
The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mindy says
My cake fell as soon as I took it out of the oven. It took 35 minutes to bake. It was still very jiggly at 25 minutes.
I hope it tastes ok. -_-
Jessica says
Sounds like it wasn't baked long enough. Hope it came out ok, Mindy!