This moist and tender Triple Berry Cake is studded with fresh, juicy berries and topped with a luscious Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. This delicious cake is easy to make using simple ingredients and perfect for sharing at all sorts of special occasions!
Triple Berry Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting has been made so many times in our home and is a recipe I always get asked for. It has a soft and tender crumb and is packed with fresh berries that offer little burst of juicy, fruity flavor. The batter and the frosting also have a little lemony zing that pairs so well with juicy berries!
Speaking of frosting, the frosting on this easy mixed berry cake is my absolute favorite! It is topped with a luscious lemon cream cheese frosting that makes this dessert heaven on a plate! My love of cream cheese frosting runs deep – I use it to top so many of my favorite cakes and cupcakes like my Carrot Bundt Cake, Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes, Pumpkin Cupcakes, and Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes.
The triple berries in this cake are blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. These plump little berries stud the fluffy cake but are also used on top of the cake to decorate it. While I did choose this delicious berry trio for my cake, you could also swap one out for strawberries which are equally great or just go ahead and use one type of berry.
I kept this recipe as a simple single layer of cake but if you like, you can double the recipe and turn this into a layer cake. This recipe is also easily adaptable to make cupcakes. In fact, its the same base recipe I use in my Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting recipe and my Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes.
Ingredients in this Triple Berry Cake
This made from scratch recipe uses simple ingredients you likely have on hand already. To make this cake, you will need these basic ingredients:
- Butter: unsalted, softened butter.
- Sugar: granulated sugar is used in the cake and icing sugar (aka confectioner’s sugar or powdered sugar) is used in the frosting.
- Flour: all purpose flour.
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract: adds additional flavor to the cake.
- Salt: a small amount is added to baked goods to enhance the flavor.
- Baking powder
- Milk: You can use any type of milk for this recipe. Skim milk, 1%, 2%, or even whole milk.
- Fresh lemon: both the lemon juice and the lemon zest are used in the cake. Lemon juice is also used in the frosting. The amount of lemon in the batter gives the cake a mild lemon flavor. If you want a stronger lemon flavor, you can replace some of the vanilla extract (half of it) with lemon extract.
- Fresh ripe berries: The combination of berries I use for this triple berry cake recipe include fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. They give the moist cake base bursts of fresh, natural berry flavor. You can also substitute strawberries in this cake. While I prefer fresh berries, you can substitute frozen berries instead if you need to. See the “Tips for making the best Triple Berry Cake” section for pointers on how best to do this.
- Cream cheese: Softened cream cheese is used for the frosting. For the best results, it’s important that the cream cheese and butter is at room temperature
**Note: Ingredient quantities and full recipe instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.**
How to make this easy Triple Berry Cake
- Blend the wet ingredients together. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, milk and lemon juice and mix thoroughly. If you do not have a stand mixer, you can do this using a large mixing bowl and an electric mixer/ hand mixer.
- Add the dry ingredients. Mix the baking powder, flour, lemon zest, and salt in a large mixing bowl and then slowly mix it into the wet ingredients to form a smooth batter.
- Fold in the fresh berries. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Toss the fresh berries in a tablespoon of flour and then fold the berries into the batter with a spatula.
- Bake and cool. Transfer batter into a cake pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add the butter and beat to combine. Add the lemon juice and icing sugar and mix until everything is combined and smooth. If needed, add a little more lemon juice to reach desired consistency. Spread over cake using an offset spatula. Top with fresh berries if desired.
Tips for making the best Triple Berry Cake
Tip #1: Don’t over-mix your batter. One of the top reasons cake recipes fail and produce dense cakes is because of over mixing the cake batter. To help get that fluffy cake texture we all love, once you add the flour, mix only until it is incorporated and then stop mixing.
Tip #2: Use fresh berries if you can but if using frozen, do your best to avoid bleeding. Fresh berries are always a better option but if you can’t use them for whatever reason, frozen is the next best thing. Frozen berries can bleed into the batter and stain the cake, though. To avoid this, I recommend not defrosting the berries and only gently folding them into the batter using minimal strokes. Alternatively, you could fill the cake pan with half of the batter and just sprinkle the berries on it before topping it with the remaining batter.
Tip #3: Toss the berries in flour. Tossing the berries in flour to coat them helps the berries “stick” to the batter and prevents them from sinking and ending up at the bottom of the cake.
Tip #4: Use room temperature ingredients for the frosting. The cream cheese and butter should be soft and at room temperature. This will help the frosting become smooth and luscious vs. lumpy.
Can I make this cake into cupcakes?
You can easily convert this cake recipe into cupcakes for easy sharing. To turn the cake into cupcakes, I follow the recipe exactly as written but instead scoop the batter out into cupcake tins lined with cupcake liners. Bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or so, checking to see if a toothpick comes out clean to ensure they are baked through.
Storing the cake
Once the cake is cooled and frosted, it can be covered with plastic food wrap or placed in an airtight container like a cake dome and stored in the fridge. It will keep this way for several days. Since the frosting is made from cream cheese, it needs to be refrigerated. If the cake is unfrosted, however, you can cover and store it at room temperature.
Can you freeze this cake?
Yes, you can freeze the cake for longer storage. If you wish to make this cake in advance and you want to freeze the entire cake, I recommend not frosting it before freezing. You can then cover it with layers of plastic wrap and place it in a freezer ziploc bag without worrying about smudging the frosting. When you want to serve the cake, you can simply thaw it and then frost it.
If you are freezing individual leftover slices of cake, you can cover them with plastic food wrap and/or place them in an airtight freezer safe container. Then when you want to enjoy a slice, you can thaw it in the fridge overnight.
I hope you enjoy this cake as much as we do! It is a recipe we make again and again for special occasions like birthdays, Mother’s Day, and so much more.
Happy baking!
-Cathy
You may also like:
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Blackberry Coffee Cake
Carrot Cake
Triple Berry Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/3 cups flour (+1 tablespoon of flour to toss berries in)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries (1/2 cup each) [See "Tips" section above if substituting frozen berries.]
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 250 g cream cheese (1 brick or about 8oz)
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 cups icing sugar (confectioners or powdered)
- fresh berries, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a 8×8 pan with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, milk and lemon juice and mix thoroughly. Note: If you do not have a stand mixer, you can do this using a large mixing bowl and an electric mixer/ hand mixer.
- Mix the baking powder, flour, lemon zest, and salt in a large mixing bowl and then slowly mix it into the wet ingredients to form a smooth batter.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Toss the fresh berries in a tablespoon of flour and then fold the berries into the batter with a spatula.
- Transfer batter into the cake pan. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the Icing
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add the butter and beat to combine. Add the lemon juice and icing sugar and mix until everything is combined and smooth. If needed, add a little more lemon juice to reach desired consistency. Spread over cake using an offset spatula. Top with fresh berries if desired.
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
