Lemon Huckleberry Tea Cake

This super moist huckleberry cake is loaded with fresh (or frozen) huckleberries and lemon zest. Cream cheese gives the cake a sturdy, tender crumb, and a two-ingredient lemon glaze locks in moisture and adds delicious tangy flavor.

This cake can also be made with other berries such as wild blueberries or raspberries. I've more recently shared a gluten-free huckleberry cake here; just omit the lemon verbena if you don't have any.

To me, an ideal Bojon day consists of several components:

1) Waking up after 9 am, naturally (i.e.,not to any of the following: alarm clock, barking dogs, squalling babies, or loud construction workers)
2) A relaxed breakfast with a cup of Samovar tea
3) Several hours spent in nature; preferably in a forest, though the beach will do in a pinch
4) Some degree of physical activity, i.e., a hike or a walk
5) A congratulatory post-physical-exertion glass of micro-brewed beer at a brewpub
6) Pizza, french fries or ice cream to accompany or chase said beer, respectively
7) A bath or soak in a hot tub, preferably with a trashy rom com novel, optionally about teen witches

During the fall, a favorite Bojon activity of ours has become huckleberry hunting. Last Tuesday, we packed up a couple of sandwiches, some triple chocolate chili cookies , and our hucklebuckets (plastic containers fastened with rope to hang off of our necks, hands-free) and headed to an undisclosed location for an afternoon of hanging out under the tan oaks and redwoods, breathing in the crisp, fall air. Though nearing the end of the season, we were pleasantly surprised to find loads of the little fruits still clinging to their bushes.

Blueberries Vs. Huckleberries

Huckleberries are like if you took a blueberry and condensed its deep flavor and inky color into a fraction of its size. Huckleberries have a stronger flavor than blueberries. They are smaller and more dense, similar to wild blueberries and therefore quite conducive to baking.

While blueberries come into season (in California) in late spring, huckleberries ripen in late august and into the fall.

Like blueberries, huckleberries freeze well. I like to hoard them until the dark, deprived days of January and February, when I add them into huckleberry pancakes to add some color and remind me of sunny days to come.

My Favorite Huckleberry Cake

But when huckleberry season first comes along, I love baking the rich little berries into this luscious loaf cake loaded with lemon zest and brushed with a lemon glaze, adapted from a Fine Cooking recipe I clipped several years ago.

The secret weapon here (aside from fresh huckleberries ofc) is cream cheese, which gets whipped with the butter and sugar, creating a dough sturdy enough to support the berries, but still rich and delicate. The moist cake keeps well for up to a week, and makes a lovely mid-day snack with a cup of tea.

Ingredients & Substitution Suggestions

This cake is made with 10 main ingredients. Once you've sourced your huckleberries, the rest are easy to find!

• Butter and cream cheese form a rich base with a bit of tangy flavor from the cream cheese, which makes the cake extra-tender. If you don't have cream cheese on hand, use an equal amount of sour cream added after the eggs instead.
• Eggs help the cake bake up light and fluffy.
• Sugar sweetens the cake. You can use an equal weight of maple sugar or coconut sugar for refined sugar-free.
• Huckleberries add their deep flavor and moisture. Frozen berries will work; no need to defrost them first! Or use and equal volume of blueberries (wild or not) or raspberries.
• Lemon zest adds bright, floral notes to the batter which complement the woodsy huckleberries beautifully. You can use orange or tangerine if you prefer.
• All-purpose wheat flour forms a sturdy base that soaks up moisture from the berries. (I've shared a gluten-free huckleberry cake here; just omit the lemon verbena if you don't have any.)
• Baking powder adds lift. The batter only needs a small amount since this cake is dense like a pound cake.
• Vanilla and salt sharpen the flavors.
• A simple glaze made with lemon juice and powdered sugar locks in moisture and adds extra tangy notes.

How to Make this Luscious Huckleberry Loaf Cake

This is a pound cake type of cake baked in a loaf pan. The recipe makes 1 loaf, about 8 servings. This uses the "creaming" method to make the batter, meaning that the butter and sugar are creamed (or beaten) together, then the eggs and flour are added.

I usually use a stand mixer, but a hand mixer will also work, or you can use your burly arms and a spoon if you'd like a workout! Be sure to have the butter, cream cheese, and eggs at room temperature before you start (just leave them out for an hour or two before you start to bake).

*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram,  Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this lemon huckleberry tea cake recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet  and  #bojongourmet.*

4.93 from 13 reviews

Rich & Tender Lemon Huckleberry Loaf Cake

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This super moist huckleberry cake is loaded with fresh (or frozen) huckleberries and lemon zest. Cream cheese gives the cake a sturdy, tender crumb, and a two-ingredient lemon glaze locks in moisture and adds delicious tangy flavor. This cake can also be made with other berries such as wild blueberries or raspberries.

Alanna Taylor-Tobin

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total: 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 to 10 servings (one 8x4 or 9x5" loaf).

Ingredients

Cake

• 8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus a bit for the pan
• 6 tablespoons (85 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
• finely grated zest of 2 lemons
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen huckleberries (or wild blueberries; if frozen, don't defrost first)

Glaze

• ½ cup powdered sugar (sifted if clumpy)
• juice of ½ a lemon, or enough to make a thin glaze

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Instructions

Cake

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325ºF. Line an 8x4 or 9x5-inch loaf pan with a sling of parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment and exposed ends of the pan. (Lacking parchment, you can generously grease the pan and dust it lightly with flour.)
• Combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium until light and fluffy, 3 - 4 minutes, scraping down the paddle and sides of the bowl once or twice.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl and the paddle as needed. (The mixture may break and that's ok.) Stir in the vanilla.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Fold the batter a few times with a flexible spatula, scraping the paddle and bottom of the bowl, to make sure the batter is thoroughly combined, and that any lemon zest clumps are distributed throughout the batter.
• Gently fold in the huckleberries. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top.
• Bake the cake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs attached, 75-90 minutes.
• Let the cake cool for 10 or 15 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack.

Glaze

• While the cake is cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice to make a runny glaze.
• Brush the glaze all over the top and sides of the warm cake. Let the cake cool completely, at least one hour.
• The cake keeps well, wrapped, at room temperature or in the fridge, for up to a week.

Notes

For a gluten-free version, try this gluten-free huckleberry cake with lemon. 

Nutritional values are based on one of eight servings.

Nutrition

Calories: 416kcalCarbohydrates: 61gProtein: 5gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 103mgSodium: 210mgPotassium: 87mgSugar: 39gVitamin A: 620IUVitamin C: 3.6mgCalcium: 44mgIron: 1.5mg

Making this? I'd love to see!Tag your snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet!

Lemon Huckleberry Cream Cheese Tea Cake

Adapted from Fine Cooking

Makes one 8x4 or 9x5" loaf, 8-10 servings

4 ounces (1 stick, 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus a bit for greasing the pan
3 ounces (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
zest of 2 lemons
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen huckles (if frozen, don't defrost first)

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar (sifted if clumpy)
juice of 1/2 a lemon, or enough to make a thin glaze

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325º. Line an 8x4 or 9x5" loaf pan with a sling of parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment and exposed ends of the pan. (Lacking parchment, you can generously grease the pan and dust it with flour.)

Combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium until light and fluffy, 3 - 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl and the paddle as needed. (The mixture may break, and that's ok.) Stir in the vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then stir into the batter on low speed until just combined. Fold the batter a few times with a rubber spatula, scraping the paddle and bottom of the bowl, to make sure the batter is thoroughly combined, and that any lemon zest clumps are distributed throughout the batter. Gently fold in the huckleberries. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth.

Bake the cake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs attached, 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours. Let the cake cool for 10 or 15 minutes, then remove from the pan.

While the cake is cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Brush all over the top and sides of the cake. Let cool completely, at least one hour.

The cake keeps well, wrapped, at room temperature or in the fridge, for up to a week.