Blueberry Bundt cake with vanilla bean glaze
Blueberry Bundt cake is the kind of cake I serve guests. It’s easy, delicious and not at all fussy. It is perfect for beginner bakers as well as more experienced bakers. Buttermilk Bundt cakes are tender, moist, and so flavorful.
I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.
You may also be interested in my chocolate Bundt and my Irish cream Bundt cake recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my cake recipes in one place.
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Blueberry Bundt cake recipe
Making a cake from scratch is barely more work than making it from a box and you will be rewarded with something so good, you’ll be glad you put in the extra few minutes of time. The glaze is made with three ingredients and takes less than a minute to make.
Bundt cakes are glorious in their simplicity and they feed a crowd, which is never a bad thing when cake is involved. This is the kind of cake you would bake for a friend or neighbor. It is a cake to be shared with friends over a cup of coffee.
Some people call this pound cake and others (like me) call it a Bundt. I’ve also heard people call this a coffee cake, which is something entirely different to me.
What you need to know
The absolute BEST piece of advice I can give when making a Bundt is this: make sure that every little crevice in your pan is buttered before flouring and then double check that every surface is coated in flour.
I like to use my small strainer for dusting the pan inside, especially around the middle where it’s hard to get to.
Ingredients
A blueberry Bundt requires only basic pantry ingredients. Nothing fancy, no expensive or hard to find ingredients are needed.
- Flour – Flour gives the cake it’s structure. I’m using cake flour because it will yield a finer, more delicate crumb (or texture) than all-purpose. Weighing your flour is the most accurate way to measure. I highly recommend using a scale to measure flour.
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk gives the Bundt cake moisture and tang.
- Vanilla – Vanilla extract gives baked goods that familiar flavor we all love.
- Sugar – Granulated white sugar provides just a touch of sweetness. These glass canisters make it easy to see what you have.
- Blueberries – Look for smaller blueberries. I have found that the larger berries tend to sink more than the smaller berries. You also get more blueberries per cup if they are smaller.
- Substitutions: You can swap out blueberries for blackberries or raspberries to make variations of this Bundt cake.
- Eggs – Eggs provide moisture and structure to the batter.
- Butter – Use unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt in your baked goods.
- Baking powder, baking soda, and salt – Baking powder gives the cake a bit of lift. Baking soda reacts with the acid in the buttermilk to give the cake a fluffy interior.
How to make
Here’s a quick summary of how to make blueberry Bundt cake. Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
- Prep – Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Butter and flour a standard Bundt pan.
- Mix – Whisk dry ingredients in one bowl, combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Then combine with the buttermilk.
- Fill – Scoop a little batter into the pan, then fold blueberries into remaining batter. Add batter to cake pan, smooth the top and bake.
- Cool – Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then gently unmold and let the cake cool completely before glazing.
When to take the cake out of the pan
As the cake cools, you’ll notice it start to pull away from the sides of the pan. When you see this, that is your clue to flip over and unmold.
Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. As the cake cools, you’ll start to see a little space between the pan and the cake. This tells you that it is safe to take the cake out of the pan, and if you’ve properly buttered and floured the pan, it will slide right out.
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Glazing the blueberry Bundt cake
I have made this Bundt cake at least a dozen times. Sometimes I’ve glazed it with a really light lemon glaze, and other times, I go with a vanilla bean glaze. This recipe is for the vanilla glaze, but if lemon is more to your liking, simply swap out the milk for fresh lemon juice and the vanilla for a bit of lemon zest and there you have it.
The lemon glaze is a bit lighter and thinner than the vanilla, so if you want a more substantial glaze on your cake, go with the vanilla. If you like a slightly thicker glaze, add in a few ounces of cream cheese to give it a little body.
Blueberry Bundt cake recipe FAQ’s
This blueberry buttermilk Bundt recipe is for a standard 12 cup Bundt pan.
Honestly, use whatever you have. Because, when you want a blueberry cake, it doesn’t really matter if your berries are fresh or frozen. The cake is going to be delicious either way. That being said, I have found that my frozen blueberries sink more than when I use fresh berries. If using frozen berries, make sure they are thawed and drained very well.
Most cake freeze very well, this one included. After the cake has cooled slightly, but not completely, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Then store in an airtight container, like a zip-top bag, and freeze for up to 3 months. Do not glaze if you plan to freeze the cake.
Variations and substitutions
- Berries – Swap out blueberries for raspberries or blackberries.
- Lemon – To give this cake a citrusy twist, add 2 tablespoons of lemon zest to the batter, and top with lemon glaze.
More blueberry recipes to love
Helpful tools and equipment
- 12 cup Bundt cake pan – This is the pan I reach for every time I make a Bundt cake. It’s lightweight, so it’s not extra heavy when full of batter and it has handles on the sides to help you grab the pan without sticking your thumb into the cake.
- Food scale – Weighing ingredients is the most accurate method, and highly recommended to ensure good results every time.
- KitchenAid stand mixer – A great piece of equipment to have in your kitchen.
- Breville hand mixer – I own this exact mixer, and I love it. It has a timer, which is very helpful, and a light, which makes it so much easier to see inside the bowl.
- Flexible rubber spatulas – These spatulas are all one piece, which makes them easy to keep clean.
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Blueberry buttermilk Bundt cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 sticks unsalted butter softened to room temperature, plus an extra 2 tablespoons for buttering the pan / 226g
- 2 cups blueberries 320g
- 2 cups sugar 400g
- 3 cups cake flour Plus a few tablespoons for flouring pan / 370g or 13 ounces
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt fine sea salt is preferable
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 eggs large, room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature / 227g
For the Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar 227g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons milk or light cream
Instructions
Make the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Butter and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan, being careful to cover every crease!
- In a medium bowl: whisk flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda until combined and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment (or a medium bowl with hand mixer): Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes, then add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated, scraping down the bowl between additions. Add in vanilla, mix for about 30 seconds just to combine everything. Scrape down bowl again.
- Add in half the flour mixture, mix until just combined. Followed by half of the buttermilk. Scrape down bowl again and add the rest of the flour mixture. Mix until just combined, followed by the last of the buttermilk. Mix until just combined.
- Add ¼ of the batter to the Bundt pan, then gently fold blueberries into remaining batter. Pour the remaining batter into the pan, then lightly smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Baking time will vary depending on your oven. *At the 45 minute mark, take a peek in the oven – if the cake is golden and has pulled away from the sides of the pan a bit, test it for doneness.
- When a tester comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven, and let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning it out onto a cooling rack to cool completely before glazing.
Make the Glaze
- In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. Stir until smooth & glossy. Drizzle over completely cooled cake. *See notes for variations.
Notes
- For glaze: To make the vanilla glaze a little thicker, add in 2 ounces (55g) of cream cheese. To make a lemon glaze, replace milk with fresh lemon juice, and vanilla with lemon zest.
- If you do not plan on serving the cake within a day or two, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap while it is just the slightest bit warm and place it in the freezer.
- Glazing the cake: The easiest way to minimize mess when glazing the cake is to place the cooling rack inside of a baking sheet, then drizzle the glaze over the cake. The excess will drip into the sheet pan instead of your kitchen counter.
Nutrition
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Originally published July 2016, most recent update March 21, 2025.
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This bundt cake looks so moist and delicious! Perfect for brunch!
Looks great! Beautiful photos!
I love that you used buttermilk in the cake! I can’t wait to try it! I bet the recipe is just perfect with that in it! (and ps, as long as there are blueberries in it, I don’t care if they sink or not! 🙂
Oh my this is AMAZING…. I did it with the glaze with Lemon instead of milk and it reminded me of summer. So nice on a cold wet day here
Thank you SO MUCH, Cerys!!! I appreciate your kind words more than you know <3
LOVE the imperfect photo – as you call it. I never would have noticed, myself – but I am a huge fan of being REAL so thanks! Can’t wait to try this one. It does look simple enough to whip up quickly in a pinch and I LOVE that!
Thank you, Taci!
my mother in law does not like “conventional” birthday cakes.. covered in frosting or some sort of cream.. I was looking for alternatives and this is PERFECT for her. Thanks so much!
Thank you, Ana! That is wonderful. I really appreciate it and I hope she loves the cake!
She LOVED it! the cake was gone in minutes!
YAYYYYYY!!!!!! Ana, you have absolutely made my day! THANK YOU so much!!! I’m thrilled that she loved it <3
You mention in the notes preceding the recipe that there is “vanilla bean paste” in the recipe for the blueberry buttermilk bundt. but i’ve gone over your recipe 3xs and only see mention of “vanilla extract” in the batter and glaze. is/are one of these supposed to be paste? please clarify. TIA
Hi Samantha, you can use either vanilla bean paste or regular vanilla extract. I prefer the paste, but it is a tad expensive, as I say in the notes. Most people already have vanilla extract, so I give the option. It’s up to you which you prefer to use 🙂
They will both work.
Can I use buttermilk that I’ve make with milk and white vinegar or lemon juice or do I need to use ‘real’ buttermilk?
Hi Diane, I’m sure the milk & vinegar or lemon would work. I’ve never made it that way, but in theory, it should work!
I just made the cake. I added the zest one small lemon, but followed the recipe otherwise. I was overly cautious about my blueberries sinking and ended up with blueberries only on the bottom (when you flip it) because they didn’t sink at all! So I will probably just fold the blueberries in if I make it again. My batter was very thick and I think that kept everything in place.
Thanks for the feedback, Stephanie. I get worried about it too, so I’m overly cautious as well.
When using frozen blueberries, I let them thaw in colander then mix them with a couple tablespoons of the DRY cake mix, then fold them into the completed cake mix. Works pretty well to keep them from sinking. (I do this with fresh berries too).
Hi! Can I use frozen blueberries in place of the fresh?
Yes you can, Christine. Just make sure they are thawed and drained very well.