Today I am sharing a delicious, fluffy, moist, incredibly easy, no special tools cake that is PERFECT for Memorial Day! Many of you have mentioned that you don’t have stand mixer or even hand mixers so you’re wondering if my recipes can be made without them. Some of them work best with an electric mixer, but you can basically always use a hand mixer or stand mixer interchangeably. For this buttermilk and berry cake – you don’t need either. While it definitely makes it easier to use an electric mixer, I can attest that all you need for this recipe is a big bowl, whisk, wooden spoon, and some good arm strength!
To make the cake, first you will whisk together the butter and sugars. Since you aren’t using an electric mixer, you want your butter to be VERY soft. I leave it out on the counter for a few hours before I start baking to ensure it’s super soft, but you can also microwave it for a few seconds to soften it up if you need do it more quickly. I find that its easiest to mash the butter with the sugars first and then begin whisking to make it fluffy and fully combined. Then you’ll add your eggs, and combine into a smooth batter, followed by the vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice.
Once you have a smooth batter, you will add half of your dry ingredients. This is a little more difficult to mix because the batter will get very thick. So I alternate between using a wooden spoon and a whisk here to slowly mix in the dry ingredients and then whisk to make it smooth. Once you’ve incorporated half of the dry ingredients, add all of your buttermilk. Then add the remaining dry ingredients to make the final batter.
With half of the dry ingredients added 
After the buttermilk 
Final batter
Prepare a 9×13 Pyrex baking dish (or you can use a metal cake pan of the same size, but watch the baking time if you do!) by placing a sheet of parchment paper in the dish and spraying with cooking spray or greasing with butter. The parchment paper should hang over the edges of the baking dish so you can easily pull the cake out of the pan when it’s done! Pour the batter into the prepared dish and then top with berries and coarse sugar. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, covering with tin foil if it gets too dark, until the cake is fully baked and cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Serve this buttermilk and berry cake with some more fresh berries and whipped cream! Enjoy!
If you love snack cakes, check out my recipe for Bananas Foster Upside Down Cake!
Buttermilk and Berry Cake
Equipment
- 9×13 Pyrex baking dish or cake pan
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), room temperature (very soft)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Juice and zest of half a small lemon
- 1.5 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups assorted berries (cherries should be pitted and halved, strawberries should be halved, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries can be left whole)
- Coarse sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a 9×13 Pyrex dish by lining with parchment paper and spraying with cooking spray or greasing with butter. Make sure there is some overhang of the parchment paper over the edges of the pan so you can easily lift the cake from the pan when it's done baking.
- You can also use a metal baking pan, but watch the cooking time. Metal heats up faster than glass does, so make sure you are watching this cake in the oven.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and sugars. The butter should be extremely soft to the touch – I leave it out on the counter for a few hours before I start baking. But you can also microwave for a few seconds to soften it. Keep whisking until the butter and sugars are combined and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and whisk to combine. The batter should be smooth.
- Whisk in the vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
- In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt). Add half of the dry ingredients to your batter. Whisk until combined. I alternate a little between the whisk and a wooden spoon here. Sometimes it's a little easier to use the spoon. But use whatever is easier for you! Continue to mix until fully incorporated.
- Add all of the buttermilk. Whisk or stir to combine. The batter should be very smooth.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients. Stir to form the final batter. It should be nice and smooth!
- Add the cake batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Scatter the berries over the top of the cake and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown on top and fully cooked through. The cake is cooked through when a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. I usually cover the top of the cake with tin foil at around the 40 minute mark so it doesnt get too brown.
- Let the cake cool slightly in the baking dish and then remove the cake by lifting the parchment paper gently from the dish.
- Place the cake on a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once the cake is cooled, slice and serve! It's great on its own, but I love it topped with some whipped cream and extra berries.
