Julie Clark
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Raspberry Lemon Layer Cake
This Raspberry Lemon Layer Cake is the perfect cake for the season! Layers of lemon cake are frosted with a sweet raspberry buttercream!
Summer has finally sprung and there is nothing better than lemon desserts. Correction…when you combine raspberry and lemon it’s even better.
This Raspberry Lemon Layer Cake is a stunningly tall cake! Layers of delicious lemon cake is coated in a sweet and tart raspberry frosting, marrying these two flavors together perfectly!
If you want a show stopping dessert that tastes amazing and is simple yet elegant, then this raspberry cake is just the treat that you need!
What You’ll Love About This Cake:
This cake has so many amazing things about it! Here are a few of them:
- It’s got deliciously moist lemon cake layers. You won’t be overpowered by the lemon in the cake, but it’s just enough to make your mouth water!
- It’s frosted with a simple raspberry frosting, using raspberry jam and fresh raspberries to decorate. This gives the cake its beautiful pink color!!
- It’s simple to decorate. While it’s a layer cake, it doesn’t have to be super fancy. Using fresh lemons and raspberries to let cake shine on its own is what makes it look so appealing!
How Do I Keep The Layers From Falling Apart?
For this recipe, you’ll be putting lemon curd and fresh raspberries in the middle. You may be wondering, “how do I get this cake to stay in one piece?!”
Here’s our trick: using a piping bag or a plastic bag with the tip cut off, squeeze icing around the outside of the first cake layer. Then, fill the circle of icing with the lemon curd and raspberries.
What Is The Best Way To Ice A Cake?
If you’re still struggling with keeping the cake together, here are a few frosting tips to make sure your cake comes out how you want it!
- Frost the cake with a crumb coat first. You’ll hear this a lot from cake bakers – don’t question the method! We like to frost a thin layer around the cake first to make sure everything can settle before putting the final coat on.
- Put your crumb coat in the fridge to let the cake set. It’s almost like your cake needs time in the fridge to relax so the layers firm up. Then when you’re frosting your final coat, the cake won’t move around as much! Make sure to wrap your cake with plastic wrap when putting it in the fridge, though:)
- Don’t worry about the looks! The amazing taste of the raspberry lemon flavor will speak for itself. If your frosting is tough to spread, add more whole milk (by tablespoon) and whip it inbetween to get a lighter texture.
How Do I Store Cake To Keep It Moist?
This cake is safe to keep at room temperature for a few hours after it is frosted. If you’re making it a day in advance, I’d store it in a cake carrier and refrigerate it so the fruit stays fresh.
After you cutting, to make sure this cake stays moist and delicious, you’ll want to wrap it in plastic wrap very well. Or, you can cut into slices and store in an airtight container. As long as it doesn’t sit out for a long time uncovered, you’ll be good!
How To Make Lemon Raspberry Cake:
We’ve talked about a lot of tips on making this cake, but here are a few more basic cake making tips to make sure it comes out just how you want it.
- When baking the cake, make sure you mix in the butter and sugar well. This cake doesn’t require any beating, but in order for the cake to come out well you’ll want to make sure everything is incorporated.
- Don’t try to frost it while the cake is still warm. Make sure everything is fully cooled so that your frosting won’t melt.
- If you’re not going to eat it for a few days, store in an airtight container in the fridge. Because this recipe uses real fruit, you’ll want to make sure it doesn’t go bad.
How To Decorate Lemon Raspberry Cake:
There are multiple ways you can decorate this cake!! Here are a few alternate options:
- Decorate with frosting swirls. You can take a large tip and swirl frosting around the cake if you want!
- Top with raspberry preserves and lemon slices. You can use raspberry preserves on top to add a little more raspberry flavor.
- Fill the top with raspberries and shape the edges with frosting and lemon.
- Just frost normally and serve with ice cream if you’d like!!
Raspberry Lemon Layer Cake
This Raspberry Lemon Layer Cake is the perfect cake for the season! Layers of lemon cake are frosted with a sweet raspberry buttercream!
Servings 15
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 4 cups cake flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 1/2 cups white sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- zest of two lemons
For the Filling:
- 3/4 cup lemon curd
For the Frosting:
- 1 cup salted butter (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup raspberry jam or preserves
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream (if needed)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans.
For the Cake:
- Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth, and beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt along with the milk, lemon juice and lemon zest, mixing until just combined.
- Pour the batter equally into prepared pans, and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. After the cakes cool for 10 minutes, turn them over onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
For the Frosting:
- In a stand mixer, mix the butter on medium speed for about two minutes or it turns white in color.
- Add the vanilla and raspberry preserves. Mix well, slowly mixing in the powdered sugar.
- Beat on low speed for 2-3 minutes, adding heavy cream a tablespoon at a time if the buttercream is too thick to spread.
To Assemble:
- Place one cake layer on a cake plate. Pipe a ring of frosting around the outer top edge of the cake. This is to hold the lemon curd in place.
- Spoon the lemon curd on top of the cake inside the frosting ring. Spread it out carefully.
- Place the second cake layer on top.
- Frost the outside of the cake with the raspberry buttercream. You can add as little or as much frosting as you want.
- To decorate, use leftover icing to pipe flowers on the top using tip 1M or use fresh berries to decorate.
- Store at room temperature for up to 24 hours, or store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 15 pieces (using all of the lemon curd and buttercream), with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.
This post originally featured Bread Booze and Bacon’s raspberry lemon cake. Our new flavor profile is inspired by this cake. For the original recipe click here.
