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This Raspberry Dream Cake has layers of tender, moist vanilla cake and fresh raspberry filling all covered in cream cheese frosting! It’s a wonderfully simple, yet delicious cake!
So the boys seem to be changing so much lately and getting so grown up. They are 18 months and after their 18 month check up I can tell you that being preemies didn’t hold them back one bit. They’ve caught up fully to where they were as far as percentiles when I was pregnant with them. Ashton is up in the 90s with his percentile and Brooks is literally off the chart. Crazy boys. They are over 27 and 31 pounds and getting quite tough for me to hold at the same time.
One thing I’ve been working with them on for a little bit now is drinking from a straw and they’ve totally mastered it now, which is neat to see. They are also really discovering that they have a mind of their own and so sitting down and planting themselves when they don’t want to do what we say is becoming a very popular behavior. And their dance moves are going from a cute little bounce to full on dancing, complete with the same little bounce, stomping, swaying and arm waving. It’s my favorite.
And yet despite all their growth, they are still the same silly boys that love being outside and playing with water. They’ll be taking a big step a week from today, and starting swimming lessons. The place we are taking them does short 10 minute lessons 4 times a week for 6 weeks, so it’s a fairly big commitment. But with drowning literally being the number one death in young kids and us around water so much, it’s a skill they’ve got to have. So survival swimming begins next week!
The boys have also recently developed a taste for baked goods. They initially were questionable on them and now whenever they see stuff I’m working on, they know they want to try it. Eek! There’s always so much stuff around our house, I’m hiding most of it. I just don’t want to give them too many sweets too soon. They didn’t get to try this cake, but I’m sure the day is coming.
How to Make this Vanilla Cake with Raspberry Filling
Speaking of this cake, it really is a dream! It’s modeled after the Publix Raspberry Elegance Cake, which I had recently. It really struck me because the flavors are so simple and seemingly unexciting and yet, when paired together, make an elegant and classy cake. Simple enough that you could eat it any old day but nice enough for an occasion too, and certainly not boring. The cream cheese frosting really ups the game with this cake!
To start, there’s the cake layers. I’ve mentioned using the reverse creaming method in a couple of recent cakes and have used it here as well. I promise I won’t use it for every cake now, but I have kind of fallen in love with the texture it gives a cake. It’s just SO tender! And it creates a really nice, tight crumb that is reminiscent of a bakery-style cake.
To make it, you’ll combine the dry ingredients, then slowly add in the butter one tablespoon at a time until the mixture resembles wet sand. This process of adding the fat to the flour actually coats the flour to minimize gluten formation. Ultimately it results in a more tender cake and finer crumb.
Next, the filling is made with some fresh raspberries that are pureed in a food processor. They are then cooked with some sugar and cornstarch to sweeten and thicken it. It thickens enough to make a nice filling, but doesn’t become super thick.
Finally, you’ve got a classic cream cheese frosting. It’s hard not to love a good cream cheese frosting and the flavor it adds compliments this cake beautifully. Frost the cake with it, then decorate it as you like.
I used my favorite 9 inch offset spatula to create some decoration around the outside, then adorned it with some fresh raspberries and few pearl sprinkles. A subtle but elegant look that reflects the simplicity of the cake itself. I hope you enjoy it!
More raspberry recipes to enjoy:
White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake
Raspberry Almond Layer Cake
Raspberry Chocolate Layer Cake
Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Raspberry Goat Cheese Cheesecake
Raspberry Roll Cake
Raspberry Dream Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Raspberry Dream Cake has layers of tender, moist vanilla cake and fresh raspberry filling all covered in cream cheese frosting! It’s a wonderfully simple, yet delicious cake!
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake Layers
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) milk
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) cake flour
- 1 1/2 cups (310g) sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted butter, room temperature
Raspberry Filling
- 2 1/2 cups (320g) raspberries
- 4 tbsp (60ml) water
- 1 cup (207g) sugar
- 3 tbsp + 1/2 tsp cornstarch
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 oz (452g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (172g) butter, room temperature
- 10 cups (1150g) powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch or two of salt
Instructions
Vanilla Cake Layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper in the bottom and baking spray on the sides.
- Combine the milk, eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla extract in a large bowl, then separate about 3/4 cup of the mixture into another bowl or measuring cup. About 1 1/4 cups should remain in the other bowl. Set both aside.
- In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the butter about a tablespoon at a time, allowing it to incorporate before adding the next tablespoon. As you add more butter, the mixture will start to clump together a bit a should end up resembling wet sand.
- Add the larger of the reserved egg mixture (about 1 1/4 cups) to the dry ingredients/butter mixture. Stir on the lowest speed until it’s incorporated, then scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Increase the speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy, about 45 seconds to a minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Turn the speed down to low and slowly add the remaining egg mixture in a slow stream until incorporated.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl, then turn speed back up and mix until well combined, about 10-15 seconds.
- Divide the batter evenly between the three cake pans and bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Remove cakes from the oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. The cakes will pull away from the sides of the pan a little as they cool.
Raspberry Filling
- To make the raspberry filling, add the raspberries and water to a food processor and puree until smooth. If you’d like, you can strain the puree to remove the seeds.
- Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Stir in the raspberry puree.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring consistently until mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 8-10 minutes.
- Allow to boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Refrigerate and allow to cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- When ready to build the cake, make the frosting. Add the cream cheese and butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until well combined and smooth.
- Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
- Add the vanilla extract and salt mix until well combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
Build the Cake
- To put the cake together, use a large serrated knife to remove the domes from the top of the cakes so that they’re flat. Refer to my tutorial, if needed.
- Place the first cake on a serving plate or a cardboard cake round.
- Pipe a dam of frosting around the outside of the cake. Refer to my tutorial, if needed. Spread about 1/2 of the filling evenly on top of the cake.
- Place the second cake on top and add another dam of frosting and the remaining raspberry filling.
- Top the cake with the final cake layer and frost with the remaining frosting. Refer to my tutorial, if needed.
- If desired, use a 9 inch offset spatula to create a design in the sides of the cake. Pipe shells around the top edge of the cake. I used Ateco tip 847. Finish off the cake with some fresh raspberries.
- Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. If possible, remove the cake from the fridge 1-2 hours before serving so that it comes closer to room temperature.
- Store in a cake carrier or well wrapped with plastic in the fridge. Best if eaten within 3-4 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 785
- Sugar: 109.6 g
- Sodium: 329.2 mg
- Fat: 25.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 134.7 g
- Protein: 7.5 g
- Cholesterol: 97.9 mg
Sounds amazing. I am going to add lemon zest and some lemon juice to turn this into a lemon cake. I was also wondering if I could substitute the milk for buttermilk in this recipe. 😉
I would probably recommend you check out some of my lemon cake recipes if you want lemon cake layers. There’s a lot of acidity in lemon and buttermilk, so you need some baking soda usually to balance that out. Just adding lemon to this cake may not give you the results you want.
Hello! I am trying out this recipe this week and was wondering if I can make the raspberry filling a day in advance and refrigerate? Thanks!
Definitely
Hi I am trying to make this recipe in the UK do you have metric measurements please!? Thanks so much
I make dessert request for everyone on my team at work for birthday celebrations. Just made this and it was a hit for most but for me and some others the sugar part of your site name was overwhelming. I stopped adding powdered sugar after 8 cups instead of 10 in the recipe, as I thought the frosting was getting a little stiff. Combined with the cup in raspberries and 1.5 cups in the cake…WOW, a lot of sugar.
Hi Lindsay,
This cake sounds interesting. But I’m curious about why it seems more complicated than most cake recipes. Usually it’s adding dry ingredients to wet and done. Adding the butter to the dry flour sounds odd. Can you tell the purpose of this step?
Thank you,
Camilla
It’s just one of several different methods for cake making. As I mentioned in the blog post, it’s called the reverse creaming method. It creates a different textured cake. I personally really enjoy it. Feel free to give it a try!
Can I freeze any extra frosting? Beautiful cake!
Thank you so much for replying. I baked the cake at 160 Celsius. It turned out fine except some of the mix leaked through the loose bottom of the tin.
Hi Lindsay,
I’m going to bake this cake later today. I made your chocolate cake and it was wonderful!
Just a quick question…should I drop the oven temperature by 10 degrees as my oven is fan assisted and in degrees Celsius?
I wouldn’t adjust it for a convection oven. Mine is convection as well. Not sure about the celsius part though. I’d guess it should stay the same, but in celsius.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree, ganache would be my go-to as well so I was stumped when she wanted a white cake with berry — just can’t see putting chocolate on that. I’ll be giving it a try this weekend, wish me luck!
You could try using white chocolate ganache. That might work better than regular chocolate. I hope it goes well!
My daughter wants a white cake with raspberry filling for her birthday and your recipe looks perfect. However I was going to decorate the cake as a Tiffany’s gift box (her theme), so I would love your thoughts on how to adjust the recipe if I were to cover the entire cake with the blue fondant. Would you recommend the cream cheese icing as the base beneath the fondant, or would buttercream be better, or does it matter? Any other tips? Thanks!
I really don’t work with fondant much and don’t cover cakes with it, so take my advice with a grain of salt. But if you cover the cake after refrigerating it, the frosting should be nice and firm (either cream cheese frosting or buttercream) so I imagine it would be fine. Back when I did cover some cakes with fondant though, I preferred ganache because it ended up giving me harder edges, which I preferred. Buttercream tends to end up having a softer edges after being covered.
Hi! I wanted to make this cake for a christmas dinner but in cupcake form because I loved it so much when I made it for Valentine’s Day. How long should I bake for if I decide to do that?
Thank you@
I haven’t dried it as cupcakes before but I’m guessing somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes.
Made this cake for a cousins birthday and it was a hit! We now just use the cake recipe for all birthdays. Thanks for the amazing recipe!
So glad to hear that!
I see that on the cake instructions you call for unsalted butter. For the frosting, though, it just calls for 3/4 cup of butter. Can I assume it’s regular salted butter. Thanks in advance. The cake looks lovely.
You could use either honestly. The salt adds some flavor and cuts down on sweetness so it’s more a matter of preference.
Absolutely delicious! I really like your recipes, I’ve made 2 now, the lemon cheesecake and this one. I think in gonna make the Snickerdoodle Cake next! I am also a fellow cinnamon lover😀. Are all the recipes on this website in your cookbook?
So glad you’ve enjoyed them! No, the recipes in my cookbook are mostly different.
My son has asked for a raspberry and lemon curd cake- this looks like an awesome start. What are your thoughts on alternating layers of the raspberry filling and lemon curd?
That should be fine. I hope you enjoy it!
Wait what? Baking spray on the pans instead of grease and flour?
Yes, that’s what I use. Either should work fine.