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This is the Best Chocolate Raspberry Cake Recipe. Rich layered chocolate cake with whipped cream cheese raspberry filling, topped with creamy chocolate buttercream frosting and fresh raspberries.
Every single year on Valentine’s Day, I make my husband a chocolate cake. We have been married for 27 years (this will be the 29th Valentine’s Day we are celebrating together) so that’s a lot of chocolate cake!
For years, I worked and tweaked to create the ultimate chocolate cake recipe and the Love at First Sight Chocolate Cake was born. This year I decided to mix it up a little and instead of a traditional chocolate cake, I made a Chocolate Raspberry Cake with a Fresh Raspberry Cream Filling and he absolutely loved it.
Why you will love this Chocolate Raspberry Cake:
The combination of chocolate and raspberries is a match made in culinary heaven. The deep, complex flavors of chocolate are beautifully complemented by the bright and tangy taste of raspberries.
This is a moist, rich, decadent chocolate cake with a creamy layer made with cream cheese, heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla bean paste.
This Chocolate Raspberry Cake is what dreams are made of.
Since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, this Chocolate Raspberry Cake is the perfect dessert to celebrate.
I have made a CRAZY amount of cakes in my days. This chocolate cake ALWAYS turns out. It is so dependable because it is always a winner. The cakes come out beautifully every single time.
How to make a Perfect Chocolate Raspberry Cake:
Baking is all about ratios and you have to find that perfect balance. Here are some of the most important things I have learned about baking cakes:
- Even though I am the biggest butter fan in the world, oil just works best in chocolate cakes.
- A high-quality cocoa powder can change the depth of chocolate flavor. If you can use high-quality cocoa powder, it can be a difference maker. I use Callebaut Cocoa (which I find in the bulk section at Winco for a steal of a price).
- Cake flour does make a difference in the tender crumb of the cake but you can substitute all-purpose flour.
- Using both baking soda and baking powder gives it the best rise.
- Buttermilk is a must because it gives it the melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Once you add the hot water, the cake batter will be thin. Don’t panic. It’s ALL GOOD. It just means that the cake will be extra moist.
- Don’t overbake your cake. You want that moist, tender crumb so watch it carefully.
Chocolate Raspberry Cake Tip:
For extra raspberry flavor, spread raspberry jam on each chocolate cake layer.
Storage:
Since this chocolate raspberry cream cake has a cream cheese whipped cream filling, it does need to be refrigerated. Cover and store in the refrigerator.
Substitutions and Variations:
For more raspberry flavor, spread each chocolate cake layer with a thin layer of raspberry jam.
To make a chocolate strawberry cake, substitute strawberries for the raspberries.
Freeze the cake layers before frosting to make it easier to frost the cake.
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Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 1 3/4 cup Flour
- 1 3/4 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cup Cocoa high quality
- 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 cup Oil such as Canola
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 cup Hot Water
Raspberry Cream Filling:
- (1) 8-ounce pkg. Cream Cheese softened
- 1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
- 12 ounces Fresh Raspberries (reserve 6 to 8 ounces for the top of the cake)
- 1/4 cup Seedless Raspberry Jam (optional)
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup Butter softened
- 3/4 cup Cocoa
- 3 cups Powdered Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Cream Half n Half or Milk
- 2 teaspoons Light Karo Syrup optional for shine
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. If you have a flour sifter, sift all dry ingredients.
- In mixing bowl, beat oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla for 1 minute. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until combined. Pour in hot water and mix together. The batter will be liquidy but that’s a good thing — it will create a moist cake.
- Spray two or three 8 or 9-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray. You can use three 8 inch cake pans for this recipe. Pour batter evenly into each pan. Bake at 22-27 minutes. Place toothpick or cake tester in the center of the cake to check if it comes out clean.
- Let cool before frosting. To make it easier to frost, freeze the cake layers for about 30 minutes before frosting.
To make Raspberry Cream Filling:
- In a large mixing bowl, whip cream cheese for 2 minutes, until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Add powdered sugar and beat for 2 more minutes. Add heavy cream and beat until soft peaks form. It needs to be thick enough that it will hold its shape once on the cake layers.
To make Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- In mixing bowl, cream together Butter, Cocoa, Powdered Sugar, and Cream until light and fluffy. You may want to add more cream or milk depending on consistency.
To assemble cake:
- Once the cake has cooled and has been removed from pans, spread cream filling over each cake layer (I used three 8-inch pans). Place raspberries over cream layer. Repeat. *If using raspberry jam, spread it on cake layer before adding the cream filling.
- Frost with chocolate buttercream frosting. Top with fresh raspberries in center of the cake. May dust with powdered sugar.
- Cover and store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This Chocolate Raspberry Cake will knock your socks off! I can’t wait to hear all about it. Have a wonderful night, my friends!
Happy Baking!
The cake was very delicious! But I could not get the cream cheese filling to thicken up. I followed the directions, tried the suggestions and tried making it twice but no luck. :(. Very moist cake though!
Excellent Recipe! It was a hit for my Mother in law’s special day. I would recommend a couple slight modifications. If you are using only 2 pans, then halve the cream cheese filling otherwise you’ll have too much. Also beat cream cheese filling more so that it can hold up under the weight of the top layer. This way it won’t try to escape on the sides.
Thank you for the great recipe.
Can I convert this to a 13×9 instead of 3 layers?
I really would love to make this but all I have is dutch processed cocoa powder. Do i need to make any substitutions for the leaveners or is there enough acidity in the cake already swap the cocoa powders?
Will the filling and/or butter cream keep
Overnight? So you can make ahead of time? Or is it best just to assemble or it all fresh?
I made this cake for my friend’s third year of sobriety. It was amazing and I’ve had to make it a couple more times for my AA ladies with birthdays. It is an amazing cake! Thank u sooo much!
I made this cake for Christmas and it was a big hit. Beautiful and delicious!
This is the best recipe I’ve ever made- everything turned out exactly as written. I did a double portion as a I made a bigger cake (11-12inches pan) and it turned out amazing. I did this recipe for my children’s birthday party and everybody enjoyed it. It took me 4 hours during the night, but it was worth it. Thank you very much!
I think for the filling you could put 1/2 cup heavy cream. It was too thin! I had to keep adding icing sugar to thicken it.
This turned out great!! It is delicious.