April 18, 2018

White Almond Cake with Raspberry Filling and Buttercream Frosting

White Almond Cake with Raspberry Filling and Buttercream Frosting. Soft, white almond cake layers with a delicious raspberry filling, finished with raspberry and vanilla buttercream frostings. The perfect cake for any occasion!

April 2018 Original Blog Post

There is a bakery not far from where I live that has some of my favorite desserts in the world. They all have a very specific taste to them that I cannot place, but adore none the less. I have been at multiple events where I tasted the cake and immediately knew it had been purchased at that bakery. They have a one cupcake called ‘death by chocolate’, that I literally dreamed about when I pregnant with my son. Not literally in the way it’s used when people don’t actually mean literally, but literally in the way that means literally.

I once craved that chocolate cupcake so badly that I drove to the store three times within a one week period hoping to get it. However, they don’t stock all of their goods everyday, so I missed out on it every freaking single time. I persevered though, and on my forth trip, finally got it. I sat in the parking lot and enjoyed every last bite of it. And although that cupcake is delicious, it cannot compare to their almond cake with raspberry filling. I haven’t been able to justify purchasing that cake on a regular basis, but I can justify coming up with a semi-replicate I can make for friends, so that is what I have done. I have taken bits and pieces of various recipes from the internet, and combined them to make heaven.

November 2018

I wrote the initial post for this cake in my first few days of starting this blog. The photo was one I had taken on my phone, never intending for it to be published anywhere. For a cake this good though, the photo needed to be updated to one that matched it’s amazing taste. I have been thinking a lot about it recently, but have had other cakes I wanted to try and tweak, and have let the white almond cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting recipe fall by the wayside.

Holiday Cake

Last week though, that changed. My husband, kids and I went to South Carolina to visit my family for Thanksgiving. I asked what we could contribute to Thanksgiving dinner, and it was suggested that I bring some desserts. That worked out beautifully for me.

Although most people think of Thanksgiving as a pie holiday, I’m not a big pie fan, and think more cake should be incorporated into Thanksgiving. So, I ended up making Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing, Homemade Apple Pie (I love this pie though, so I’m totally fine with it staying for Thanksgiving), and this white almond cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting.

White Almond Cake with Raspberry Filling and Buttercream Frosting

This cake starts with a box mix, but it’s tweaked to give it a little something special. Then it’s filled my favorite raspberry filling and finished with both vanilla and raspberry buttercream frostings. It’s addictively delicious. It’s perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays or anywhere else you want a delicious but easy to make cake!

White Almond Cake with Raspberry Filling and Buttercream Frosting

4.47 from 47 votes

Course: Dessert

Servings: 8", 3 tiered cake

Ingredients

Cake

1 package of white cake mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites

Raspberry Filling

12 oz frozen unsweetened raspberries thawed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur

Buttercream Frosting

1 stick of unsalted butter room temperature
1/2 cup all vegetable shortening
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
pinch sea salt
3-4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Raspberry Buttercream

6 oz frozen unsweetened raspberries thawed
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups of powdered sugar
pinch of sea salt

Instructions

Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Line three, 8″ round pans with parchment paper. Grease and flour the sides.
In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together water, sour cream, oil, extracts and egg whites.
In a separate bowl, stir together cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt.
Turn mixer on low. Gradually pour in cake mix/flour mixture.
Mix on low for 4 minutes. Some lumps should remain.
Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
Cool cakes in pans for 4 minutes then remove to racks to finish cooling. Let cool completely before frosting.

Raspberry Filling

Thaw raspberries and strain juice from berries. For this step I put a large strainer over a bowl and let the berries thaw in the strainer.
Add enough water to the juice in the bowl so that you have 3/4 cup of liquid.
Combine juice mixture with sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens. Once mixture thickens, remove from heat and set aside.
Place the raspberries in a mesh strainer. Place strainer over bowl and press berries with spoon so that pulp falls into a bowl. Strain until you have 1/2 cup of pulp.
Once the mixture in the saucepan has cooled, add the raspberry pulp and raspberry liqueur. Stir well. Transfer to airtight contained and place in refrigerate for at least 3 hours before using.

Buttercream Frosting

Place butter and shortening in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium high speed until mixture is smooth and has lightened in color.
Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Start on low to mix sugar in, then beat on high speed until well incorporated. I find it best to place a shield over the mixer when working with powdered sugar.
Add vanilla and sea salt. Mix until well combined.
Add milk or heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.

Raspberry Buttercream

Thaw raspberries and strain juice from berries. For this step I put a large strainer over a bowl and let the berries thaw in the strainer. Use a spoon to press berries into strainer so that pulp falls into bowl.
Place butter and shortening in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium high speed until mixture is smooth and has lightened in color.
Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, followed by 1 tbsp of raspberry pulp. Mix well after each addition.
Mix in pinch of sea salt.

To Assemble

Level cakes.
Pipe a border of vanilla vanilla buttercream over the leveled top of two of the layers. Divide the raspberry filling between the two layers and spread to piped border.
Frost over raspberry filling with vanilla buttercream (I find it easiest to pipe a thin circular layer and spread with an offset spatula).
Stack two layers with filling. For top layer, place top down.
Frost outside of cake with vanilla buttercream. I like to first do a light, crumb layer, let the cake sit in the fridge for about 20 minutes, and then finish.
Decorate with raspberry buttercream.