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Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake

Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake. A real old fashioned lemon scratch cake filled with delicious raspberry compote and frosted with a tangy lemon buttercream icing. A great celebration cake.

Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake photo of a single slice on a yellow plate showing all four layers

Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake.

Spouse and I were invited over to a friends for the evening last weekend, so I threw together something for a little late evening dessert.

Our friend Barb is a big lemon fan, so this cake started out as a standard lemon buttercream cake. I had a large batch of raspberry compote in the fridge to use up though.

With lemons and raspberries being such good flavour friends I used it to fill the layers too.

2019 update: This recipe has gone on to become one of our most popular lemon recipes ever in the last 11 + years on Rock Recipes. At last count it was nearing the top our most popular lemon recipes ever on our website.

That is quite an endorsement because we have well over 100 lemon recipes published online.

Over the last 9 years, I have heard from countless people who have made this cake and they all love it. It has made appearances at birthdays, anniversaries, Easter feasts and even weddings.

Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake Photo of the frosted cake on a white serving plate

Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake

Whatever the celebration, or even if you have to invent one, this cake is sure to brighten any event.
 
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Yield: 16 servings

Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake

Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake. A real old fashioned lemon scratch cake filled with delicious raspberry compote and frosted with a tangy lemon buttercream icing. A great celebration cake.

Ingredients

  • For the Lemon Cake
  • 2 3/4 cups cake flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • zest of one large lemon, finely minced
  • 1 1/4 cups evaporated milk (straight from the can)
  • For the Raspberry Compote
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp corn starch
  • aprox 1 ounce water
  • For the Lemon Buttercream Frosting
  • 8 cups icing sugar (i.e. powdered sugar, confectioners' sugar)
  • 2 cups butter, unsalted
  • pinch salt
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • zest of one lemon, finely minced
  • 4-6 tbsp milk

Instructions

To Prepare the Lemon Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans. I also like to line the bottoms with a circle of parchment paper for easier release when baked.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after every addition.

Beat in the vanilla extract.

Fold in the zest of one large or 2 small lemons.

Gently fold in the dry ingredients in three equal portions, alternately with with the evaporated milk.

When adding dry and wet ingredients alternately in any baking recipe, always begin and end with the dry ingredients.

Pour batter evenly into the 2 well greased, floured, and parchment lined 9 inch cake pans.

Bake in a 325 degree F oven for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Watch it carefully, you will not want to over bake this cake. As soon as the toothpick comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven.

Let it rest in the pans for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 

To Prepare the Raspberry Compote

Slowly simmer the berries and sugar over low heat for about 10 minutes.

Dissolve the corn starch in the water and slowly pour into the boiling berries stirring constantly until thickened.

You may not use all of the cornstarch mixture depending upon how juicy the berries are or you may need a little more.

To prepare the Lemon Buttercream Frosting


Using an electric mixer on low, mix the butter, salt and icing sugar together until the butter breaks up and get evenly dispersed throughout the sugar in small pieces.

The mixture will still appear dry at this point. This stage ensures even distribution and prevents butter lumps in your frosting.

Add the vanilla extract, lemon zest and lemon juice.

Add approximately 4-6 tbsp milk, only enough to bring the frosting to a spreadable consistency.


Both of these liquid measures can be adjusted. The milk can be adjusted to make a thicker frosting by adding less or a more spreadable frosting by adding a little more. Use your own judgement here. The lemon juice can be adjusted to your own taste too, especially if you want a tangy frosting; use less milk and more lemon juice.

When the icing reaches the desired consistently continue to beat it on high speed for 5 minutes to incorporate more air into the frosting to make it lighter and fluffier.

To construct the cake,

Split the two layers of cake horizontally to create 4 layers.

Place the first layer of cake on the cake plate and using a piping bag, pipe a ring of frosting around the perimeter of the cake. You can also use a heavy plastic bag with a half inch opening snipped off the corner.

Fill the ring with raspberry compote.

Add the next layer of cake and repeat the process over the next two layers.

Add the final layer of cake and frost the top and sides of the cake with the lemon buttercream frosting.

  1. Garnish with fresh raspberries and a sprinkle of lemon zest if you like.

Nutrition Information

Yield

16

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 650Total Fat 40gSaturated Fat 24gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 151mgSodium 212mgCarbohydrates 126gFiber 3gSugar 100gProtein 7g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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Marie

Wednesday 10th of November 2021

Barry, can this frosting be used under fondant?

Lynn Parsons

Friday 19th of November 2021

Yes

Turi

Saturday 22nd of August 2020

Made this cake last week for a Birthday Party, It got rave reviews for the “best cake they’ve ever had”! Will most certainly make again.

AP

Friday 11th of January 2019

This is one of my husbands favorite cakes. Ill be making it again this week for his birthday.

Angie

Thursday 2nd of August 2018

My 5 year old son requested this cake recipe for his Toodles Tonsils cake. (Surgery tomorrow) It was delicious and definitely a Labor of Love! I plan to make it again for sure!

Tisha Schutte

Friday 22nd of December 2017

This has been my son's birthday cake request for the 3 years. It is super yummy!

Barry C. Parsons

Saturday 23rd of December 2017

He has impeccable taste!

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