Lemon Raspberry Cake With Lots Of Lemon Zest And Fresh Raspberry Filling Is A Summertime Favorite
Lemon raspberry cake needs to be on your summer baking list! If you love my vanilla cake recipe or my classic lemon cake recipe you’re gonna flip over this one.
This fresh lemon raspberry cake is packed full of lemon flavor but my favorite part is the fresh raspberry filling swirled throughout the cake and the yummy bites of raspberries!
So pretty! The cake is frosted and filled with my go-to easy buttercream frosting, topped with more raspberry filling for the drip. Sliced lemons and more raspberries look so yummy!
One of my best friends Kelsey happens to have about 50 raspberry bushes next to her house (lucky girl) and recently brought me over about three pounds! I was SO excited! But as you know, raspberries spoil very quickly so even though I hadn’t planned on baking that day, I baked THREE raspberry goodies which I’ll be posting over the next two weeks.
Lemon Cake Recipe
Let’s start with the lemon portion of this lemon raspberry cake! This is actually my favorite lemon cake recipe that I have been using for years with an extra bit of lemon extract and lemon juice. I feel like lemon cake that has too much extract tastes like candy so I prefer to get most of my flavor from the zest.
This cake recipe is made with cake flour which is a very delicate white flour. Cake flour gives you the most delicious tender crumb when combined with the reverse mixing method.
When making this cake, make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature so that they properly combine. Cold milk or butter will curdle the mixture and cause your cake to fall flat. Literally.
You’ll also want to use a scale. If you try to google volume measurements (cups) I promise it won’t turn out and do you really want to waste all that precious butter? You can get the scale I use on amazon or you can buy a scale at pretty much any store for under $20.
If you’re like me and you forget to bring your ingredients to room temperature ahead of time, you can use my lazy baker hack. I place my eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes, microwave my milk for 30 seconds (time varies depending on your microwave) and I microwave my butter for 20 seconds. Voila!
Raspberry Filling
One of the most awesome things about raspberries is they make a fantastic filling! This recipe is basically raspberry jam plus a little cornstarch to make it a bit more stable for using as a cake filling. The cornstarch doesn’t make it TOO thick though so you can totally use it like a refrigerator jam and spread it on everything from pound cake to biscuits (which I TOTALLY did).
To make the raspberry filling all you do is combine the raspberries with the sugar and bring to a boil. I choose to use an immersion blender to make the filling more smooth but you can leave it chunky.
Add in your lemon and cornstarch slurry and let it simmer until clear and smooth. let cool before using it inside your cakes. I like to pour mine into a cake pan and spread it thin so it cools faster.
Raspberry Lemon Layer Cake
To make this moist lemon cake into a raspberry lemon cake, I mix up my lemon batter as usual and then before baking, I swirl in some dollops of raspberry filling and sprinkle in some fresh raspberries.
The raspberry tends to sink to the bottom so I leave all the good stuff at the top to keep it as suspended in the batter as possible. I dust my raspberries with some flour to help adhere them to the batter and keep them from sinking.
I baked this lemon raspberry cake in the morning and then chilled them in the freezer until they where firm enough to handle (about an hour).
Then I filled them with easy buttercream and raspberry filling. I topped the cake with some sliced lemon, more raspberries and berry drip. I was in a hurry to get to dinner with my cake so I just used a spoon to drizzle but you could put the filling into a piping bag and make a cleaner drip.
This lemon raspberry cake was SUCH a huge hit! The kids devoured it and I must admit I went in for a second slice. Even as I’m blogging about this I am thinking about the next time I can make this yummy cake!
Make sure you check out the video in the recipe for more details on how to make this luscious lemon raspberry cake with raspberry filling.
Lemon Raspberry Layer Cake
A delicious lemon raspberry cake that is moist and fluffy and filled with fresh raspberry filling. The perfect summer flavor combination. This recipe makes three 6"x2" cake rounds or two 8"x2" cake rounds.
Ingredients
Lemon Cake Ingredients
- 15 oz cake flour
- 14 oz granulated sugar
- 12 oz whole milk
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 4 large eggs
- 2 oz vegetable oil
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 whole lemon zest
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp lemon extract
- 8 oz unsalted butter
Raspberry Filling
- 4 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 whole lemon zest
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1 Tbsp corn starch
Easy Buttercream
- 1 cup pasteurized egg whites room temperature
- 2 lbs unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 lbs powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake Instructions
Heat oven to 335º F/168º C — 350º F/177º C. I tend to use lower setting to prevent my cakes from getting too dark on the outside before the inside is done baking.
Measure out the liquid ingredients and whisk gently to combine and place them into a bowl.
Measure out dry ingredients and place them into the stand mixer bowl.
Attach the paddle to the mixer, and turn on the slowest speed (setting 1 on Kitchen Aid mixers). Slowly add chunks of your softened butter until it is all added. Let mix until batter resembles coarse sand.
Add 1/3 of your liquid ingredients while mixing on low until just moistened. This part is crucial. Don't add too much liquid.
Increase mixing speed to medium (setting 5 on Kitchen Aid mixer). Let the mixture whip up until it has thickened and lightened in color. It should look like soft-serve ice cream. If you do not let the batter mix fully, you will end up with very short, cumbly cakes. This mixing can take up to 2 minutes. It is important not to undermix or overmix your batter.
Scrape the bowl. This is an important step. If you skip it, you will have hard lumps of flour and unmixed ingredients in your batter. If you do it later, they will not mix in fully.
Slowly add in the rest of your liquid ingredients, stopping to scrape the bowl one more time halfway through. Your batter should be thick and not too runny. I have to spoon mine into pans with a rubber spatula.
Lightly grease 2 8" cake pans with vegetable shortening and dust with cake flour. Tap out excess flour. Fill pans 3/4 full. Give the pan a little tap on each side to level out the batter and get rid of any air bubbles.
Add 3-4 large dollops of your raspberry filling to the cake batter and use a spoon or knife to swirl it through the batter. I also add in about 1/4 cup of fresh raspberries dusted with flour sprinkled on top
I always start by baking for 20 minutes for 8" and smaller cakes and 30 minutes for 9" and larger cakes and then checking for doneness. If the cakes are still really jiggly, I add another 10 minutes. I check every 5 minutes after that until I'm close and then it's every 2 minutes. Cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.
After cakes have cooled for 10 minutes or the pans are cool enough to touch, flip the cakes over and remove from the pans onto the cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.
Once the cakes are chilled in the refrigerator and feel firm you can trim off the brown edges from the sides (optional) and fill with your buttercream and more of your raspberry filling. It's best to create a dam (see video) to help hold in the raspberry filling and keep it from oozing out. Crumb coat the cake with buttercream, chill then apply your final coat of buttercream. Top with lemon slices, more raspberries and a drizzle of raspberry filling around the outside edge.
Raspberry Filling Instructions
Combine raspberries and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Use an immersion blender to make the filling smooth (or leave chunky if you prefer).
Combine your cornstarch and water to make a slurry. Pour it into the raspberry mixture and let it simmer until mixture is clear and thickened. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice and zest and let cool before using.
Store leftovers in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for 6 months.
Lemon Buttercream Instructions
Place egg whites and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment. Whisk to combine. Add in butter in small chunks then vanilla extract and salt.
Whip on high until light and fluffy and white. Optional: switch to the paddle attachment and mix on low for 15-20 minutes until all air bubbles are gone.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
The most delicious lemon raspberry cake recipe ever! Lemon cake full of flavor and filled with fresh raspberry filling
Hi Liz,
Today, I just make this lemon cake. I try to reduce sugar to 11oz and few blueberry filling into the cake butter. It’s still turn out super good texture and soft ! I love this recipe !
Thank you so much for the great recipe and video (making vanilla cake).!
That’s great! I’ve been meaning to try a blueberry version too!
I don’t mean to be picky but should there be some lemon in the lemon buttercream?! 😁
Hi Liz, this cake looks delicious 😋 I was thinking of using your White Chocolate Ganache for the frosting instead of buttercream. Your thoughts?
Thank you
Would be a great combo!
hi Liz,
can we use AP flour in this recipe?
I want to try this but I worry about the seeds. Would it work if i strain it
Yes you can strain it (what are you worried about with the seeds btw? They aren’t harmful or taste bad) strain before you add the cornstarch
Is this cake recipe sturdy enough to stack for a tiered cake?
Yes this is all I use for sculpted and stacked cakes
would blue berries work well w/this?
Totally and would be so yummy!
Could I substitute marion berries as written in this recipe? Would the berries needed to be halved, as they are larger than raspberries?
marion berries would be delicious, I would half them because they are so large (fresh berries)
Hello!
Im from Panama, and we dont have cake flour, could I use AP? or I could convert the AP to cake flour? please let me know 🙂
For this recipe you do need do to use cake flour. If all you have is AP flour try this recipe https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/white-cake-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-10281
Besides catering and making several wedding cakes every weekend, I also make desserts for several area restaurants and resorts (I’m in The Thousand Islands). One of my most requested desserts is my Lemon Cake, with Lemon Curd and Raspberry Pastry Fillings, and Lemon French Buttercream Frosting. I agree with you about using too much lemon extract, and likewise, use a lot of lemon zest. I bake all my cakes in 3″ high cake pans, so I torte this cake into 4 layers, and fill between the middle 2 layers with Lemon Curd, and between the other layers with a Raspberry Pastry Filling. I don’t like to use jams or jellies because I think they are too sweet. And I like Lemon Curd not too sweet. I also drizzle each layer with a Lemon Simple Syrup (leaning toward a little ‘puckery’, and not really sweet) as I assemble the cake. My signature frosting is a Mock Whip Frosting, which is the most requested of all my frostings, but for this cake, I like to use my Lemon French Buttercream.
I encourage all the students in my Wilton Classes to invest in an 8″ by 3″ cake pan, since it’s easier to stack level layers. I also suggest that they don’t bake any cake higher than 300 degrees, which guarantees a flat cake. This gives the edges of a cake more time to bake higher before being set, and results in little or no center dome. And, since testing a cake for doneness with a skewer, or toothpick, can still result in an underbaked cake in the center, I teach my students (I also teach the baking classes at a local culinary college) to test their cakes with an instant-read thermometer, like you’d test a steak for doneness. Once the internal temperature of a cake reaches 212 degrees, the liquid in the cake boils and evaporates very quickly, resulting in a dry cake. When a cake’s temp reaches about 207-208 degrees, it’s ready to come out of the oven. Cakes will still bake a few more minutes out of the oven, so this is the sweet spot for the internal temperature. Other pastries have different internal temps – i.e. custards, cheesecakes, etc. – but for a cake, this is a good way to tell. Baking a cake a day ahead, and wrapping it tightly in saran wrap BEFORE it is completely cool, also help to guarantee a moist cake. I’ve only frozen a cake when I had to stack a large cake layer on a soft filling, and I never refrigerate a cake until I’m torting, filling, and first coating.
That is a great tip about the internal thermometer. I have one of those and I will be testing that tomorrow during my baking session.
When using a 3″ cake Pan how full do you fill the Pan?
Hello,
This cake looks very moist and pretty. If I wanted to make a three layer cake (my pans are 9 in rounds), should I multiply the recipe by 1 and 1/2 times or double it? Would I do the same for your vanilla cake to make three 9-in layers?
Thank you.
I would double the recipe for three 9″ cakes
Is the nutritional information for one slice of cake? Or the whole cake? 😆
lol the whole cake, but who’s counting calories on a cake anyway huh? lol
Not sure if you know this trick or not but if you lightly coat whatever fruit filling you’re putting into a cake with flour then it has less chance of sinking to the bottom. Just A little something I learned doing a lot of British baking.
My bad I hadn’t watched the video yet so I didn’t see that you did the flour thing with the raspberries.
Where do you get your cake flour?
I get mine in bulk from cash and carry but you can find it in the baking aisle in most grocery stores
Can I add some kind of lemon to the buttercream? If so, what and how much? Cakes are in the over and I’ll ice them tomorrow morning. Thanks:)
Yes of course, you can add lemon extract or lemon zest to your taste.
What’s the best way to store the cake if making the day before eating?
Room temperature
Hi Liz, will it be ok to add buttermilk instead of whole milk? please advise. thank you!!!!
Buttermilk is more acidic than regular milk so it could affect the recipe. I’d advise doing a test first.
I’m one of the few minority who hate lemon zest. If I omit the zest would I increase the lemon juice?
Thanks
Lemon juice doesn’t have much flavor and waters down the recipe. If you want more lemon flavor increase the lemon oil.
I am brand new at baking cakes and using frosting. I recently made this cake and it was delicious. I never got to frost it as the family ate it up. Thank you for a great recipe. I have some questions. Can this cake sit out at home temperature of 76F? And for how long? Also for the cake to be taken to someone else’s party traveling in an air conditioned car what type of frosting should be used? Thank you.
Fresh fruit cakes should be refrigerated at all times except before consuming. It can be left out for 2 hours at room temperature safely