Vanilla Bean Raspberry Layer Cake
Happy Monday! I hope you guys had a great weekend. It was a humid and sticky one for us so we spent most of it inside. Despite how wonderful it is to be out in the heat, it is not forgiving to two-year olds. He gets overheated and cranky so we go out in bursts with lots of water. I had time this weekend to redo pictures of this vanilla bean raspberry layer cake. It’s an oldie but favorite!
The original post sharing this recipe was published in 2013 but the pictures were horrendous. To do justice to this moist, soft vanilla cake filled with sweet raspberry filling and topped with raspberry frosting, I remade the recipe and took new pictures. It now looks as it should; a summer perfect cake!
I’m a sucker for vanilla cake and you can never have too many favorites. Back when I was starting to teach myself to bake, I was on the hunt for the perfect vanilla cake. This recipe from Sweetapolita caught my eye and I had to try it. I used her cake recipe here as it became one of my favorites. It’s tender, rich in vanilla flavor thanks to using vanilla bean paste and it is paired with an equally whipped vanilla frosting.
For the touch of summer, the cake is filled with a raspberry compote. I used some of the compote in the frosting and as you can see I didn’t strain the seeds out. I love the look and touch of seeds. But feel free to strain your compote before filling your cake.
This cake is truly a classic and one that you must try. It’s perfect for birthdays and showers. Let me know when you try it as I would love to hear what you think.
Vanilla Bean Raspberry Layer Cake
A classic Vanilla Bean Raspberry Layer Cake with moist vanilla bean cake with a sweet raspberry filling and a fluffy whipped vanilla bean frosting!
Ingredients
For Vanilla Bean Cake:
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 whole egg, room temperature
- 4 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tablespoons vanilla bean paste
- ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
- 2 ½ cups cake flour, twice sifted
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ tablespoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into cubes
For Raspberry Filling:
- 2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- Pinch of salt
For Whipped Vanilla Bean Frosting:
- 3 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla bean, scraped
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line two 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper circles. Grease parchment and set aside.
- Whisk together a third cup of the milk, egg whites, egg, lemon extract and vanilla bean paste.
- Sift the cake flour in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the rest of the dry ingredients including the sugar and stir together on low speed for 30 seconds
- Add the butter one piece at a time and blend on low speed for 30 seconds. Then add the remaining milk, and mix on low speed until moistened. Increase speed to medium and mix for 1½ minutes. Be careful not to overmix. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the egg/milk/extract mixture in 3 separate batches mixing on medium speed after each addition until combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pans and bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted in center of cake.
- Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing and cooling completely on wire racks.
For Raspberry Compote:
- Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until the berries start to break down, about 10 minutes. Stir often.
- Lower heat and simmer until the compote thickens enough to coat a spoon, about 15 minutes. Let cool.
- Pass through a fine seize if you dislike the seeds.
For the Whipped Vanilla Bean Frosting:
- Whip butter for 8 minutes on medium speed using the paddle attachment of an electric mixer. The butter will become pale and creamy
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on low speed for 1minute. Then increase speed to medium and mix for 6 minutes until the frosting is very light, creamy and fluffy. Add in 1/2 cup raspberry compote to frosting and beat until whipped.
Assemble:
- To assembly the cake, slice each cake to have 4 layers.
- On a cake plate, place the first layer of cake. Add about a half cup frosting and evenly spread over the cake. Add half of the compote and spread. Repeat with the rest of the layers. Finally top with the last cake layer. Spread frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Smooth frosting and decorate as desired.
I love the octopus! What a great cake!
Thanks Brooke 🙂
This cake is TOO cute!
This cake is so adorable!! Awesome job. My cakes are always held together by large amounts of hidden icing 🙂
Thanks! Icing in between layers always helps to keep things together lol!
Zainab… when you say fill layers with compote and butter cream, do you mean in the same layer, or do you mean one layer buttercream, one layer compote …
Hi Jodi! I mean on the same layer but you can do alternate if you choose. I usually do both on one layer…usually the buttercream first and then compote.
Can you substitute vanilla bean paste for vanilla extract? Or will that change the consistency or the outcome of the cake ?
Hi Summer! You can substitute with vanilla extract. 1:1 substitution will not affect the consistency of the cake.
Is it really 1 1/4 TAbLEspoons of powder?
Yes it is 🙂
Just wanted some clarification. You say to cut the cakes horizontally in half so we have 4, right? The picture looks like a 2 layer cake. Please help! I was going to make this for my SIL’s birthday.
Hi Laura, you can make a 4 layer cake as described or two-layer as pictured. The end result will just be a taller cake. Pictured is actually a 6-inch cake. I usually test my recipes at different cake sizes.
I made your cake on Sunday for my sister in law’s birthday. I’m the baker for 8 family member’s birthday cakes each year and when she asked me to make a yellow or white cake with vanilla frosting and raspberry between the layers, this cake, with the addition of vanilla bean sounded amazing. **Long story short, make this cake!**
The only differences, I keep vanilla beans, so I used that in the cake and frosting (one stick each). I did not use all the icing. I had a good cup left. I did two layers. At the last minute, I decided not to add the compote to the frosting, the vanilla bean flakes looked so pretty and also my SIL had specified vanilla frosting. Everything came out beautifully!!! The cake was perfectly cooked and moist. The raspberry compote was amazing. I used frozen berries and left the seeds in. The frosting is spoon licking good! Some of the compote dripped out between the layers, so the side was a bit pinkish and the top was white. I added some Valentine’s Day sprinkles around the top edge, put some fresh raspberries in the middle, and added one of my freshly cut pink orchids. I wish I could send a pic, it was just a perfect cake! Thank you so much. I will be saving this recipe!
Oh my gosh, I love love the sound of how your cake turned out. It makes me happy you loved this recipe!
can you make this with nine inch rounds?
Hi Meghan, yes you can but they will be thinner layers. You can double the recipe if you would like thicker layers.
Hi there! I’m going to make this cake in a few days… can I make the raspberry compote the day before and store it in the fridge? Thanks!
Hi, yes you can!
Hi! Can you clarify how to assemble if I do cut my two rounds in half to create four layers? If I’m putting frosting and compote into each layer, do I use just a third of the compote on each layer? It says half. Maybe I’m just reading this wrong haha. Thanks either way!
Hi Lauren, you can decide to make 4 layers or two layers. I have done it each way and it’s still amazing! for 4 layers, cut each round in half, and split the compote into three. For two layers, no need to cut the cakes 🙂
Hi, I am thinking of baking this cake for my aunt’s birthday. Do you think I can substitute butter with cream cheese for the frosting?
Yes, you can do cream cheese frosting for sure. However, depending on how you want to decorate the cake, cream cheese frosting can be hard to work with. So you can use some butter (1/2 cup) and the rest cream cheese.
Hi Zainab! I do not own a stand-mixer – all I have is a hand-mixer (and it doesn’t have a low-speed, all the modes are fast) with whisk attachment and beaters (no paddle attachment). How do you suggest I make this?
Hi Laila, I would suggest using the hand mixer with the beaters (that’s the same as the paddle attachment).