Let me get this off my chest: I am a horrible cake decorator. With that said, I have also learned how to compensate with embellishments and frosting techniques to cover my lack of skill.
Naked cakes are all the rage right now, so I created a three layer Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream. Yum!
My Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream is referred to as a “naked cake”. The naked cake movement takes all of this stress away and appreciates the beauty of a cake.
Flour left of the cake? No problem! It adds character. Frosting seeping out or not, it is fine!
Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream took me 3 tries to get right. I wasn’t 100% pleased with my first two sets of recipes, wanting more rich chocolate flavor and very delicate and moist crumb that would lend itself to raspberry.
Not too sweet, but totally chocolaty. A good buttercream should be sweet and rich enough.
Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream is simple, yet sophisticated and beautiful. I hope you enjoy!
If you like this chocolate cake recipe, you will also love these:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 batches Vanilla Buttercream Frosting substitute raspberry extract for vanilla
- 2 pints fresh raspberries
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of 3 9-inch circular cake pans with parchment paper. Lightly coat with cooking spray and flour, tapping out all excess.
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar.
- Add eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated.
- Sift together cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
- Add vanilla and then alternate adding dry mixture with heavy cream until fully combined.
- Evenly pour into cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the cakes pass the toothpick test.
- Allow to cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks to fully cool.
- Make buttercream frosting and add 1 pint fresh raspberries, blending until the frosting tints pink and raspberries are broken up. This will change the consistency, so you will need to add powdered sugar until it reaches a spreadable consistency. This will vary greatly depending on the moisture in your berries.
- Place the first layer of cake on a serving stand. Slather 1/2-1 inch of frosting onto the cake with a few fresh raspberries, place another layer of cake and repeat until all layers have been frosted, including the top layer. Finish with a pile of fresh raspberries on top.
If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
Very good!