White Chocolate Raspberry Cake from Scratch
We just LOVE this new White Chocolate Raspberry Cake recipe! Light and flavorful cakes with fruit are always a popular choice no matter what the occasion.
Table of Contents
White Chocolate & Raspberries: The Perfect Combination!
White Chocolate and raspberries are a match made in heaven. Until now, we haven't had a cake on our site to really showcase this delicious combination.
We think that you'll find this homemade white chocolate raspberry cake to be as flavorful as it is elegant.
White Chocolate Cake Layers- Oh So Good!
We have fallen in love with this white chocolate cake!
The addition of white chocolate to the cake batter lends a subtle white chocolate flavor to the baked layers while also giving the cake a wonderful velvety texture.
The cake is moist and tender, but stable enough for fondant if you plan to incorporate it into your design. If you're looking for a tried and true white chocolate cake recipe, this is a great one!
White Chocolate Buttercream
Not only are the white chocolate cake layers and raspberry filling important to this dessert, but the White Chocolate Buttercream adds a delightful boost of white chocolate flavor to the cake, making it a necessary (not to mention delicious) addition to this cake recipe!
In fact, it is a fantastic recipe to pair with all sorts of cake flavors, from lemon cake to chocolate cake and more!
Key players in our white chocolate cake
Aside from our delicious white chocolate layers, there are two other key players: the raspberry filling and the white chocolate buttercream!
Here's a closeup of the Raspberry Filling. This cooked raspberry filling is bursting with raspberry flavor. It does take a bit of time to make this (seedless) raspberry reduction, but it is worth it!
However, if you are in a rush, you can substitute with raspberry jam! We did something similar in our Champagne and Raspberries Cake.
And here is the White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
I love the consistency of this creamy frosting, and the white chocolate flavor is PERFECT!
How to Make a White Chocolate Raspberry Cake
To assemble the cake, we first split the two thick white chocolate cake layers so that we would have four layers and therefore more layers of filling in each slice!
Next, we spread our white chocolate cake layers with a thin layer of the homemade raspberry filling, followed by a layer of white chocolate buttercream frosting.
As you can see in the photo, I didn't pipe a buttercream ring/dam around the edge of the cake although you could. Instead, I spread on my filling without bringing it all the way to the edge of the cake layer.
Leaving that bit of space around the edge ensures that you won't have issues with the raspberry filling spilling out once the layers are stacked.
After assembling the layers, I crumb coated my cake with a thin crumb coat layer of the white chocolate buttercream, chilled it in the freezer until firm (about 15 minutes), and then followed with a thicker layer of the white chocolate frosting.
We're going for a rustic look and so I didn't worry with smoothing ;0)
I also applied several stars with a french piping tip (Ateco 863), and garnished with fresh raspberries. The finished cake stands just under 4 inches.
That's all there is to it! We hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we have! It would be perfect for any number of special occasions including bridal and baby showers, birthdays, and weddings!
Love White Chocolate? Don't miss these other favorite recipes!
Don't miss these delicious white chocolate cakes and flavor combinations!
- White Chocolate Cranberry Cake (which also includes White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting)
- White Chocolate Cherry Cake
- White Chocolate Peppermint Cake
- We also have a White Chocolate Velvet Cake recipe which is also delicious and makes more cake batter- it is good to have options! ;0)
White Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Delicious scratch White Chocolate Raspberry Cake Recipe- this layer cake is so moist and has wonderful flavor!
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Cake
- 4 ounces (113.5g) white baking chocolate (I used Ghirardelli Premium Baking Bar and Bakers Premium Baking Bar to test the recipe)
- 2 ½ cups (285g) cake flour * if you do not have cake flour see Note below for substitution
- 2 ½ teaspoons (10g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 ½ sticks (170g) unsalted butter, slightly softened (do not soften in the microwave)
- 1 ½ cups (300g) sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature ( if in a hurry you can warm the eggs in a bowl of hot (not boiling) water for 5 minutes)
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup (314g) milk
For the Raspberry Filling
- 12 ounce (340g) package frozen raspberries
- ½ cup (100g) sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (26g) cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon (4g) lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons (8g) raspberry extract (optional)
For the White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in the microwave)
- 8 ounces (227g) white baking chocolate (I used 2 Ghirardelli Premium Baking Bars)
- 4 ½ cups (518g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons (42 g) milk or cream
Instructions
For the White Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch pans **See Notes
- IMPORTANT: for this recipe you will need to add a circle of wax paper or parchment paper to the bottom of the cake pans to prevent sticking
- Heat the milk in the microwave or on the stove top, do not let it boil. Add the white chocolate that has been cut into very small pieces. Let it sit for a couple of minutes to soften, then stir until melted and smooth. Let this cool down before using.
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisk for 30 seconds to blend and set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, mix the butter until smooth. Slowly add the sugar and mix on medium speed 4 to 5 minutes, until the mixture lightens in color and becomes fluffy
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow is blended in.
- Add the vanilla.
- Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk/chocolate mixture, beginning and ending with the flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of milk mixture).
- Mix until just combined, do not over mix and do not mix above medium speed.
- Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached, it is done. Let cool 10 minutes in the pans and turn out.
- Works well for cupcakes
- Makes 6 cups cake batter
For the Raspberry Filling
- Completely thaw the frozen raspberries. If in a hurry, and your raspberries are in a plastic bag you can thaw them more quickly by placing the bag in a bowl of hot water. Once thawed, puree the raspberries in a blender.
- Place a fine wire strainer over a bowl. Pour the pureed raspberries into the strainer and let the juice drain into the bowl.
- Using the back of a spoon, press the raspberries into the strainer to force the raspberry pulp into the bowl. It will take several minutes of pressing the raspberries.
- When finished be sure to scrape off raspberry pulp that will be clinging to the bottom of the strainer into the bowl. Discard the remaining seeds and pulp that would not go through the strainer. You should get from ½ to ¾ cup of juice and pulp. Add enough water to this to make 1 ¼ cups.
- In a small saucepan, combine the raspberry juice, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch. Whisk to blend. Cook over medium heat whisking constantly until the mixture thickens.
- Remove from the heat and add the raspberry extract. Stir well and allow to cool. Can be refrigerated in a covered container for a week.
- Makes 1 ¼ cups
For the White Chocolate Buttercream
- Cut/chop the white chocolate into very small pieces, put into a microwave safe bowl and add 4 Tablespoons milk or cream.
- Microwave for 15 seconds let sit for a minute or two, stir and microwave again 15 seconds letting it sit a minute to soften further, stir. Be careful not to over heat the chocolate. The chocolate will continue to melt as it is stirred. Let the chocolate cool down before using.
- Mix the butter until softened and smooth, add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add the white chocolate and milk mixture. Add vanilla. Add another Tablespoon milk if needed. Beat on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes and it will become smooth and creamy.
- Makes 5 cups frosting. Makes enough to frost a 2 or 3 layer eight inch cake. If you will be doing a lot of decorative piping, you will need additional frosting.
**No Cake Flour? Here's a Substitution
- If you do not have cake flour, you can use all purpose flour and the following substitution: for each cup of flour in the recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch. For this recipe measure out 2 ½ cups all purpose flour, remove 5 Tablespoons and replace with 5 Tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk to blend.
Cake Assembly
- To assemble the cake, we first split the two thick white chocolate cake layers so that we would have four layers and therefore more layers of filling in each slice.
- Place the first cake layer on the cake plate or pedestal. Spread with a thin layer of the raspberry filling. The raspberry filling is fairly thick and so piping a buttercream ring/dam around the filling isn't essential, although you shouldn't spread it all the way to the edge of the layer to be on the safe side.
- Next, spread over the raspberry filling with a layer of White Chocolate Buttercream frosting.
- Repeat for the next two cake layers, and top with the 4th layer. I like to apply a thin coat of frosting to the cake first, chill in the freezer for 15 minutes (or longer in the refrigerator) and apply the second coat of frosting. I find it easiest to decorate a cake that is nice and firm from being chilled.
Notes
For this cake, we baked two cake layers and then later split the layers to create 4 layers. This is optional. There is enough batter in this recipe to have three 8 inch cake layers also. (This is what we did for our white chocolate peppermint cake and other variations of this recipe.)
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I am going to try making this for my granddaughters first birthday. It sure looks delicious thank you for posting this. About how many servings should I be able to slice? I generally make birthday pie's for the family as most cakes are dry and tasteless. But this one sure looks like a cake should be and expect, wonderful.
Hi Natalie, I have not done that but you should be able to do do with no problem. You might want to cut the raspberries into smaller pieces so they will be less likely to sink. Some say to dust the berries in flour before folding into the batter but I have never found that to work. The frozen berries should not bleed into the batter and color it. If they thaw they will bleed if that is a concern for you.
Hi Susan, This 8 inch round cake should serve 17 to 20 depending on the serving size. Here are links to 2 cake batter and serving charts that you might find helpful :
http://www.wilton.com/cake-serving-guide/cms-baking-serving-guide.html
Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Thank you I will definitely try it, I am making my sisters wedding cake and she would like white chocolate and raspberry cake but all the recipes I have tried are for mud cakes and are turning out very dense, am looking for something a bit lighter in texture so hopefully this will be the perfect recipe ?
Has anyone tried the frosting with white baking chips?
I would like to know too if white chocolate chips can be used.
Thanks!
I just made this for a friend's child's birthday party. He asked for something with raspberries, so I found this recipe. It was a hit! Devoured by kids and adults alike in short time, with lots of enthusiastic compliments.
The white chocolate flavor came through in both the sponge and the frosting, and the jam was perfect. I decorated the base and the top with fresh raspberries, plus some decorative frosting. The amount of buttercream here was just barely enough for four layers, crumb coat, and a second coat all around. I had to create some extra frosting for my decorations.
Thanks for the great recipe!
I see that this question has not been answered yet, but I too would like to know if this recipe can be made with white chocolate baking chips instead of white chocolate. I know that they are different and it occurred to me that maybe the chips have too much fat in them and it would affect the cake? But I just have to ask because I already have white chocolate chips on hand, and everything else to make this cake. If you believe that white baking chocolate is best, then I will just go to the store and get some. Thanks so much for the recipe. Cannot wait to try it out!
Hi Elizabeth and Julia, I have not tried the recipe with white chocolate chips, they do not melt as easily or with the smoothness of white baking chocolate. I have to recommend using the white chocolate baking bars since I have not tried white chocolate chips. I have used Ghiradelli's and Baker's Baking Bars and both worked well. If you decide to experiment with white chocolate chips, let us know what you think.
Thank you so much for the prompt response, BeBe! I think I will follow your advice because I hate it when I go to a lot of effort with a new recipe and I attempt a short cut that makes the whole thing fail! I just don't want to take that chance because I have such high hopes for this cake. Everyone has made such positive comments and it seems like it is pretty foolproof. This recipe seems very straight forward, and that is one of the reasons that I want to try it. I just discovered an incredible recipe for a white chocolate raspberry mousse, and I used it with a vanilla cake but it just didn't have quite the overall flavor that I was hoping for. I have been seeking ascratch white chocolate cake recipe that I could use with fondant because I use it so often in my business. This recipe seems to not only be very structurally sound but you even mentioned that the white chocolate creates a nice silky feel, and the flavor seems like it come through well. Not all white chocolate cake recipes will hit all of those marks. I appreciate so much how hard you all work to bring us dependable recipes. You obviously spend a lot of hours in the kitchen doing research, and you understand how different people use cakes in different ways, such as using fondant coverings and not just buttercream. I cannot wait to try this out! So excited! Thanks again!!!
Is this a good cake to make a half sheet with by just doubling the recipe? I usually don’t do larger cakes so I have no clue
TIA
Hi Julia, This recipe makes only 6 cups of batter. For a half sheet that is 11x15 you will need around 11 cups of batter so you could double the recipe. Here is a link to cake batter amounts that you will find useful:
http://www.wilton.com/cake-serving-guide/cms-baking-serving-guide.html
I would like to tint the icing to pink as I'm using this cake for a pink flamingo birthday party. Should I use candy tint or icing tint to make the icing pink?