Lemon and Raspberry Cake!
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A three-layer lemon and raspberry cake with a lemon and raspberry sponge, lemon buttercream frosting and more!
Lemon and raspberry
Can we start this blog post off by appreciating how light and delicious a flavour this cake sounds. Lemon and Raspberry together is sweet, tangy and fruity – and it’s hard to beat. I love a lemon cake, I love a raspberry bake.. combine them? Heaven.
White chocolate and raspberry together is also an epic combination. But I know that not all of you like to bake using chocolate, and lemon and raspberry together is just as good. Honestly, I can never get over how light and fruity it is!
My Lemon & Raspberry Cheesecake was my main inspiration for this bake – as I just adore it. It almost feels healthier as it’s got two types of fruit in – but don’t kid yourself.. it’s still a cake full of all the sugary goodness.
Lemon and raspberry cake
I decided originally for this one to do a two layer cake as some of you have requested some more two layers, but genuinely completely forgot until I had baked my first three layer version. I fell in love with the three layer version and it stuck… It’s a sponge that you can easily adapt into more layers if you wanted, or create only two layers – it’s definitely adaptable and that’s the good bit. You can find the notes below on a two layer version!
My lemon & raspberry cupcakes are so moist and light, that this cake version is such a showstopping cake version of the cupcakes you will adore it, but you can obviously have a go at the cupcakes if you wish instead.
Sponge
This sponge is light, it’s easy to mix together and I utterly adore it. It’s a standard cake mixture of butter and sugar beaten together until light and fluffy, and then you mix in the eggs and flour. I mix in the lemon zest, and then fold through the raspberries and split that between the cake tins.
- Butter – I use either a room temperature block butter or baking spread for a cake sponge
- Sugar – I use caster sugar in this cake, but golden caster sugar would work well as well
- Flour – self raising flour as always. However, if you don’t have it, you can make your own with 2 level tsps per 150g of plain flour, mixed in before using and removing any other raising agent in the recipe.
- Eggs – 7-8 medium eggs, but weigh in the shells and try and get as close to 400g as possible and match the butter, sugar and flour to this weight
- Lemon – I use the zest of lemons, but as mentioned above you can use lemon extract
- Raspberries – I use fresh raspberries because they’re the best
Buttercream
For the buttercream I was originally just got to do a lemon and raspberry frosting to make it easier, but I decided to make a lemon one because adding in the raspberries just wasn’t my vibe that day. However, you can easily add some in and slather the buttercream on!
If you mix it too much, you will just get a pink frosting – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing! I find if I make the frosting mostly by the mixer, and then swirl the raspberries in by hand it works the best. However, just lemon is easy!
I piped my buttercream on as you can see, but it really doesn’t matter – you can slather, you can pipe, you can dollop, you can whatever you actually fancy. I find the freeze dried raspberries give a beautiful colour on the top anyway and would easily cover any mistakes!
The filling & decoration
I did decided to add a little raspberry jam into the middle, but the good thing about this bake is that you can easily use lemon curd in the middle instead if you wished. I would have used a little of both, but I didn’t have any lemon curd in at the time of baking; both work really well.
For the decoration I just went down the usual route of fresh raspberries, and freeze dried raspberries. I know, I know… I am obsessed with them. I can’t help it – they just look so beautiful on a bake, and when you ‘bulk’ buy them like I do, they’re much cheaper in the long run!
I used these large piping bags as I find them strong, easy to control when piping, and I used this beautiful 2d closed star piping tip for the decoration as I adore it’s look.
Tips & Tricks
- I use these cake tins for this bake
- I use this piping tip for the decoration
- I use these piping bags for buttercream
- I use these freeze dried raspberries in my baking
- This cake will last for 3+ days at room temperature
- This cake will freeze for 3+ months
Lemon and Raspberry Cake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 400 g unsalted butter
- 400 g caster sugar
- 400 g self raising flour
- 8 medium eggs
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 300 g raspberries
Buttercream
- 350 g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 700 g icing sugar
- Juice of 2 lemons
Extras
- Raspberry jam
- Fresh raspberries
- Freeze dried raspberries
- Lemon zest
- Sprinkles
Instructions
Cakes
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan and line three 8"/20cm tins with parchment paper, and leave to the side.
- Beat together your butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy!
- Add in your self raising flour, eggs and lemon zest and beat again for a couple of minutes until smooth
- Try not to over beat - mix until it comes together and is smooth.
- Add in your raspberries and fold through - Split the cake mix between the three tins.
- Once in the tins, bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until baked through. I check my cake is baked by using a skewer, and listening carefully to see if it bubbles! Because of the fruit, this can often take a bit longer!
- Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Buttercream
- To make the buttercream, make sure your butter is at room temperature.
- Beat the butter on its own for 3-4 minutes, I use the paddle attachment.
- Once the butter is nice and supple, add the icing Sugar in 1/2 at a time, and beat fully before adding any more in.
- Add in the lemon, and beat again for 3-4 minutes until it's all come together.
Decoration
- Get your first cake onto your chosen plate and spread/pipe over a third of the buttercream.
- Add on a few tablespoons of jam and spread.
- Add on your second cake and spread/pipe the second third of the buttercream on top.
- Finally add on your third sponge and pipe the rest of the buttercream on!
- Decorate with fresh raspberries, freeze dried raspberries, lemon zest and so on! Enjoy!
Notes
- This cake will last for 3 days at room temperature, in a cake box.
- I use fresh raspberries, but you can use frozen if need be - can make the cake take longer to bake though due to moisture.
- If you want to bake a two layer version use...
- 250g butter/sugar/flour and 5 medium eggs with the zest of 1 lemon with 150g raspberries.
- Use 200g butter/400g icing sugar for the buttercream with the juice of 1 lemon!
- Bake into two 8" tins for 30 minutes!
- I recommend using this beautiful piping tip!
- I also recommend buying these freeze dried raspberries as they're the best!
ENJOY!
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J x
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Can I use fresh cream with a bit of lemon instead of buttercream
Yes absolutely – whatever you like! x
Hi Jane,
I want to do this cake in a square cake tin. 25cm & 20cm.
How do I convert the recipe to fit this? It’s for a wedding tierd cake!
Thanks
Hi,
I LOVE this cake. My question is is it possible to freeze the sponges for a time before putting the cake together?
Thanks xxx
Yes absolutely you can – this can also sometimes help when decorating too! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane
Could I remove the lemon and add white chocolate chips to this? If so, how much white chocolate would you add, and do you think I’d need to adjust the baking time at all? I have your recipe book, but unfortunately the white chocolate and raspberry round cake in it doesn’t have white chocolate in the sponge itself!
Thank you!
Hi Jane,
I’ve baked this cake today (Sunday) and want to decorate it during the week ready for it to be used for my mums bday the following Saturday. Do you think it’ll be okay to freeze the cakes until then as I’m conscious the current weather will send it off. But do you think as I’ve used fresh raspberries these will be affected when frozen? Thanks
Hi Jane
Could I remove the lemon and add white chocolate chips to this? If so, how much white chocolate would you add, and do you think I’d need to adjust the baking time at all? I have your recipe book, but unfortunately the white chocolate and raspberry round cake in it doesn’t have white chocolate in the sponge itself!
Thank you!
Hi Jane, what is the best way to apply the buttercream between the layer cakes please so that it holds its shape. I have tried a few of your cakes but when I put a layer of sponge on top of the buttercream it squashes the buttercream and starts to look a bit messy.
Hiya! I either spread it or pipe it! Hope this helps x
Hi Jane, I would like to do this cake for my mums 50th bday. I want to decorate the cake around the edge with buttercream but wondered if you think doing lemon buttercream all the way around the edge would be too much? Would it be better to do vanilla buttercream around the edge and leave the lemon buttercream for the filling? Thankyou x
Hiya! No, I think all lemon would still be delicious,, but it’s really up to you! Enjoy, hope she loves it! x
Hi Jane,
Would this recipe work using gluten free self raising flour okay?
Thanks In advance
Hiya, yes this should be fine! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane, can you confirm how tall the cake is one assembled? Thank you! Xx
Hey Jane!
I want to make 2 6 inch cakes so what would be the measurements? Thanks
Hi Jane,
Would it be possible if you could give me the measurements for 11 inch cake tins please? Many thanks 🙂
Hi Jane
Is there a recipe for a lemon cream cheese frosting, rather than a lemon buttercream, that I could use please? X
Hi Jane
Cake looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it.. I’ve seen similar cake recipes on other websites but they always call for baking powder. Just a general question but do you ever use baking powder for any of your cakes or does the creaming method suffice?
Thank you
self raising flour contains the raising agent required for the cake to rise, hence the name!!
Haia Jane!
Absolutely love this recipe, I’ve baked it a few times and it’s absolutely delicious.
I’m planning on making a 5 layer cake this weekend in 7″ tins, I was just wondering what quantities would you suggest? I’ve tried working it out but have just confused myself even more! Xx