This vibrant Lemon Raspberry Cake is bursting with flavor, including layers of tender white lemon cake, lemon pastry cream, raspberry jam, and whipped raspberry cream cheese frosting.
WHAT YOU NEED granulated sugar cornstarch eggs milk heavy cream lemons unsalted butter vanilla extract cake flour baking powder baking soda kosher salt oil buttermilk raspberry preserves cream cheese powdered sugar freeze dried raspberries
1. To make the Lemon Pastry Cream, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and egg yolks until smooth, creamy, and lightened in color. Dampen a paper towel and place it under the bowl. 2. Now add the milk, heavy cream, and zest to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat just until it starts to steam.
3. While whisking, slowly pour the steaming cream into the egg yolk mixture. Continue whisking until everything is mixed together. 4. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisk continuously until the mixture thickens. Once it’s bubbling, cook for 1 minute then remove from heat and whisk in the butter, followed by lemon juice and vanilla.
5. Run the cream through a fine mesh strainer. Then cover the cream with a sheet of plastic wrap, patting the plastic wrap up against the surface of the cream. Chill while we make the cake.
6. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease three 8″ cake pans. Cover the bottoms with a sheet of parchment paper and wrap the pans in damp cake strips if you have them. 7. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
8. In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and zest and use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar. Add the butter and mix on medium high speed until smooth and fluffy (about 2 minutes mixing). 9. Scrape down the bowl and mix in the oil. Then mix in the egg whites, followed by the whole egg and vanilla.
10. Alternating between the dry ingredients and buttermilk, mix in 1/3 of the dry, 1/2 of the milk, 1/3 of the dry, 1/2 of the milk, and 1/3 of the dry. Scrape down the bowl to ensure everything is well mixed. 11. Divide the batter between the three pans and bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool. Once chilled, level off the tops of the cakes if needed.
12. To make the frosting, in the bowl of a hand or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, mix the cream cheese until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar and slowly mix to combine. 13. Mix in the ground freeze dried raspberries. With the mixer running on medium speed, slowly stream in the whipping cream. Once it’s all mixed in, crank up to high speed and mix until light and fluffy.
14. Add about half of the frosting to a piping bag with a large star tip and the chilled lemon pastry cream to another with a large round tip. Pipe a border of frosting around the edge of a cake layer. 15. Spread half of the raspberry jam within the border. Pipe a layer of pastry cream on top and gently spread it even, making it level and flush with the frosting border.
16. Lay another cake on top and repeat this process. 17. Once all three layers of cake are placed, cover the cake with the remaining frosting and use an excess to pipe swirls on top. Decorate with raspberries and lemon slices, then chill the cake for about 30 minutes to allow the layers to set.