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slice of cake on a plate with a fork taking a bite out of it and more cake in the background

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Soft, rich chocolate cake layers, tart raspberry filling, and creamy chocolate frosting make this chocolate raspberry cake a dessert to remember! It's perfect for birthdays, holidays, or any occasion!

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Chilling Time 4 hours
Total Time 2 hours
Servings 10
Author Kelsie

Ingredients

Chocolate cake layers

  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder*
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups warm coffee you can substitute flat cola

Raspberry filling

  • 2 cups frozen raspberries
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Chocolate frosting

  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder*
  • 4 to 6 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 1/2 to 5 cups powdered sugar

Chocolate ganache drip

  • 5 ounces dark chocolate finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • fresh raspberries for garnish if desired

Instructions

Chocolate cake layers

  1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper, spray the paper with cooking spray and lightly dust with flour. Set pans aside.
  2. Combine the sugar, butter, and oil in a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
  3. Stir the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.
  4. Fold in half of the flour-cocoa mixture just to combine, then slowly stir in half of the coffee (or cola) until just incorporated. Stir in the remaining flour mixture, then the remaining coffee until smooth.
  5. Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake layers comes out clean.
  6. Let cake layers cool in pans for 20 minutes, then carefully remove from the pans to cool completely on a wire rack before filling and frosting your cake.

Raspberry filling

  1. While cake is in the oven, combine all filling ingredients in a small saucepan set over medium heat.
  2. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, and simmer until mixture is very thick and clings to a wooden spoon. Scrape into a small bowl and refrigerate until cool enough to spread.
  3. (Before refrigerating the filling you can press it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds if you want.)

Chocolate frosting

  1. Once the filling and cake layers are cool, make the frosting.
  2. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the cocoa powder, 4 tablespoons of milk, vanilla, and salt and beat to combine.
  3. Gradually beat in 4 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar until fully combined, then turn mixer to medium and beat until the frosting is very light and fluffy.
  4. If frosting is too thin, add additional powdered sugar; it it’s too thick add additional milk.

Assembly

  1. If your cakes have domed, use a long serrated knife to trim off the peaks.
  2. Set one cake layer on a cake stand or cardboard cake circle. Spread a layer of frosting over the top, then spread half of the filling over that—leave a 1/2-inch perimeter so the filling doesn’t leak out into the final frosting layer. (For a visual illustration see the body of this post.)
  3. Top with a second cake layer, then repeat the frosting and filling process.
  4. Top with the final cake layer, then frost the cake. Get the final coat of frosting as smooth as possible so the chocolate drip will flow down the sides nicely.
  5. Refrigerate the for at least 4 hours (or overnight). You can refrigerate a little frosting if you want to pipe additional frosting on top of the cake after you add the drip.
  6. After the cake has chilled, make the ganache.

Chocolate ganache

  1. Place the chopped chocolate in a large bowl. Place the heavy cream in a small saucepan set over medium heat and warm the cream until it just begins to steam.
  2. Pour the warm cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 3 minutes. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
  3. If the ganache appears too thin to drip down the sides of the cake without running off completely, let it sit for a few minutes at room temp. (If it sits too long just pop in in the microwave for a few seconds.)
  4. Transfer the ganache to a plastic squeeze bottle (or a large zip-top plastic bag with one corner snipped off). Squeeze a circle of ganache around the edge of the cake on top of the, applying a little extra pressure at certain points to create drips.
  5. Spread the remaining ganache into an even layer on top of the cake, then pop in the fridge to set.
  6. Top with additional frosting if desired, then slice and serve.

Recipe Notes

  • *Sift the cocoa powder if it’s at all lumpy!
  • You’ll need a big mixing bowl for the batter—there’s a lot of it!
  • Because there’s a lot of batter, you can’t bake this cake in two cake pans, you'll need three.
  • If you want to divide the work up over a couple of days you can wrap the COOLED cake layers tightly with plastic wrap and leave at room temp overnight. You can also make the filling and frosting a day ahead and store in the fridge, covered, overnight. When you're ready to frost the cake, beat the frosting with an electric mixer on high until it’s spreadable. (You might have to add a small amount of milk but I rarely find that necessary.)
  • If you don’t want to add the chocolate drip, just don’t make the ganache and ignore the instructions to refrigerate your cake for 4 hours.
  • Because this is a complicated recipe, I recommend reading the recipe through at least once before you begin baking. Refer to the body of this post for step-by-step photos if necessary.
  • Uneaten cake can be stored, loosely covered, at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer (tightly wrapped) for up to 2 months.