The details
AKA Mother’s Day Cake!! This Vanilla Snacking Cake with Raspberry Buttercream is fruity, light, satisfying, and perfect to treat your mama or mother-like figure. This cake is so tender, so moist, but still really allows the tartness of the raspberry buttercream to shine. And who doesn’t love a snacking cake??? If you’ve been waffling about what to do for your mom this year, just bake her a cake. She’ll love it!
The Raspberry Buttercream
This buttercream is a traditional vanilla American buttercream with the addition of raspberry reduction puree, made from fresh or frozen berries. The process involves cooking raspberry and sugar down into a reduction, straining the liquid out of the reduction, and adding this reduction into a buttercream. This result is super fruity and highlights the perfect sweet/tart balance of raspberries. I love to highlight a seasonal ingredient in bakes, and this buttercream does just that!
To decorate your snacking cake like I did, use Wilton tips 8B and 1M piping blobs all over the cake. This unstructured, free-hand method is my favorite way to decorate snacking cakes! If that’s too much, a nice slathering of buttercream with a spatula or spoon also works very well. I always recommend garnishing this cake with fresh raspberries (halves + whole) and mint sprigs (I picked some from our garden).
Vanilla Cake Notes
I love this vanilla cake. It’s not as fluffy as a white cake so it’s got a little more body and richness, but is lighter and more refreshing than a yellow cake. It has a nice open crumb and moist texture. I credit the buttermilk and sour cream for that! One yolk in the batter anchors this recipe, and egg whites keep the cake light. Lots of good vanilla make it delicious and the perfect complement to raspberry buttercream. This cake recipe is based on my perfect vanilla cake recipe, with slightly different proportions for a snacking cake.
Bake it in a 8 inch cake pan (this one’s my favorite) and you’re good to go! Your mom, family, or anyone else is going to love this treat.
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Vanilla Snacking Cake With Raspberry Buttercream
This Vanilla Snacking Cake with Raspberry Buttercream is delicate, fruity, and refined. I think it’s perfect for Mother’s Day. The buttercream is the star here, made with fresh raspberry reduction for a tart and perfect flavor!
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the vanilla cake:
- 9 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 egg + 2 egg whites, room temp
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups + 1 tbsp cake flour
- 1/2 baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temp
- scant 1/4 cup sour cream, room temp
For the raspberry buttercream:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, slightly cold
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp raspberry reduction puree (recipe below)
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
Raspberry Reduction:
- 12 oz fresh or frozen raspberries
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
- Make your vanilla cake. Prepare one 8-inch round cake pan with spray/butter and/or parchment paper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium-high in between. Add vanilla and beat on medium-high 5 minutes until batter is shiny, fluffy, and lightened in color.
- Mix together dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) in a separate mixing bowl. Alternate adding dry ingredients and buttermilk with the mixer on low (dry, buttermilk, dry, buttermilk, dry) until just combined. Turn the mixer off and fold in sour cream until just combined. Pour into prepared cake pan and smooth top with a spatula.
- Bake cake at 325 degrees F for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to come to room temperature cooling on a wire rack.
- Make your raspberry buttercream while the cake cools. In a medium saucepan, toss fresh or frozen raspberries with granulated sugar. Heat over medium, stirring consistently, until the mixture lets out liquid, becomes jammy, and reduces by about half. Remove raspberry reduction from heat and strain through a mesh sieve into a heatproof bowl. Discard solids, reserving the smooth puree for the buttercream. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high until it is smooth, whipped, and lightened in color. Reduce speed to low and add sifted powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. until completely combined and smooth.
- Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla and salt. Add cooled raspberry puree and continue mixing on medium until combined. Increase the mixer speed to medium high, add heavy cream, and continue to beat the buttercream until it is smooth, fluffy, and lightened in color to a nice pink.
- Once the cake is cooled, invert onto a cake round or cake plate/stand. Decorate with raspberry buttercream and garnish with fresh raspberries and mint. Enjoy at room temperature and store in the fridge in a cake box overnight.
Notes
- Fresh or frozen raspberries will produce great results in this buttercream–I used frozen for a budget option.
- Use less raspberry reduction puree for a more subtle flavor and color in the buttercream.
- Cake will keep at room temperature for several hours, then in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Category: cake, dessert