We are excited to share this amazing scratch Almond Cream Cheese Layer Cake with you!

We've never made a layer cake with cream cheese mixed into the batter before but the end result is a beautifully moist, tender cake that is sure to become a favorite!

Almond Cream Cheese Layer Cake- So moist and tender!

If you love almond cake like we do, this is a great recipe to have on hand for any occasion, along with our other favorite scratch Almond Layer Cake from our recipes section. You can never have too many delicious options can you? Let's dive in!

How to Make an Almond Cream Cheese Layer Cake

*You can find the full, printable cake recipe further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch pans. We also like to add a circle of parchment or wax paper to the bottom of each pan for an extra layer of insurance.

In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.

In another bowl, add the milk, oil, and almond extract. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, add the softened unsalted butter and softened cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.

Next, add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.

Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet)

Do not mix above medium speed or over mix the cake batter. Divide the almond cake batter between the three 8 inch pans. Bake at 325 degrees F for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.

Allow the cake layers to cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack before turning out. This recipe makes 7 ½ cups of batter.

Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

The frosting that we chose for this cake is a creamy, dreamy Almond Cream Cheese Frosting. This is such a simple frosting recipe that comes together in no time.

If you would prefer buttercream frosting, you can simply add a little almond extract to your favorite vanilla buttercream (such as our Classic Vanilla Buttercream recipe).

This recipe is simple combination of softened butter, cream cheese, sifted powdered sugar, salt, and almond extract.

Almond Cream Cheese Layer Cake- So moist and delicious!

Tips for Working with Cream Cheese Frosting

We love cream cheese frostings and have used them to fill and frost so many of our favorite cakes and cupcakes! I love the the creaminess, the richness that they add to cakes, and how easy that they are to make.

However, cream cheese frostings are softer than most buttercream frostings. Here are a few helpful tips for you to keep in mind!

After making a batch of cream cheese frosting, I like to go ahead and refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes to thicken it a bit before frosting the cake.

If you need a thicker consistency, you can add additional powdered sugar in small amounts until you reach the desired consistency.

If your Cream Cheese Buttercream becomes increasingly soft as you pipe, to the point that it no longer holds it’s shape, just pop it in the refrigerator for a few minutes.

This softness could be caused by a super warm kitchen, or warm hands against the piping bag. Either way, a few minutes in the fridge will work wonders. (Just not too long or it’ll become too firm!) Enjoy!

Assembling and Decorating the Almond Cream Cheese Layer Cake

I decorated this layer cake very simply with our cream cheese frosting and sliced almonds.

Place the first cake layer on your cake base or pedestal. Next, spread with the almond cream cheese frosting. Repeat for the second cake layer and top with the third cake layer.

Chilling after the Crumb Coat: I crumb coated the cake with a thin layer of almond cream cheese frosting before freezing for about 15 minutes to firm things up. This is a step that I do whenever I'm decorating cakes- I like to chill just until firm before applying the final coat of frosting.

**Note that if your almond cream cheese seems a bit on the softer side, you can chill the bowl of frosting (as well as piping bag) in the refrigerator while the cake is chilling.

After applying the next coat of almond cream cheese frosting, I textured around the sides using an offset spatula as well as swirling the frosting on top. I added a simple shell border using a star tip 21, and applied sliced almonds around the base.

This cake stands nice and tall and although it is fluffy, it is stable enough to be covered in fondant if you'd like (although I would use buttercream rather than cream cheese frosting if using fondant.)

Almond Cream Cheese Layer Cake

This moist, delicious Almond Cream Cheese Layer Cake is soft, tender, and has wonderful almond flavor!

Ingredients

1 (8oz)(226g) package cream cheese, softened
1 ½ sticks (¾c)(168g) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups (400g) sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups (342g) cake flour- see Notes for substitution
3 teaspoons (12g) baking powder
½ teaspoon (3g) salt
¾ cup (180g) milk
¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil (we used canola oil)
3 teaspoons (12g) almond extract

For the Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

2 sticks ,1 cup, (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (total weight 452g), slightly softened. I use full fat cream cheese. Using reduced fat or the spreadable cream cheese will cause the frosting to be too soft.
2 teaspoons (8 g) almond extract
½ teaspoon salt (2g) optional - it will cut the sweetness, popcorn salt is best to use because it is fine and dissolves faster
6 to 6 ½ cups (690g to 747g) powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch pans, adding a circle of parchment or wax paper to the bottom of each pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
In another bowl, add the milk, oil, and almond extract. Set aside.
In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.
Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (We did 3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet)
Do not mix above medium speed or over mix the cake batter. Divide the batter between the three pans.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack before turning out.
This recipe makes 7 ½ cups of batter. Works for cupcakes also (although there will be little to no dome).

For the Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
Cut the slightly softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
Add the almond extract. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar.
Increase mixing speed and mix until fluffy. Don't mix above medium speed or it may become too soft. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a short while to firm it up a bit.

Notes

Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend

More Cake Recipes to Try!

Here are just a few more cakes to add to your must-bake list!! Some have almonds or almond flavor, and others have pecans- but all are delicious!

Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy this almond cake recipe. If you give it a try, we would love for you to leave a comment or photo in the comments below!