Lemon Raspberry Swirl Cake

This moist Lemon Raspberry Cake consists of moist lemon cake layers swirled with raspberry, and frosted with lemon cream cheese frosting.

It has a fine crumb and wonderful flavor, not to mention that it is so pretty when sliced! Keep it in mind for birthdays, holidays, and more.

How to make Lemon Raspberry Swirl Cake

The secret to this flavorful cake, as with many of our "velvet cake recipes" is the softened cream cheese in the cake batter. Just as with our white velvet cake, vanilla velvet cake, and more, it has a velvety soft texture that we just love.

You can find the full, printable cake recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

• 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, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
• In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, lemon zest, and lemon extract. Set aside.

• In the bowl of your mixer, add the 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.

• Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended.
• With the mixer on low speed, 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). Mix just until well incorporated, scraping bowl as needed.

Prepare the Raspberry Swirl

Now it's time to turn a bit of our lemon cake batter into raspberry. This will become our batter for swirling.

• Scoop one cup of cake batter from the mixing bowl to a separate medium sized bowl.
• Add the raspberry jam, raspberry extract (or raspberry jello powder) and a bit of red or pink coloring gel (optional), stirring just until well blended.

Filling the Cake Pans

Now it is time to put it all together. Let's get to marbling.

• You'll have about 6 cups of plain batter and a little over 1 cup of raspberry batter.
• I spread about one heaping cup of plain cake batter into each of the three prepared cake pans.
• I then divided most of the raspberry batter between the three pans, adding by the spoonful on top of the plain batter.

• Add the remaining plain batter to each of the pans, and then any remaining raspberry batter. Try to keep the batter amounts the same in each pan.
• Tap each of the pans on the counter to level out the batter, then run a knife through the batter a few times to create a swirled effect.
• Bake at 325 degrees F for 28-30 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.

Assembling the Cake

Now the the cake layers have baked and cooled, it is time to assemble. Remember, you can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post. Here's a look at our steps.

• Place the first cake layer on the cake plate or pedestal.
• Pipe a dam of cream cheese frosting around the edge of the layer (about ¼-1/2 inch from the edge).

• Spread a thin layer of raspberry jam on the cake layer, then top with a layer of whipped cream filling.

• Place the second cake layer on top and repeat the steps. Place the third cake layer on top and pipe frosting into any gaps between the cake layers. Frost the cake with a thin layer of frosting (crumb coat)
• At this point, I like to chill the cake for 10-15 minutes in the freezer (or longer in the refrigerator) to firm things up. Then, add the final coat of frosting- I applied the frosting with a small offset spatula and created a textured look.

• I topped it with fresh raspberries!

Thanks so much for stopping by, we hope that you enjoy this Lemon Raspberry Cake!

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Lemon Raspberry Swirl Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe

This moist and flavorful lemon raspberry cake has wonderful flavor and a velvety soft texture.

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 15

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Ingredients

• ▢ 8 oz cream cheese, softened (226g)
• ▢ 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened (168g)
• ▢ 2 cups sugar (400g)
• ▢ 4 large eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)
• ▢ 3 cups cake flour (342g)
• ▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder (8g)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
• ▢ 1 cup buttermilk (242g)
• ▢ ¼ cup vegetable oil (we used canola oil) (54g)
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon lemon extract (12g)
• ▢ zest of three lemons

For the Raspberry Swirl

• ▢ ⅓ cup Seedless Raspberry Jam, plus additional to spread between the cake layers (90g)
• ▢ Raspberry Flavoring optional Either ½ teaspoon (2g) Raspberry Extract or 1 teaspoon Raspberry Jell-o powder.
• ▢ 1 cup of reserved cake batter

Sweetened Whipped Cream Filling

• ▢ 1 cup heavy cream (240g)
• ▢ ¼ cup confectioners sugar (29g)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)

Cream Cheese Frosting

• ▢ 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
• ▢ 16 oz cream cheese, softened (452g)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon lemon extract (4g) Adjust amount to your liking
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
• ▢ 6 to 6 ½ cups confectioners sugar (690g to 747g)

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, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
• In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, lemon zest, and lemon 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 after each until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
• With the mixer on low speed, 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). Mix just until well incorporated, scraping bowl as needed.

Prepare the Raspberry Swirl

• Remove 1 cup of cake batter and put into a separate small bowl.
• Add the raspberry jam, raspberry extract and a bit of red or pink coloring gel (optional), stir until well blended.

Filling the Pans

• You'll have about 6 cups of plain batter and a little over 1 cup of raspberry batter.
• I spread about one heaping cup of plain cake batter into each of the three prepared cake pans. I then divided most of the raspberry batter between the three pans, adding by the spoonful on top of the plain batter.
• Add the remaining plain batter to each of the pans, and then any remaining raspberry batter. Try to keep the batter amounts the same in each pan. Tap each of the pans on the counter to level out the batter, then run a knife through the batter a few times to create a swirled effect.
• Bake at 325 degrees F for 28-30 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 Sweetened Whipped Cream Filling

• Chill the mixing bowl and beaters/ whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes.
• Pour the whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla into the chilled mixing bowl, begin beating on low speed gradually increasing to medium high speed.  
• The cream begins to thicken (approx. 1 ½ minutes) and soft peaks form....peaks that slightly bend over.  Watch closely as this happens quickly.  Do not over beat.

For the 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 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 lemon extract. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended.
• Increase mixing speed slightly and mix until fluffy.
• This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
• Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake.

Assembling the Cake

• Place the first cake layer on the cake plate or pedestal.
• Pipe a dam of cream cheese frosting around the edge of the layer (about ¼-1/2 inch from the edge).
• Spread a thin layer of raspberry jam on the cake layer, then top with a layer of whipped cream filling.
• Place the second cake layer on top and repeat the steps. Place the third cake layer on top and pipe frosting into any gaps between the cake layers. Frost the cake with a thin layer of frosting (crumb coat)
• At this point, I like to chill the cake for 10-15 minutes in the freezer (or longer in the refrigerator) to firm things up. Then, add the final coat of frosting- I applied the frosting with a small offset spatula and created a textured look.
• I topped with fresh raspberries.

Notes

 Raspberry Swirl: After combining the jam with cake batter, it had a light raspberry flavor but we wanted to add a bit more raspberry. We added ½ teaspoon raspberry extract (Watkins brand), but if you do not have raspberry extract, you can also use a teaspoon of Raspberry Jell-O powder. You can add a little pink or red coloring gel as well- we added red with a touch of pink.

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