Raspberry and Almond Layer Cake
Super moist and light! This raspberry and almond layer cake is packed full of flavour and perfect for a celebration!
Ingredients
Sponge
- 305 g cake flour if you can't find cake flour, use 245g plain flour plus 60g cornflour
- 100 g ground almonds
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 225 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 400 g caster sugar
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks room temperature
- 300 ml buttermilk
- 220 g raspberries
Buttercream
- 150 ml large egg whites
- 250 g caster sugar
- 450 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp blue gel food colouring if using
Filling
- 200 g raspberry jam
Decoration
- multi-coloured sprinkles
Instructions
- For the sponge: Firstly, preheat the oven to 175C/ Gas Mark 4 and grease and line three 8" baking tins. In a small bowl sift together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Toss the raspberries in one tablespoon of the flour mix, and set both aside.
- In a pyrex bowl beat the butter with a hand mixer until smooth and lightened in colour. Then add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, this will take a few minutes. Add the almond extract and then add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time, beating between each addition. Then with the mixer on low, add the flour mix in three batches alternating with the buttermilk. Ensure you begin and end with the flour mixture. Do not over mix at this stage, stop mixing as soon as the last streaks of flour are incorporated. Gently fold in the majority of the raspberries, then evenly divide the batter between the prepared tins. Sprinkle the remaining raspberries on top of the batter, pushing them down slightly.
- Bake for 27-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, before removing them from their tins to cool completely.
- For the buttercream: Whisk together the sugar and egg whites in heat-safe bowl until combined. Then using a bain-marie, heat the mixture, stirring occasionally until it reaches 155-160F on a candy thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer the mixture will be very hot to the touch and the sugar will have dissolved.
- Once the mixture has reached the right temperature, take the bowl off the heat and using an electric mixer whisk on high speed for about 10 minutes until you reach medium-stiff peaks and the mixture has returned to room temperature.
- With the mixer on low, add in the butter a tablespoon at a time ensuring each piece is fully incorporated before adding the next. The butter must be at room temperature for it to be properly incorporated.
- Once the butter has been mixed in, add the vanilla extract and mix again for a few minutes until the buttercream is silky smooth and light. Then add the food colouring if using, and mix for a few minutes until fully incorporated. Add 1/4 of the buttercream into a piping bag and snip off the end to have a plain round nozzle. Add another 1/4 of the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip (I used the Wilton 2D).
- To assemble: Place one sponge onto a cake board and using the buttercream in the plain piping bag, pipe a circle 'dam' round the edge of the cake. Then fill the gap with half of the jam. Place the second sponge on top and repeat with the buttercream and remaining jam.
- Next, crumb coat the entire cake with buttercream and place in the fridge for 20 minutes. Then cover the cake with a thick layer of buttercream and using a bench scraper, scrape off the excess to leave a smooth exterior. Using the piping bag fitted with the star tip, pipe swirls around the edge of the top of the cake. Then finally, add sprinkles to the swirls and the bottom half of the cake.