Raspberry Rose Cake is made up of two tender white cakes with sweet raspberry jam sandwiched between and then covered in rose-like swirls of silky smooth raspberry cream cheese frosting. It’s the perfect cake for Valentine’s Day, a bridal shower, a baby shower… or any time you need a yummy pink cake!
One of my favorite things about family is watching the relationships between family members grow. During Christmas break, Carly had such an amazing time having daddy home all day. On his first day back to school Carly asked where he was like every 20 minutes. Now, she occasionally asks where daddy is and when I tell her “He’s at school. He’s at the hospital.” She responds “Oh. Yeah.” as if she meant “duh! That’s where he always is if he’s not home.”
When she hears him opening the door she rushes to hide and then shouts “surprise!” when he walks in. My favorite thing though is how she holds on to his arm at dinner. She absolutely adores her daddy! But who wouldn’t love a daddy who teaches you how to play swords with paper towel rolls and tells you original stories at bed time with charters named Kit Kat and includes you and your best friend. Hearing them laugh together before bed is one of the best sounds!
The other day after dinner, Nick grabbed his guitar and came back in the kitchen to entertain the girls while I cleaned up. I was enjoying the music, Carly was dancing around and making Natalie giggle and I just smiled and thought to myself “Everything is perfect in this moment.” Weird that I would ever think that while doing the dishes, but it was truly perfect. Life is good!… and so is this cake!
This cake is stunning and delicious! The white cake has a light and tender crumb that is perfectly sweet. In between the layers is some amazing bright red homemade raspberry jam. (You’ll get the recipe for that tomorrow…or when I get around to it.) Once you try my recipe for Homemade Raspberry Freezer Jam you’ll never go back. If you’re too impatient, check out my Raspberry Peach Jam.
And then to wrap things up all nice and pretty, this cake is covered in a silky smooth raspberry cream cheese frosting that is flavored and tinted with fresh raspberries. After applying a thin crumb layer you just use a closed-star tip to pipe on the frosting in lots of spirals to look like a billion roses.
Then, to make it even more glamorous I threw on some edible pearl sprinkles. Literally. I found that the easiest way to get the pearls onto the side of the cake was by throwing them on.
Looking for something with raspberries and chocolate? Try these Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes!
APPLIANCES/PRODUCTS USED IN THIS RECIPE (Disclosure- Affiliate Links):
Raspberry Jam Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 3 1/2 cups cake flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 large egg whites room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups milk room temperature
- 1 cup 2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 cup raspberry jam
For the Frosting:
- 1 cup 2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 5-6 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 8 ounce bricks cream cheese, room temperature
- 3/4 cup raspberries
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
For decoration:
- 1 6 ounce container raspberries
- Edible pearl sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray and line the bottom with parchment paper (I trace the bottom of the pan onto parchment paper and then cut it out). Spray the parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together; set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and milk together; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until creamy (scrape sides down as needed), about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy and then mix in the vanilla.
- Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk mixture in 3 additions, mixing each addition in completely before adding the next. Scrape down sides as needed and beat until smooth.
- Divide batter between the pans and give a light shake to each to make the batter flat.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out with just moist crumbs.
- Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Run a knife around the edge of the cakes and then unmold them and peel off the parchment paper. Let the cakes cool completely. Cut off the tops of cakes if they aren't completely flat.
For the Frosting:
- Mash the raspberries by hand or with a hand blender and then strain to remove the seeds. Set aside.
- Beat the butter, cream cheese, and salt together until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time and beat until creamy. Mix in the pureed raspberries and vanilla until combined, scraping down the sides as needed.
To assemble:
- Place one cake bottom-side down on platter. Spread the jam over the top of the first layer of cake about 1/2 inch away from the edge. Place the other cake round upside down on top of the jam.
- Coat the cake in a thin layer of frosting to create a crumb coat and lock in all the crumbs. Any frosting that you put on the cake but end up removing while spreading needs to be discarded so that crumbs do not get in the remaining frosting that you will decorate the cake with.
- Place the cake and the bowl of extra frosting in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Place the frosting in a piping bag with a closed-star tip. Pipe on the frosting. Make rose designs by pushing the frosting out as you move the tip of the bag in a spiral motion, starting at the center of the rose and working out. Continue to apply the roses all over the cake and fill in the gaps by piping on more frosting.
- Sprinkle on the edible pearls (you kind of have to throw the pearls onto the sides... or you can carefully do it with your fingers).
Recipe Source: Joy of Cooking
Celeste | The Whole Serving
February 5, 2016 at 10:44 amThis cake is over the top beautiful. I could quite possibly eat it all by myself.
Paige Flamm
February 5, 2016 at 11:13 amThis cake is beautiful! I wish I was snacking on a slice right now!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Mary
February 6, 2016 at 8:53 amYou have such a happy family, having a caring father is wonderful. Truly blessed. Now, the cake…..TOTALLY GORGEOUS! Pinned. Thanks for sharing.
Winnie
February 7, 2016 at 7:41 amAbsolutely FANTASTIC cake!! It looks so delicious and so elegant.
Patty K
February 7, 2016 at 7:15 pmVery pretty! And what a sweet story about your girls and their dad. Thanks for sharing!
Samantha
February 12, 2016 at 1:26 amThis cake looks absolutely gorgeous and delicious! I am planning to make it this weekend. Do you have any tips on piping the roses onto the cake? Where exactly do you start, and how many/how big are the roses? I’m so afraid that once it comes to frosting it that I’ll completely mess up!
London @ Gluten Free with L.B.
February 12, 2016 at 10:42 amOh my… Your pictures are stunning! And those piped roses on the cake are absolutely beautiful!! So happy I stumbled across your site today… Will definitely be back for more yumminess 🙂
Melanie
March 22, 2016 at 3:53 pmThank you London! I’m happy to have you following. 🙂
Kristen
February 12, 2016 at 6:33 pmHow do you pipe the pretty roses?
Melanie
March 22, 2016 at 3:44 pmKristen, Use a large closed start tip and pipe the frosting on by starting in the middle and then spiraling out toward the edge.
Kelly
May 4, 2016 at 11:40 amThis cake is so beautiful! It will be perfect for Mother’s Day. I can’t wait to try it. Did you ever post the Homemade Raspberry Freezer Jam recipe? I can’t seem to find it. Thank you!
Kelly
May 4, 2016 at 11:46 amThis cake is so beautiful! It will be perfect for Mother’s Day. I can’t wait to try it. Did you ever post the Homemade Raspberry Freezer Jam recipe? I can’t seem to find it. Also, which percentage of milk did you use? Thank you for answering my questions! Happy Mother’s Day!
Isabelle
May 25, 2016 at 3:08 pmBecause if the cream cheese, do we have to refrigerate the cake ?
Leslie
January 19, 2017 at 1:01 pmI would love to see a tutorial on piping the rose frosting. It’s amazing!
Melanie
January 19, 2017 at 8:52 pmLeslie, I’ll try to make that happen. For now, to make a rose swirl you start in the middle of the rose and swirl out.