Lemon, Almond & Raspberry Layer Cake with cream cheese buttercream and pink white chocolate ganache drips. Gluten free option. Jump to Recipe
I’m not sure what this lemon, almond & raspberry layer cake is celebrating. Maybe it is a half way mark cake – marking the start of the second half of my university degree (2.5 years to go!), or just a much-too-fancy afternoon tea cake. Though I have been making it on and off all year as a 21st birthday cake, there was no such event or excuse this weekend. Just a desire for cake, the time to spend on icing and layers, and the willingness to sit and create silky drips of ganache, sliding gently down the sides. It’s not as sleek and precise as many these days, with the drips imperfect, the buttercream with edges and nicks, and the whole entity threatening to tilt on a slight angle – but it is one of the best tasting cakes I have discovered. It’s the sort of cake that improves over a day or two and having it dry out is never a concern – ground almonds and berries add moisture, lemon zest and juice infuses it, and the tangy cream cheese buttercream is the sort you could eat straight from the bowl.
The sort of cake that always makes your day a little brighter.
I wish life in the hospital was as simple as that – giving patients cake for a miraculous cure, or at least a smile. Hospital food is dull. The smell wafts through the wards as we finish our rounds, lunches of watery, pale orange pumpkin soup and overcooked broccoli, accompanied by some unidentifiable curry – or, if you are diabetic, it is dry wheat sandwiches, vaguely soggy with tomato and cheese. Anything eaten in the hospital never tastes as good anyway, even if it formerly was. Maybe it is the smell – antiseptics and sterility and something I can never quite put my finger on but is instantly recognizable as the scent of illness.
Then patients have to deal with us – a whole group of doctors and students, from the registrar to the interns, the fifth year trailing along with the notes, scribbling away madly, and the third years just following like sheep. We surround their bed, standing there all healthy and harried, distracted by all the other patients on the list and ticking them off like an itemised box on the morning round. If you’re in a room of four, privacy is non-existent – a thin curtain separates you from your neighbour. I can’t imagine trying to recover from illness surrounded by the voices of other patients, nurses and visitors on top of the constant beeping and hum of equipment.
It’s strange as a student too. Like being an observer to some of the toughest times of people’s lives, not really contributing anything but there for the purpose of learning. Privy to the most personal of conversations and procedures – the older man with chronic pain and suicidal thoughts, the young woman in with infection but struggling with an ongoing drug habit, the woman with teenage children and a new terminal cancer diagnosis.
It’s hard to remember, rushing around on wardrounds between thirty different patients, that these are people just like me – with complex situations, with family and friends and thoughts and opinions, with LIVES outside this hospital room. It is all too easy to switch off and brush over them as a condition to diagnose, rather than a person in pain. But I can see that there has to be a balance too, because doctors also can’t take on that suffering themselves – to an certain extent, they have to be able to leave the cases and patients behind when they go home.
Enough of the rambling – we’ll get back to the cake. It’s a lemon, almond & raspberry layer cake with cream cheese buttercream and white chocolate ganache drips, flowers optional. I’ve made it a few times in much bigger forms for birthdays – see instructions below on how to achieve that. Not too rich, so a perfect daytime cake, and full of juicy raspberries and the scent of lemon. The sort of cake that makes your day a little better.
Cook’s notes:
- If rhubarb is in season, it also works beautifully – just cut the rhubarb stems into 1-2cm pieces and fold into the batter after the lemon juice and zest
- I made it in 2 x 15cm tins, which resulted in a deep cake and a darker crust than usual – though initially concerned it was overcooked, I had comments that the crust, caremelised and dark, was the best bit. However, to avoid this, make it in 3 x 15cm tins for 3 more even layers. This also avoids having to split the layers in half.
- You could also make the cake in 2 x 20cm cake tins for a thinner, double layer cake. Watch the baking time carefully as it will probably only take about 20 minutes.
- For a large celebration cake to serve 60-80 people (see picture here):
- Make 3 x 26cm layers, each using a 2/3 mix (200g butter, 4 eggs per cake)
- Make 3 x 20 cm layers, each using a 1/2 mix (150g butter, 3 eggs per cake)
- Make a double mix of cream cheese buttercream.
- Stack together the same way, but you may want to use a couple of skewers to make the height a little more stable!
- 300 g butter , softened
- 300 g caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 eggs
- 300 g ground almonds
- 75 g flour (or buckwheat flour to make gluten free), sifted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- zest and juice of 2 lemons
- 1 1/3 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
- 225 g butter , softened
- 375 g icing sugar , sifted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 150 g cream cheese
- zest of 1 lemon (optional)
- 1/3 cup cream
- 120 g white chocolate , chopped finely
- a few drops pink gel food colouring (it needs to be gel as water-based colouring messes with the thickness and consistency of the ganache).
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Preheat oven to 170°C. Line 3 x 15cm round cake tins with baking paper.
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In the bowl of a stand beater or with an electric mixer, cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.
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Fold in the ground almonds, sifted flour and baking powder.
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Fold in the lemon zest and juice.
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Divide the batter equally between the three tins, and dot the top of each with raspberries.
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Bake for 25-35minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out just clean.
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Remove and leave to cool in the tins for 15 minutes, then remove to a cake rack to cool completely.
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Beat the butter with an electric or stand mixer until very pale, about 5 minutes.
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Add the icing sugar and beat again until combined and very pale, another 5 minutes.
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Add the vanilla extract.
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With the mixture on a medium speed, gradually add the cream cheese, teaspoon by teaspoon, until just combined.
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Add the lemon zest and mix to just combine (optional)
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Put the finely chopped white chcolate in a bowl.
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Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just reaches boiling point.
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Pour the cream over the chocolate and leave for 3-4 minutes. Stir with a fork to combine to make a silky ganache (if the chocolate hasn’t quite melted, carefully microwave for 5-10 seconds and stir again).
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Add the pink gel food colouring, a little bit at a time, until the ganache reaches the colour you want.
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Place one cake layer on the plate, cakeboard or cake stand you plan to serve it on.
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Top with a spoonful of cream cheese buttercream and use an offset spatula to spread evenly over the cake at about 1/2 cm - 1 cm thick. (I try to get on eye level to make sure the icing is level, as this is key to a straight cake!). See photos above as a guide to icing thickness.
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Gently place a second cake on top. Repeat with the icing, then another cake layer, then icing again. If it is warm in your kitchen, at this point you may want to place the cake in the fridge for 20 minutes to make it easier to ice the sides.
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Gently spread icing around the sides of the cake. I use an offset spatula as I find this makes it easier to get a smooth layer. It may take a little bit of patience to get it even and smooth.
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To drip the pink chocolate ganache down the cake, use a small teaspoon and do a trial drip to check the consistency of the ganache. Gently spoon ganache onto the edge of the cake and nudge over the side - the ganache should run down the side of the cake slowly, and stop before the bottom. If it is too thick, quickly microwave for 10 seconds and stir again. Continue adding drips around the side of the cake. Carefully fill in the top of the cake with the remaining pink ganache, smoothing the surface.
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If it is summer/warm, refrigerate for another 30 minutes to set the cake together.
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Decorate with edible flowers and serve.
crazy; i’m halfway done with college too! when i started, all i wanted was to be done with it, and now i’m dreading “the real world” and working now that i’ve had a taste of what working full time feels like. this cake sounds and looks dreamy; lemon almond raspberry is such a good combo for any dessert 😍
I can relate- I don’t feel ready to stop being a student anytime soon. It’s great not having any real responsibility and being able to take the occasional day off! Thanks so much Heather, hope your week is going well x
Just stunning congrats to being half way. But you don’t really need a reason for cake especially when it looks as beautiful as this x
Thanks so much Rebecca! x
Never attempted a layer cake, yours is beautiful, you might see imperfections but we see only pure beauty. The flavors are gorgeous too, would love a piece so bad… 😊
Do give layer cakes a try, they aren’t as hard as they look sometimes and are so satisfying. Thank you so much Nicoletta, I wish I could mail out pieces to everyone! 🙂
What a gorgeous cake!!! With experience (past and current) in a hospital setting, I too can relate with the hospital food disappointments and caring for patients. I think anyone, patient or not, would be blessed with a cake like that! Loved stumbling upon your blog 🙂
Hi Kim, thank you so much! I do wish I had unlimited cake supplies for everyone. Hope your week is going well 🙂
This cake is simply dreamy. And your photos!! SO gorgeous!
Thanks Alida! x
Congrats on being 1/2 way to obtaining your degree!! I think that calls for a cake! Shoot, I think just being alive deserves a cake to celebrate. Because LIFE. It deserves a beautiful cake every once in a while and this cake is most definitely a beauty!! Love the layers, the flavors, the ganache, the buttercream, the color – I love it all!! Your photos are stunning, girlfriend. Totally making me want to forget all the rest of my to-do list for the day and get in the kitchen to make this. Pinned! Cheers!
P.S. Hospitals should serve this cake. Or at least put it on display, because it would be sure to make everyone’s day a little brighter!
Thanks so much Cheyanne! I completely agree, just being here and LIFE deserves cake – because then every day is a little more of a party, no particular reason needed! You are way too kind girl, putting the biggest smile on my face with your words. I think it would be a bit cruel to put it on display and not let anyone eat it though…you’d get so hungry staring at it! I just wish I had unlimited cake supplies hahah x
Congrats Claudia! And what a stunning cake for a special celebration! Definitely would make anyone’s day brighter!
Thanks Mary Ann! The days I can sit down with cake and coffee (less often than I would like hahah!) just always turn out a bit better, I’m sure (or maybe I’m just saying that as an excuse to make more cake…). x
The cake is beautiful and you are right! It’s the kind of cake that makes your day brighter. Raspberry cakes are always so delicious. Everything about this cake is perfect!
Thanks so much Sonali, that means a lot coming from you – your cakes and styling are always so incredibly gorgeous! xx
Stunning! Thanks for posting 😀 will be trying this ASAP. The floral decorations are so on point and I love the cross-section shot showing the inside of those gorgeous raspberry sponges.
Thanks Hannah! Would love to know what you think of it. Would you laugh if I said I got all the flowers from a couple of trees in our backyard?! Cheapskate I know haha! Hope you are having a lovely week x
Congratulations Claudia! ANd this is seriously one of the most STUNNING cakes I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine how good it must have tatsed!
Thank you so much Madeline, that is a huge compliment!! Our a massive smile on my face. Hope you are having a lovely week girl! x
Oh my gosh this looks good! I have a love hate relationship with lemon cakes-they are never as refreshing as I expect them to be. But your description, not to mention the pictures have me drooling and craving this so bad-it has certainly made my day brighter. And thanks for sharing your experience and feelings-as someone who is on the other side-a patient going through major healing-it’s nice to hear your perspective. I think your insightful observations and empathy will make you an excellent doctor-because take it from a patient-we can tell when a doctor is just treating us as a condition versus treating us as a person with a condition.
I know what you mean – I love a lemon cake to have a big punch of lemon. The almond and raspberry are a little more dominant in this cake, but there is a lot of lemon in there too! For a huge lemon hit I love whole lemon bars – have you made those before? I think I used smitten kitchen’s recipe last time. Something about putting the whole rind in there is so so good.
Thanks Meg, that means a lot coming from someone who has been a patient. Hope you are healing fast xx
I make a lemon chess pie that kind of reminds me of lemon bars (for most my life I actually thought they were the same thing) but I’ll have to check her recipe out because bars work better when you want a hit of lemon.
WOW! i am just drooling over the pictures! and i BET it tasted amazing. Thank you for sharing your feelings and LIFE. I will have to give this recipe a try this weekend, will let you know the results 🙂
Thank you Bhumi! It does taste amazing (if I can say that myself haha!), i would love to know how it goes if you give it a try! x
Just looking at these pictures makes my day a little brighter – this is one GORGEOUS cake. I don’t even think it needs a separate occasion – let’s celebrate the cake!
I’m glad it can deliver on the day-brightening promise Sarah! I feel like there is less pressure on a cake for cakes-sake than a special-occasion cake – there are no expectations! Hope your week is going well 🙂
A cake just for cakes-sake sounds amazing! And this cake is nothing short of spectacular! Amazing Claudia!
Haha they are the best kind of cakes! Thanks Jess x
Since its gluten free, do you not need xanthan gum for this recipe or should I buy flour or pre made dough that already has it in it?
Love the recipe though and I’m excite to try it!
Hi Audrey! To make this recipe gluten free you can just substitute buckwheat flour instead of regular flour, and use a gluten-free baking powder. You shouldn’t need to use xantham gum! Thanks for stopping by 🙂 x
The cake looks stunning and so good! Nothing better then sharing a delicious cake with friends and family and pleasant conversation. I will definitely make this cake! To the younger, I am 55 and feel like 35, but I will say this, always take time for yourself and enjoy life!
Thanks so much Marie! I totally agree, cake + good company is the best. Would love to know what you think if you give it a go!
I made this cake and it was AMAZING! No one in my family likes gluten free except for me and they loved it! Congratulations on a great recipe that I will be making a lot of!!
I’m so glad you liked it, that is so good to hear Melissa! Gluten-free cakes can be amazing, glad you convinced your family. Thanks for letting me know 🙂 x
Wow! This is gorgeous! Sounds delicious too!
Thanks so much Eden!
Hi..im a little confused with the measurements for the double layer (26cm) cake..can you please reconfirm the measurements for all the ingredients as there are only 2 items listed..thanks from Angie
Hi Angie! I’m not quite sure what you mean. Are you trying to make the big version of the cake?
For the 26cm layer, I just meant that the ingredients need to be adjusted so that there is 200g of butter and 4 eggs per cake, which is a 2/3 mix of the recipe listed. That works out as (per layer):
– 200g butter
– 200g caster sugar
– 1.5 teaspoons vanilla
– 4 eggs
– 200g ground almonds
– 50g flour
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– zest and juice of 1.5 lemons
– 1 cup frozen raspberries
So if you are wanting to make 2 layers, each 26 cm – you should make 2 of the recipe I just wrote out.
Does that make sense? Let me know if that helps and if you have any other questions!
Thanks so much Angie, would love to know what you think of the cake x
Hi Claudia,
Thanks for your reply,
I will try it out and see how it goes. Your cake looks amazing,
Thanks heaps,Angie
I am about to make this for my mom’s birthday celebration tonight. For the ganache, am I to use a white chocolate melting bar or regular white chocolate? Thanks!!
I am about to make this cake for my mom’s birthday celebration tonight. For the ganache, am I to use a white chocolate melting bar or regular white chocolate? Thanks!!
I just used regular white chocolate! Hope it goes well, thanks Danielle! x
Hi Claudia,
What size eggs did you use.
Apologies if you have already addressed this.
Thanks
L
Hi Lorayne. No worries at all! I usually use large eggs (average 70g each I would guess)
Hope that helps!
Claudia
Hi Claudia,
Your cake (and photos) are so beautiful.
I’m planning on making this for my daughter Eve’s first birthday next week.
My cake tins are 20cm but they are quite shallow (i.e 4.3cm); using the standard recipe listed above, do you think that will still spread out nicely over the three shallow tins?? I need it to feed approx 20 people. Or would I be better off doing 1.5 times the whole recipe i.e. 450g butter, 450g sugar, 9 eggs etc (!!) and using bigger, deeper tins??
(Apologies if this is a stupid question; conversions are always my downfall when baking) THANKS!
Hi Amber!
No worries at all. If you want to feed 20 people with 20cm round tins, I would recommend either:
– Using the same amount of cake mix (300g butter etc) but only over TWO 20cm tins (if you use 3, they will be too flat – and even with shallow tins, I don’t think the layers will be higher than 4.3 cm)
– Or do like you mentioned and do a 1.5 mix over 3 x 20cm tins. This will make a higher cake so really depends what look you are going for. Also depends how much cake everyone you are feeding will go for! (like if it was my brothers, I would do 3 layers haha!).
The 3 layer version would be the same size as the top tier of this cake https://www.instagram.com/p/BFtBs1hP1Ft/?taken-by=claudiabrick
, and the 2 layer version would just be 1/3 shorter. Hope that helps and would love to know how it goes!
I’m planning on making this for a baby shower. My question is, will almond flour or almond meal work for the ground almonds? Or do you just ground your own? In that case, with or without skins? Thanks!
Almond meal is pretty much the same thing so that would be perfect 🙂 let me know how you get on!
Thanks! From the tastes I had of the crumbs it is delicious, but all three layers broke on me. I wrapped it and am freezing it to save it for the baby shower, so they made help to frost it!
Oh really, in what way did they break? Hope it all turned out well in the end! xx
Hi, Great looking cake .. my daughter has chosen this for us to make for her birthday – just wondering – what is the best way to keep in the cake? wrapped in the fridge? Thanks!!
Hi Mikyla! I would keep it out of the fridge (as long as it wasn’t too hot) in an airtight container. After 3-4 days (if there is any left!) you might want to keep the remainder in the fridge. Hope that helps and would love to know how you get on.
I am in the US and converted the measurements. (Hopefully got it all right) For the flour, is that all purpose flour? Or cake flour? I am making this for my best friend and am excited about it! Lemon anything is her favorite!
Oh yay, let me know how it goes! It is all purpose flour 🙂
What are your thoughts on converting the recipe to cupcakes? Or maybe halfing the recipe? There’s only two of us and sometimes it’s only me, this recipe looks amazing!
You could definitely convert it to cupcakes and halve it! I’ve made the half recipe frequently in 1 x 20cm cake tin and it works really well, you just have to be careful with baking times. Let me know how it goes!
Approximately how many people does this serve? Looks awesome for a baby shower I’m throwing!
Hi Brianne! This cake would serve approx 10-12 people, because it is in a small 15cm tin.
However, the recipe is very easy to adapt to a large size if necessary – I actually adapted it to a 20cm tin which served 20-22 people last weekend. You could also make it bigger again. Let me know if you would like the recipe for a different size and I can let you know what sort of quantities would work best!
Hi Claudia,
What quantities did you use for 20-22 people? I am currently thinking of either using a 20cm or 24cm baking pan…!?
Thanks for your help!
Saskia
I can’t make this cake, I need measurements not grams. Can you write it the other way?
Hi Bev. If you’re baking much, I would highly recommend investing in a set of electronic scales (they’re not that expensive, either) – so helpful for baking with accuracy as cup measurements can vary so much. There are a few handy tools online to help you convert the measurements though
http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/flour_volume_weight.html
http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/butter_converter.html
In cups, the recipe is:
1 1/3 cups butter
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla
6 eggs
2 1/4 cups ground almonds
2/3 cup flour
same amounts of baking powder, lemon zest and juice and raspberries
Do you think strawberries would work? Or would they just be too watery? Looks amazing, an eager to try it!
You could try fresh strawberries, but I wouldn’t use frozen ones – they would definitely be too watery. Let me know how you go!
Hi there, could you half the recipe and make one cake?
Yes you could definitely halve it! I would use 1 x 20cm tin. x
Just made this cake today and it is absolutely delicious! The layers are perfectly moist and golden. I used your above recipe for two 8 inch cake pans to make a double layer cake. They took about 40 mins to bake. Will definitely be making it again. It was my first time baking with almond flour too
Do you have a recommendation for frozen va. Fresh raspberries in the batter? Thanks!
Whoops! I meant “vs.”
Hey Kathryn! Either works fine – I normally use frozen just because fresh raspberries tend to be so expensive! Let me know how the cake goes for you 🙂
Hi Claudia! I’ve made this cake twice and I love the flavor, but something is happening where it’s not rising very well (or almost at all) and as a result the berries are like craters in the top instead of sinking into the batter. I keep cooking it longer and hoping it will rise, but it just doesn’t. It is actually delicious this way, reminds me of a breakfast type cake, but want to make it for a special occasion. I was thinking of adding some baking soda. Any suggestion?
Hi Claudia! I’ve made this cake twice and I love the flavor, but something is happening where it’s not rising very well (or almost at all) and as a result the berries are like craters in the top instead of sinking into the batter. I keep cooking it longer and hoping it will rise, but it just doesn’t. It is actually delicious this way, reminds me of a breakfast type cake, but want to make it for a special occasion. I was thinking of adding some baking soda. Any suggestions?
Hi Kathryn! So sorry for the late reply, I’ve been away travelling for the last few weeks. I’m not really sure why that is happening for you – you could definitely test it with a teaspoon of baking soda. You could also try tossing the berries in some flour and folding them into the batter rather than putting them on top. Let me know how you go!
Dear Claudia, I’m so happy I came across your blog and thank you for wonderful recipes.
I have a question re the ingridients for this lemon, almond & raspberry cake. I’m planning to make the bigger version [26 cm], but I can only find modified measurements for butter, eggs and icing. I should increase the amount of ground almonds, right?. Since baking is a precise art, can you tell me for how much?. Also, for the flour.
I’d really appreciate your answer!. Thanks!!
P.S. Will send you the pic once I finish it.
Hi Leila, thanks so much! Yes, you increase the amounts of all ingredients – I just gave the butter and eggs to show the proportions. So for the 3 layers of the 26 cm cake, you should use a 2/3 mix of the cake recipe given for EACH layer, so overall it would be much more. Overall that means it is actually doubling the cake recipe given, and then baked in three tins. Does that make sense? Claudia x
Thank you so mi chemin for your reply. Unfortunately, I can’t attach pics of my cake, but it was soooo good and si pretty. I even managed to sugar coat the roses for the decoration.
This is the most delicious cake, ever! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Hello! My name is Stephanie and I’m from the US. I’m a little confused on what measurements you used for your round cake pans. I need a little help converting the measurements since the US has yet to convert to metrics lol. I’m making the cake for my boyfriend’s grandmother and I want it to be as close to perfection as I can get it. Thank you! 🙂
Hi Stephanie! The measurements are for a round cake tin diameter – so 15cm is 6inch diameter, 20cm is 8inch diameter, 23cm is 9inch diameter, 26 is roughly 10inch diameter. Hope that helps, let me know how you go!
Hi Claudio, I just baked this cake and used frozen black berries and raspberries (I just wanted to use the ones I had in the freezer)I wasn’t sure wether to thaw the fruit or not but it seems fine although it did take longer to bake. Also would I be able to freeze it and frost it next week while it’s still frozen and let come to room temperature? Thanks:) yours looks amazing!
Hi Rita, so sorry for the delayed reply! Fruit straight from the freezer is perfect – thawing them would have made it too wet. You could easily freeze it and frost next week while still frozen, that would work well. How did it all go for you? 🙂
This cake is absolutely gorgeous and I love the dribbling icing – that is so my style. I’ve been playing around with buckwheat flour – have you made this cake with it as I know you suggested it.
In your cake ingredients, it calls for 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, however in the instructions for putting the cake together, there is not a place where vanilla extract is called for. Is this perhaps a mistake? Just curious as to if the total recipe calls for 2 teaspoons or 4? Cheers!
Thanks for letting me know about this Rachel! It should be added at the same time as the eggs, with the total recipe having 2 teaspoons. Will change it now, thanks!
This cake is amazing!! Thank you! I made this for my sister’s anniversary and it was a hit! This is def one that will be staying in my recipe collection.
Yay thanks Rose that is amazing to hear, so glad you liked it and it went down so well! xx
Planning to make this for my birthday! What kind of flowers did you choose for the top? Looks gorgeous!
It’s a perfect birthday cake! I actually just used some flowers that were in my garden at the time – I’d recommend just heading along to your local flower shop/corner store/market and buying a few cheap flower bunches to put on top though if you (or your neighbours!) don’t have flowers. x
I just made this cake and it was delicious! However, my Ganache did not turn out as pretty as yours. As I poured it over the cake, the cream cheese frosting melted and the Ganache fell in a clump over and down the sides. It didn’t not dribble nicely like in your photo. Any suggestions?
Hm I’m sorry to hear that Tina! My main thought would be that the ganache might have been too warm – did you cool it to room temperature or colder before you poured it on the cake? A warm ganache is most likely to melt the frosting. Getting the ganache texture right is really key to getting good drips, so sometimes it is a bit of a waiting game as you cool it and keep doing ‘test drips’ as it firms up.
The other tip I have is to always refrigerate the frosted cake for at least 30min-1hr before you drip the ganache down the sides – it makes it much easier to work with. Hope that helps!
Second time’s a charm! Cake turned out perfect. I just hadn’t followed your instructions exactly in regards to folding in the cake ingredients, cooling the cake, frosting, and Ganache, and I had boiled the chocolate with the cream instead of the cream by itself then adding it to the chocolate. Such a fabulous, delicious cake. Thank you!
Great, so glad to hear it worked out second time, thanks for letting me know! Yes ganache is so tricky – I still find times when I just can’t get it quite right.
Hi,
Thank you for this recipe. Looks great. I’m making it for my sons spring birthday. Is it ok to make it the day before with all the icing and keep it in the fridge?
Thank you in advance
Danielle
Hi Danielle! yes it works very well to make the day before, ice it and then keep in the fridge overnight. Just make sure to take it out of the fridge at least an hour before serving to let it come to room temperature.
Would love to hear how it goes 🙂
Claudia
WOW this cake is absolute delicious! I tried it last weekend and it was a great success.
Next weekend, I am having to bake a big cake for 150 people. I was wondering if I could bake this cake in a sheet cake pan. How much batter do you think I would need for 1 whole pan, and how much time do you think it would need to bake for?
Thank you!
-Charlotte
So sorry I missed your comments Charlotte, they went into the spam folder for some reason!
So glad you enjoyed the cake! Did you end up making the cake for 150 people? To answer your question, if it isn’t too late, I think you could make it in a sheet pan but I would just work out the size based on area – so usually for a 20cm round tin, that is 314cm squared and I would use a batter of 3 eggs/150g butter. So from that you could figure out the area of your sheet pan (I’m not sure what size your pan is), how that compares to 314cm and so how many times you would need to multiply the batter.
The reason I do this is to get the same height/thickness of cake as in a normal cake tin, so it should cook similarly. The only reason I can think of that it might not work is if your sheet pan has very low sides.
Would love to know how it goes/went and if you have any other questions!
Also in terms of baking time, I’m not sure – I would start with 20-25 min and then just keep checking it every 5 min or so (or longer if it is obviously nowhere near done!).
Hi Claudia,
No problem at all! I somehow managed 😀
Last Saturday I made the cake and it went really well. I made each sheet cake with 7 eggs and they were cooked perfectly after 25 minutes.
Since I needed to pipe on the cake, I decided to use swiss meringue buttercream, which also went very well with the cake, and to enhance the raspberry flavour a bit, I added a thin layer of raspberry jam between the cakes.
Thank you very much for your reply,
Charlotte
Hi Claudia! This cake looks delicious! I’m wondering if I can swap out the ground almonds with regular flour to make it nut-free?
Thanks,
Emma
Thanks Emma! Yes you can try that. I haven’t personally made it without the ground almonds though so can’t completely vouch for how it would work. If you are making a large one for a celebration I would definitely recommend making a small single layer to test it first! Otherwise I have a similar delicious lemon berry cake recipe which does not use nuts and is yogurt & olive oil based which I could send to you instead!
Hi Claudia!
I was wondering if you knew how many cups of batter this recipe yields? I’m trying to scale this cake to make 3 x 14″ layers to feed about 60 people for a party next week – according to my measurements I would need to multiply this recipe by ~5.5 to fill out these cake pans, but that seems like a lot of batter!
Best,
Kristen
Hi Claudia, I’m currently attempting this cake for my best friends birthday and I’m freaking out! I followed the instructions to a tee and just put the cake in the oven to bake but when looking back at the ingredients list it says both the cake and icing call for 2 tsp of vanilla extract but when reading the instructions it doesn’t mention vanilla anywhere! Is vanilla needed? Did I ruin a whole cake?! Help!
Hi Lindsey! SO sorry about missing this post! I hope it all turned out ok? I’m sorry that the instructions/ingredients didn’t match – it should be fine without the vanilla too so you wouldn’t have ruined it! Will fix it up now so the same doesn’t happen to other people. So sorry again, and happy birthday to your friend!
This recipe would be more helpful if it wasn’t in grams.
Hi Claudia, I’ve just attempted a third of the recipe in a one layer 6” bake. It was delicious, but with quite a heavy and slightly wet texture. Is this how it should be? I was looking for something just as tasty but lighter, for a birthday cake. Thank you!
Hi Ann! Hm it is a fairly dense cake normally – maybe a couple of minutes extra baking time would have made it less wet. If you are looking for a lighter lemon cake, I’d recommend this recipe https://www.thebrickkitchen.com/2018/06/lemon-olive-oil-blackberry-loaf-cake-elderflower/ – it is gorgeous and light but super delicious. I have made it here in a loaf tin, but you could make it in 2x20cm round tins and stack them together with the same frosting as the lemon & almond cake. Hope that helps!
I just made this cake for my work’s edition of Great British Bake-off competition. I was one of the finalists and I won! it tastes so good. Thank you for a wonderful recipe. For my final decoration I sprinkled the top with crushed freeze-dried raspberries and rose petals and added fresh raspberries around the base of the cake.
Hi Mona! Apologies for the late reply, but this is amazing to hear – so glad it was so popular. That sounds like a beautiful way to decorate it too.
Hi there, just baked this cake but I had some issues. My cake didn’t exactly rise and it may be because I’m in the US and had to try and convert everything haha
I saw you replied to someone else and converted it for them after I made the cake (I saw where I made some errors) but I think it didn’t rise because of the “ground almonds” part… I figured that meant “super fine almond flour”. Is that correct for us in the U.S.? This is my second European cake and both had “ground almonds” and both didn’t rise. Just wondering if you could help… thank you!
Hi Lexi! Hm I’m not sure – the conversions could be an issue. I think the US name for ground almonds is almond meal – which I think is different from superfine almond flour. That could definitely be the issue! I would also recommend investing in a set of electronic scales (you can get them for $10 or so), as it makes all your measurements much more accurate. Would be great to hear if it works better next time 🙂
Hi Lexi! Hm I’m not sure – the conversions could be an issue. I think the US name for ground almonds is almond meal – which I think is different from superfine almond flour. That could definitely be the issue! I would also recommend investing in a set of electronic scales (you can get them for $10 or so), as it makes all your measurements much more accurate. Would be great to hear if it works better next time 🙂
Hi Claudia!
I’m planning on making this cake for my mother in law for mothers day but I’m not sure what flour I should use. Should I use cake flour or plain flour? Sorry if this is a silly question but I just want to make sure I get it right!
Oh my goodness I’m so sorry I missed this! It was plain flour – I hope you got to make it and it turned out well! xx
Hi I am planning on making this cake for a birthday and noticed it doesn’t call for any milk. I’m sure it’s not a mistake I was just curious how that effects the end product (ie a denser cake?)
Thank you! (ps. it looks amazing)
Hi! This looks so lovely. Do you have any thoughts on how well this might bake up in a bundt tin? I’m looking for a recipe that’s lemon and berry with almond flour so this is perfect. I know it means the cake may be more dense but that is fine, in fact it’s what I’m going for. I’m thinking I would knock the temp down to 160 degrees so the outside doesn’t get too done while the centre is still baking. Thanks!
Hi Natalie, sorry about the late reply. I think this would be great in a bundt tin – I agree, maybe cook at a slightly lower temperature and check more frequently as it may cook faster depending on the size of your tin (how deep the batter is).
I made this for my step-mother’s birthday, as she loves the frangipani taste of almonds. Her son-in-law told me after eating it that he usually doesn’t enjoy cake because he finds the texture too dry – but enjoyed this one because it was so moist. High praise indeed! Definitely one to save to my bookmarks to make again in the future. Just one point, though: being a cream cheese frosting and filling, questions undoubtedly arise about refrigeration, especially while transporting the cake. I was able to resolve this by packing the cake with an ice pack to keep it as fresh as possible until it was served, but another solution might be to use a simple lemon-flavoured white chocolate ganache which can hold up even on the warmest days.
So glad it worked out well! I agree, keeping cream cheese frosting chilled is difficult. Glad you managed it. I haven’t actually made a white chocolate ganache before but will definitely try that sometime.
Is there a way to adapt this recipe to cupcakes?
Hi Jaime! Yes easily – just use cupcake tins filled 3/4 full, and then bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer comes out just barely clean.
Hi!
I made this cake once for a friends birthday last year and she loved it. I hit a few road blocks while making the cake, not only is my friend gluten free but she also can’t have dairy. I made changes to some of the ingredients to make the cake gluten and dairy free. I should have asked you for recommendations last year but I was in a hurry and just winged it. Haha. Anyway, I making my friend her cake again…(she can’t wait!) and I was hoping you had some suggestions for a gluten and dairy free cake version. Definitely need help with the chocolate drip part. Thank you!
Hey Sally! No worries at all. Sorry about the late reply – I hope this is still somewhat helpful. For a dairy free cake I would use a dairy free olive oil based spread like Nutellex or Olivani instead of butter. To make it gluten free I would substitute in buckwheat flour or a similar gluten free flour – there isn’t very much flour in the recipe anyway so it won’t make a huge difference.
For the frosting, I would just use your favourite dairy free frosting – I don’t make dairy free frosting often so I’m not sure on that one. One like this might be good https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/vegan-gluten-free-carrot-cake-recipe/
For the chocolate drip, replace the cream with coconut cream.
Hope that helps!
Thank you! I appreciate your reply. I’m planning to make a 3 tier cake as well with a 4in, 6in and 8in tins. What would be your recommendation for the amount of eggs, butter, etc for this size?
I still hope you can help me. I ended up buying Fat Daddios cake pans in the 4in, 6in and 8in by 3in deep. Any advice on how much batter and frosting to make? Thanks, Sally
Hi Sally! It depends if you are wanting 1 layer per cake tin or more than that. If just one layer, for the 8 inch tin I would use a 1/2 mix (150g butter, 3 eggs). For the 6 and 4 inch I would do a 200g butter, 4 egg mix and divide the mixture between the 2 small cake tins. does that make sense? Then make a 1.5x mix of the frosting. Hope that helps!
If you want the cake to be taller you could do 2 layers per tin as well!
Hi, thanks again for your reply. The cake tins are 3 in deep and was thinking I could slice the rounds to make a layered cake. Maybe 2 layers per tin.
Hi, I have just used this recipe to make a very successful cake for my Dad’s 70th birthday. I adapted it to be dairy and gluten free, so all our family could enjoy it. I used self-raising gf flour, and reduced the baking powder by 1/4 teaspoon. I also subbed in angelfood vegan cream cheese and nuttelex instead of butter. I didn’t want a pink topping, so I used a mix of lemon curd and gf df white chocolate for the topping. It turned out really well, and everyone was happy. Thanks for this rcipe!
Hey Melissa, so glad it went well! That is fantastic to hear that the gf flour and nutellex worked well. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hi Claudia, I’ve made this cake a few times now for anniversaries and it’s so delicious! My problem though is getting the drip right, it’s always too runny and i end up with a mess!! Any tips on how to get it a bit thicker? Should i try less cream? Or maybe putting it in the fridge to cool down for a bit? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made this cake on the weekend for a friend’s baby shower and it was a huge hit. I tripled the recipe and made 3 tiers and 3 layers per cake and it worked out so well!
I did add the juice of 1.5 lemons in the buttercream and some raspberry conserve per layer. Next time, I’ll probably fold the raspberries into the batter as well. In any case though, such a great and delicious cake, it’s definitely going to be a part of my go-to recipes. Thanks again!
That is so lovely to hear Alba, I’m so glad it worked so well!
I am so excited to try this recipe! It looks like there is raspberry filling in between the layers of the cake but in the instructions I don’t see that included? Can you clarify? Thanks!
Hi Becca! There isn’t a raspberry filling – it’s just the raspberries that are dotted into the top of each cake layer that make it look like there is. Hope that helps!
This cake has the flavour factor that’s a winner everytime. I’ve made this cake 4 times now. Each cake having it’s own design dependant on what’s it’s for. It’s been a birthday graduation and christening cake. I’ve baked it in many quantities with great success. Raspberry jam made with chia seeds makes a great addition to the filling too. Deliciousness. Thank you Claudia for this great cake! ❣️
Thank you so much for letting me know, that is lovely to hear! I agree, it’s incredibly versatile and everyone always loves it.
Hi there, I’ve made this cake a few times for anniversary celebrations and it’s a huge hit! I’m thinking to make it again, except this time I need to modify it slightly to make it keto because the person I’m making it for can’t have any flour / sugar. So my question is, can I just leave out the normal flour since it’s such a small amount and just add more almond flour? The only other option would be to add some coconut flour instead but I’m not sure that would work well. Do you have any suggestions?