Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Cake – raspberry cake layers, chocolate ganache, chocolate buttercream, chocolate cake layers and a raspberry cream filling.
Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Cake
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s time for a decadent, chocolate cake! While Ryan and I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day, I love doing some fun surprises for the kids, and that always includes a treat! (Kids seem to make every holiday a little more magical, don’t you think?)
Our favorite Valentine’s Day treats are chocolate-covered strawberries and Sees Candy. Something about those feels fancy and decadent, and who doesn’t love to feel fancy every now and then! With our favorite Valentine’s treats in mind, I made a Strawberry Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake a few years ago. It turned out so incredibly delicious and instantly became one of my mom’s favorite cakes. (She actually named it!).
This year, I wanted to revisit the chocolate-dipped fruit idea, but with raspberries!
How to Make the Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Cake
As you plan to make this cake, take note of the five different elements, as well as the bake time for the cakes. I recommend splitting this cake up over the course of a few days.
- 1: cake layers
- 2: filling and buttercream
- 3: ganache and decorating
Chocolate Cake
This chocolate cake is a half of my regular dark chocolate cake recipe. You’ll be using one 8-inch round cake pan and baking at 325 for about 30 to 35 minutes. Remember, when you insert a toothpick in the center of your cake, it should come out with a few moist crumbs on it. That’s when you know it’s ready!
Raspberry Cake
The raspberry cake is so flavorful and tender! I think you might characterize it as slightly more dense, but in a good, moist kind of way. Definitely not pound cake-like – more tender and moist kind of dense. You’ll be using freeze-dried raspberries, in addition to a raspberry compote (which is just raspberries cookies and pureed over the stove). The color is a beautiful natural pink. However, if you find that yours don’t look as pink as mine, it may be that your freeze-dried raspberries weren’t as bright. No worries! Just add a little red or pink food coloring to brighten it up, if you want.
ALSO! Just a heads up, the raspberry cake doesn’t get as tall as the chocolate cake.
Raspberry Cream Filling
You may remember this filling from my Chocolate Raspberry Swiss Roll. It’s incredibly easy to make and incredibly delicious. You will need a food processor or blender for this one. Mixing the ingredients at such a high speed creates a stable whipped filling without any kind of added gelatin. It’s awesome!
Chocolate Buttercream
For the chocolate buttercream, I’m using my go-to recipe you’ve probably seen on here with several cakes. It’s silky, smooth and full of chocolate flavor. When making the buttercream, remember to heat the cream, pour it over the chocolate chips, and then stir to make a ganache – before adding it to the butter and powdered sugar. This ensures you don’t get any chunks of chocolate in your buttercream.
Chocolate Ganache
For the chocolate ganache, we’re using heavy cream and chocolate. Simple as that. We want it to cool to room temp before using in the cake, but then save some for the drip. When you’re ready for the drip, just reheat the ganache to think it out a little.
How to Stack and Decorate This Cake
Now for the stacking and decorating! My favorite part!
Before starting, use a cake leveler or serrated knife to split each cake layer in half. If you’re making your layers ahead of time and freezing them, I like splitting them before I freeze them.
Step 1: Stack and Crumb Coat
Place one of the chocolate cake layers on your cake board. Evenly spread 1 cup of the raspberry cream filling over the chocolate cake with an offset icing spatula. 
Drizzle and spread about ¼ cup of the chocolate ganache over the filling. Place one of the raspberry cake layers on top of the ganache. 
Evenly spread 1 cup chocolate buttercream over the raspberry cake layer. Place your second chocolate cake layer on the chocolate buttercream. Spread another 1 cup of the raspberry buttercream over the cake layer. Spread another ¼ cup of the ganache on the filling, making sure to leave about an inch around the edge clear of the ganache. Apply a thin layer of buttercream around the entire cake. Scrape off excess buttercream and then freeze the cake for 10-15 minutes.
Step 2: Frost and Decorate
Now it’s time to do our final coat of frosting and decorate the cake.
Tools I like to use for decorating:
- Offset and straight spatulas
- Acrylic disk
- Scrapers
- Drip bottle
- Piping bag
You’ll find them all HERE.
Place the acrylic disk on top of your chilled cake. Get eye level to make sure it looks even. While lightly holding the disk in place, apply buttercream around the disk and then down over the rest of the cake. Use your straight scraper to smooth out the sides. Once you’ve done this, freeze the cake for another 10 minutes and then use a knife to cut off the disk. Apply your chocolate ganache using a drip bottle. Use your offset icing spatula to spread the ganache on top of the cake. With leftover buttercream and raspberry cream, pipe a few dollops on top of the cake using your favorite piping tip (I used the Wilton 6B.
Some fresh raspberries and chocolate shavings also look amazing on this cake.
Don’t you just love how all the colors pop!
Cake Making Tips
Don’t forget to follow my go-to tips for getting your cakes to rise and bake well:
- Preheat your oven for 30 minutes prior to baking.
- Beat the butter and sugar for a few minutes on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy.
- Use good quality pans like Fat Daddio.
- Spray your pans with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper.
- Don’t overmix your cake batter once you add the dry ingredients.
- Use room temperature wet ingredients.
- Use fresh baking powder.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
Enjoy!
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Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Cake
Ingredients
FOR THE CHOCOLATE CAKE
- 1 1/4 (150 g) cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (59 g) dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.8 g) kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (120 g) buttermilk at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (54.5 g) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.1 g) pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (118.3 g) hot water
FOR THE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
- 2 cups (452 g) unsalted butter slightly cold
- 10 oz. dark or semi sweet chocolate chips
- 5 cups (625 g) powdered sugar measured and then sifted
- 1 teaspoons (4.2 g) pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (57.75 g) heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
FOR THE RASPBERRY CAKE
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 2 egg whites at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp (2.1 g) vanilla
- 1 tsp (4 g) baking powder
- 1 1/4 cups (143.75 g) cake flour
- 1 oz freeze dried raspberries measured and then pulverized into a powder
- 1/2 tsp (2 g) salt
- 1/2 cup (120 g) sour cream at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (116 g) raspberry puree about 1 ½ cups chopped raspberries, pureed and simmer over the stove to thicken and reduce to ½ cup
FOR THE RASPBERRY CREAM FILLING
- 2 cups (455 g)heavy cream
- 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
- 1/2 oz. (15 g) freeze dried raspberries measured and then pulverized into a powder
FOR THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 1 cup (175 g) dark or semi sweet chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup (173 g) heavy cream
Instructions
FOR THE CHOCOLATE CAKE
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray one 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper, then spray the parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, water and vanilla. Whisk until combined.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix just until combined and then scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again briefly (only about 20 seconds).
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs on it.
- Cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely. (I like to spray my cooling racks with nonstick spray to ensure non of the cake sticks to the racks).
- Divide the cake layer, horizontally. Wrap the entire cake layer in plastic wrap and freeze until ready to use.
FOR THE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
- In a bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed for about two minutes.
- Slowly add the ganache mixture (from the buttercream recipe section) and beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for another 30 seconds.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the powdered sugar and mix until combined.
- Add the vanilla and salt. Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat the frosting for another 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Before frosting your cake, use a wooden spoon to hand mix the frosting to push out air bubbles.
FOR THE RASPBERRY CAKE
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Spray one 8-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom with parchment. Spray again. Set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and freeze dried raspberries. Set aside.
- In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar and butter for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and egg whites, one at a time, and mix well after each addition. (Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition too). Add the vanilla.
- With the mixer on low, alternatively add the flour mixture with the raspberry puree, starting and finishing with the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated. Fold in the sour cream.
- Bake the cake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs on it.
- Let cool completely and then divide the layer like you did with the chocolate cake.NOTE: The raspberry cake doesn't get as tall as the chocolate cake. You didn't do anything wrong if it's not as tall as the chocolate cake.
FOR THE RASPBERRY CREAM FILLNG
- In a food processor or blender, pulse the freeze dried raspberries until they resemble a powder.
- Add the sugar and cream. Scrape down the sides and corners to gather all the fruit powder.
- Pulse the mixer for about 1 to 2 minutes or until the texture becomes thick like Greek yogurt. Keep chilled until ready to use.
FOR THE GANACHE
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat the cream on medium-high heat for about 1 minute.
- Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate chips are melted and you've created and silky smooth texture. If the chips aren't melting all the way, you can microwave the mixture in 20 second intervals, stirring each time, until you've reached the desired consistency.
ASSEMBLY
- Starting with the chocolate cake, place the first half of the chocolate cake on a cake board. Spread about 1 cup of of the raspberry cream over the cake layer. Drizzle and spread chocolate ganache over the cream filling.
- Place one of the raspberry cake layers on top of the ganache and spread with 1 cup of the chocolate buttercream.
- Repeat step 1 and finish with the second raspberry cake layer on top (top-side down).
- Apply a thin layer of the chocolate buttercream around the entire cake. This thin layer of frosting is your crumb coat. After you apply the crumb coat, you'll put the entire cake into the freeze for 10 to 15 minutes. This sets the crumb coat and locks the crumbs in place so you don't have them in your final coat of frosting.
- Once the cake has chilled for 10 to 15 minutes, continue to frost the cake with the remaining chocolate buttercream. You can then use extra ganache, buttercream and raspberry cream to decorate the top, if desired.
Made this cake and every part has such amazing flavor! My raspberry cake was so dense and not light or fluffy at all. So I did a rebake and it turned out exactly the same. All ingredients were fresh, everything was at room temperature… Not sure why my results was so different from what I see in your picture… Any thoughts?
That cake is actually denser on purpose as a contrast to the chocolate one.
Mine was denser too, but not in a bad way…it has the most fabulous flavor! I’m making several layers of the raspberry today for a complete raspberry bday cake for my sister in law.
I made this for my family for Valentine’s Day, and it turned out just perfect! The balance between the raspberry and the chocolate was absolutely delicious. Will definitely be making this one again!
Thank you so much!
I’m not familiar with what the standard is for the depth of baking pans. What depth of pans should I be using for an 8 inch round? 2 inches or 3 inches?
Would this be the same if I used 6 inch rounds? Could I follow this same recipe with 6 inch rounds?
I use 2 inch pans. And yes this recipe coverts to 4 6-inch pans
The raspberry cake layer is amazing! Not only does it taste fabulously like raspberry but the color is just gorg with no food coloring!
I was a bit disappointed with the raspberry cream. I will add much more freeze dried raspberry next time…I just needed something more from it.
It’s a beautiful cake when sliced!! Again that raspberry layer is a rockstar! My sister in law can’t have chocolate and is bored with vanilla so this raspberry recipe will be her cake this year!
Made the recipe exactly as instructed. The best part was definitely the chocolate cake! Good structure, but still fluffy and moist. The raspberry cake tasted good, but I do think it’d be worth taking out the seeds as they added a weird texture, and overall (even if done on purpose) it was just too dense. The frosting also had waay too much sugar for my taste.
It tasted good the day it was made, but I put the leftovers in the fridge and it was strange on day 2. The raspberry cake had become tough, and the frosting was so hard it fell off the cake.
I don’t recommend putting leftovers in the fridge. It dries them out completely. I recommend slicing the cake into individual slices, wrapping them in saran and freezing them.
I made this for a friend’s birthday luncheon. The gals all said it was the best cake they had ever eaten. Folks at the next table asked if they could buy it. It certainly made me feel good. I love the fact that the different textures work so well together so well to give such a delightful bite with each mouthful. The raspberries work so well with the chocolate. A definite keeper and worth the time and effort. Thanks for such delectable recipes. I’m making the chocolate strawberry truffle cake for dinner guests tomorrow evening. 👍🏻👏👏
I love this so much! Thank you for telling me
I made the raspberry cream filling first, thinking I was going to do the rest tomorrow but my fiends have rescheduled our dinner plans until next week now, how is the best way to store the cream?
Do you rinse your raspberries before adding to the top?
Yes and let them dry for a while so they weren’t wet at all.
How would you make this into a sheet cake? It looks delicious!
Bake each cake seperate and then split them in half length wise. Then stack like the layered cake version. Buttercream on top
I made this cake for my birthday a few weeks ago and it was a huge hit. I was a little surprised that the raspberry cake layer was so dense (more like a brownie than a cake) but everyone thought it was a great contrast to the chocolate cake layer. My husband AND son have requested this cake for their birthdays later this year, so I will be making it again in the future.
I’m so glad everyone loved it!!
The raspberry cream was unique and delish! Yum! The raspberry cake was a bit rubbery, not the usual amazing textures of your cakes. Flavor was good though.
Hi! I want to make this cake for a birthday and i was wondering if i could freeze the entire cake(without the decorations and the ganache on top).I want it to be fresh even after 4 days. I know that it’s possible to freeze a cake with the buttercream on but i’m not sure about the raspberry cream filling. If not can i conserve it an other way??? Thank you!
Yes you totally can!
I just made this for my niece’s wedding. Long story short, I found out at noon on Friday that she needed to have a cake for her 8:00 a.m. wedding on Saturday morning. This cake did not disappoint! It was so delicious and the different textures were perfect. I did make a full recipe of the chocolate cake so that I would have just a little extra cake to go around.
What an amazing aunt!
Does this cake keep fresh once decorated? I’ve made the cakes already but I’m wondering if I can fill and frost it tonight to have for tomorrow evening? Would it be better to frost tomorrow?
I would frost the day of!
I noticed that for the raspberry cream, the recipe calls for a 1/2 oz freeze dried raspberries. Is this supposed to be a 1/2 cup?
Thank you for catching that. Yes.
if you make it ahead and don’t refrigerate it won’t it spoil because of the cream in the filling and the ganache? I can’t make it immediately before serving but I could do the day of but again don’t want to leave unrefrigerated if it has cream in the ganache/filling.
Yes, you’ll want to refrigerate it if you need to store it more than a couple hours. If you need to store it more than a day, I would freeze it. In all cases, keep it covered well.
If I do refrigerate it since I am assembling it earlier in the day how much time before serving should I remove from the fridge? Thank you for your help!
I made it ahead and had to refrigerate it since I would not be serving it until hours later at night. I removed it from the fridge a couple of hours before serving and the frosting fell off the cake as I was slicing it, also the raspberry cake was way too dense. Seemed underbaked even though when using toothpick test it came out with no crumbs. So,good chocolate cake and good frosting and cream filling and the raspberry cake was dense but good taste. Sorry but this cake did not work out well for me.
I want to make this but need to make it a 10 inch. Do I double the recipe?
Yes I would double the recipe.
Hi I can not find freeze dried raspberries anywhere, is there a substitute?
Can you find strawberries? This particular recipe needs the freeze dried fruits.
Does the raspberry cake not have a leavening ingredient?
Yes, there’s 1 teaspoon baking powder in it.