Triple Layer Cake with Raspberry Filling

 I'm pretty sure that baking something yummy for your family is equivalent to saying "I love you" or "Thanks for being awesome" or "Hopefully you let me sleep in tomorrow since I made this for you". I love baking chocolate chip cookies or cinnamon rolls for my husband and my boys because more than anything else I do (laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc) I can totally tell they appreciate the time and effort I put into the baking.

And since February is the month of LOVE I wanted to share a recipe with you that is easy, so delicious, and a little romantic.

This cake is 100% from scratch. I'm usually a cake mix kind of girl. It's easy and fast and usually pretty cheap to buy. I can whip up a cake mix cake in like 3 minutes flat. BUT...as much as I love a box mix cake, I looooooooove this cake from scratch. It's more of a dense like cake, sweeter than a box mix, and holds up better to a filling and frosting. And....it's not as hard as it sounds. Trust me! I'm no professional baker and if I can do it, seriously, so can you.

The filling is super easy. It's just frozen raspberries, thawed, with sugar and fresh lemon juice all blended up together and then boiled with cornstarch to thicken it.

Now here's the kicker. I didn't use frosting on this cake.

Whaaaat?? I'm sure some of you are just beside yourself right now. Cake with no frosting??

Here's why: I love the raspberry filling. I really love any filling in cake. It's the main reason I go to weddings. For the wedding cake filled with creams and fruit and chocolate. And I always scoop the frosting off the cake because I don't want the frosting to be the star of the show. The cake and the filling are so good by themselves, that the darn frosting gets in the way. You can always whip up a buttercream frosting to go on this cake. You can even add some raspberries to that frosting. I'm sure it will be fabulous. I'm sticking with a dusting of powdered sugar and a dollop of freshly whipped cream!

Triple Layer Cake with Raspberry Filling
by Girls in Aprons

Cake:
2 1/3 cups flour
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup milk (preferably 2% or whole), at room temperature
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 tsp vinegar

Filling:
12 oz. bag of frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T water
2 T cornstarch

Directions:
FOR THE CAKE:
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease three 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray or grease and flour. Set aside.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, mix butter and 1/2 cup of sugar on medium speed until light yellow in color and fluffy, about a minute to a minute and a half. And the additional 1 1/4 cup of sugar and mix again for another minute and a half until smooth. Add about a quarter of the milk to the bowl and mix just until combined. Stir in a third of the flour mixture on low speed, alternating with the milk in three batches. Mix just until combined, scraping down the edges with a rubber spatula. Do not over mix!

In another bowl, add the egg whites and mix with a hand mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add the vinegar, and add mix on medium high until stiff peaks form. You know your peaks are stiff when you hold your beaters up and the egg white stay in their peaks. Here is a link with excellent pictures for reference. When they are stiff, fold a quarter of the egg whites at a time into the cake batter. Take your time, you don't want them to deflate! When it is all combined, transfer the cake batter into three equal batches into the prepared cake pans and bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350.

When they are done let them cool for 10 to 15 minutes on a wire rack, then ream around the sides with a knife to release them from the pan. Invert them carefully out of the pan and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

FOR THE FILLING:
Place thawed raspberries, 1/2 cup sugar, and tablespoon of fresh lemon juice in a bowl. Mash them up with the backside of a spoon, and then transfer to a blender. Puree. Pour mixture into a small saucepan and bring to a low boil on medium heat. In a small bowl mix cornstarch and water until combined and quickly pour into raspberries, stirring quickly until dissolved. Bring to a low boil again and boil about two minutes. Cool mixture completely.

PREPARING THE CAKE:

Place the first layer on the cake stand or plate you are using. Using a sharp knife, cut the "dome" off the cake (it will be a thin layer). Spread half of the cooled raspberry filling onto the layer and spread to 1/4 inch of the edge of the cake. Place the second layer on, repeating the same steps. Add third layer. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with fresh raspberries and freshly whipped cream. (For Valentine's Day, cut out a heart and use it as a template to dust a heart shape with the powdered sugar).

 **If you are frosting your cake, when spreading the raspberry filling, leave 1/2 inch between the edge of the cake and the filling so that it doesn't spill over into your frosting. If you aren't frosting it, then don't worry about that. The spilling over of the filling is so pretty!

Recipe adapted from Fine Cooking