This is one of my go-to party cake recipes that makes a great, moist and delicious chocolate cake that’s impressive looking, but simple.
Baking tips for beginners:
Use Room temperature ingredients, particularly room temperature eggs and butter in any recipe. The ingredients more easily whip and emulsify, allowing the batter to properly bake.
Don’t over-mix: Over-mixing the batter is a common mistake and one of the biggest culprits of a dense, dry cake. Once you combine the wet and dry ingredients, use a spatula to gently mix just until the ingredients are combined.
Spoon measure the flour: Be careful when measuring the flour that you don’t “pack” it into the measuring cup. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring up and then level it off with the back of a knife. Too much flour packed into a cake can also cause it to be dense and dry.
No buttermilk? Buttermilk is a really easy ingredient to make yourself, so don’t fret if you don’t have any on hand!
How to Make Chocolate Raspberry Cake:
1. Make chocolate cake: Mix dry ingredients–sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, vanilla, oil, buttermilk and beat for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water and stir together, being careful not to over-mix the batter. Pour batter into two 9-inch cake pans and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.
3. Make raspberry filling: Add sugar, water, lemon juice and cornstarch to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir well to combine. Add raspberries and cook, stirring often, until raspberries have softened into the sauce and the sauce has thickened. Allow to cool completely before filling cake.
4. Make chocolate frosting: Combine butter and cocoa powder. Add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth and creamy!
5. Assemble your cake: Spread a layer of raspberry filling in between the two chocolate cake layers. Frost the outside of the cake with chocolate frosting. If desired, spread remaining raspberry filling on top of the cake.
For High Altitude:
Since the air pressure is lower at higher altitudes, more flour is needed to ensure your cake rises appropriately. Increase flour by 2 Tablespoons if you are baking at high altitude.
For Store Bought Raspberry cake filling:
If you don’t wish to make the filling from scratch you could use a can of raspberry cake filling. (I prefer the Solo brand).
For seedless raspberry filling:
Cook the raspberries with only water and lemon juice. Press the mixture through a sieve, and return the seedless strawberry juice/pulp to the pan. Add sugar and cornstarch and cook until thickened.
Make Ahead and Freezing instructions:
The cake can be made and assembled up to 1 day in advance. Cover and store at room temperature or in the fridge.
Chocolate frosting will last for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator and can be frozen for 2-3 months in a freezer-safe container. Thaw overnight in the fridge and bring to room temperature before frosting.
To freeze the chocolate cake, cover each cooled cake layer with plastic wrap and place in a freezer-safe container or gallon bag. Freeze for up to 1 month. I think frozen cakes are easier to frost!
Consider trying these popular desserts:
- German Chocolate Cake
- Better Than Anything Cake
- Mississippi Mud Brownies
- Snickerdoodles Bars
- Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Tres Leches Cake
You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes!
Recipe
Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 3/4 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup oil (vegetable or canola oil)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Chocolate Frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter , melted
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Raspberry Filling:
- 2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Fresh raspberries for topping on the cake , optional
Instructions
Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 or 9 inch round baking pans (I also like to line them with parchment or wax paper).
- Stir dry ingredients together: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add eggs, vanilla, oil, buttermilk and beat for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water, which will make the batter very thin. Pour batter into prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to loosen cake from sides of pan. Invert cakes onto cooling racks.
- Once cooled completely you can wrap them with plastic wrap and store them room temperature for one day, or you can wrap them with plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag to decorate them another day.
Raspberry Cake Filling:*
- Add sugar, water, lemon juice and cornstarch to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir well to combine. Add raspberries and cook, stirring often, until raspberries have softened into the sauce and the sauce has thickened. Allow to cool completely before filling cake. (See notes for seedless raspberry filling.)
Chocolate Frosting:
- Combine butter and cocoa powder. Add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth and creamy! Add additional powdered sugar, to thicken, or milk, to the the frosting, if needed.
Assemble your cake:
- Place one cake round on plate or cake stand. Add desired amount of raspberry filling and spread into a smooth layer. Top with second cake round. Frost the outside of the cake with chocolate frosting. Add fresh raspberries on top, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tag @TastesBetterFromScratch on Instagram with #TastesBetterFromScratch!
This Chocolate cake and chocolate frosting are Hershey’s recipe.
I originally shared this recipe March 2013. Updated April 2020 with process photos and instructions.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
This post contains affiliate links. I love sharing my favorite products with you!
This post contains affiliate links.
I found several steps missing e.g.
1. Level the cake cake!
2. There’s too much raspberry filling and the cake slides all over the place. Leveling helps but it isn’t enough. Filling oozes all over.
3. Use the icing to make a dam to retain the raspberry filling.
4. The icing is too thick and needs more milk. It is difficult to ice when the top layer slides.
5. Suggest refrigerating cake >1hr.
I have made this cake 4 times and all 4 have been home runs. I love this chocolate cake so much and everyone I make it for loves it too. The cake is incredibly moist and not too sweet so it doesn’t compete with the icing (which is quite sweet), and the raspberry filling is perfectly tart to balance out the richness of everything else. The only change I make is where it calls for hot water I use hot coffee, I think it enhances the flavour.
Do you add hot coffee or just room temperature?
The cake was moist, the raspberry filling turned out good, but everything was way too sweet. I even used 30% LESS sugar and it was still sickly sweet.
Dangerously fantastic! Thanks!
I followed chocolate cake recipe exactly. I put in two 9 in round cake pans. It overflowed all over my oven and started a fire. I think 1 cup water was too much. Similar recipes use 1/2 cup water. Very disappointed.
This was delicious. Great chocolate flavor and nice crumb in the cake. And the raspberry/chocolate combo can’t be beat! I used fresh raspberries but am going to use frozen this next time, because it’s what I have.
The best cake ever I made this for my husband he loved it thank you❤️
I would love to put chocolate chips in the batter. Any recommendation on how much and if it would work?
760 grams of sugar to make this cake, are the Americans ok? If this cake were for 8 people, that’s 95 grams per serve which is like 5x your daily maximum sugar in one slice!!!!! Like yes it’s a cake but I don’t want to get diabetes from it.
Sugar and spice and everything… indulgent! 😄 It’s definitely on the sweeter side, perfect for those “once in a blue moon” celebrations. Remember, moderation is the spice of life – or in this case, the sugar in the cake!
How far in advance can I make the raspberry filling? I just got some fresh raspberries, and am serving the cake in 5 days. Fresh Raspberries won’t last that long.
Hi Estelle, You can make the filling ahead and store it in the fridge covered (up to about 5 days!). Enjoy the cake!
OMG Stacy! I cook all the time but have not ever made a cake from scratch. This was for my sister-in-law’s birthday party and it was important that it be really good. It was fantastic! Everyone raved about the tangy chocolate flavor and the moist cake. I made it in 4 steps over 4 days: Frosting; raspberry filling; cake layers (which I then froze overnight), then assembling and frosting the cake. I filled in heart shape on top of the cake with the leftover raspberry sauce (using a cookie cutter for a mold). Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipie – I’m now inspired to make more cakes!
Good idea Estelle thanks for sharing.
Can you make this into cupcakes? If so, how should I adjust the time? Just made this for my son’s birthday and it was amazing! There was not a piece left by the end of the day. Now he wants me to make it into cupcakes he can bring to school.
Followed the instructions and the cake is cooking over the pans major, is it supposed to be for three layers? It’s not cooking through either, I feel stupid since all of the comments on here are so amazing.
Sounds like you are using low pans maybe. I find recipes often just have pan diameter with no height. Like my pans are 9″ but they are only about an inch high so I have to usually do 3 layer cakes. The writer might be using pans that are 2″ high?
Exact same things happened to me! I used standard 9” pans and I have a burnt cake smell and a lovely mess to clean up! I hope it’s worth it…
Amazing recipe. I will definitely make this cake again. Everyone who had a slice loved it and ate all of it.
Can I use coffee instead of boiling water for the cake? Or would that be too much acid in combination with the buttermilk?
Yes, you can use coffee.
I would like to bake this cake however, the comments about the overflowing on the cake pans is a bit discouraging. I’m thinking maybe if the pans are deeper then it would be okay if if it were done in 2 pans? I’m confused.
This is the same cake recipe on the back of the Hersheys cake box that people have loved (and had great success with) for decades :-). If you follow the instructions and have proper cake pans you should not have a problem.
The cake itself was delicious but the raspberry filling was outstandingly good! It was a little but too much vanilla extract but its probably because the European extract is stronger. Anyways great recipe, I recommend.
Oh my goodness this cake was moist !!!! The flavour was spot on and sooooo beautiful!!!
The cake was easy to make, very light and very moist. I made the raspberry filling from fresh raspberries, and the flavor was fruity and sharp. However, the chocolate frosting was too strong and too thick for the cake and the filling. I would recommend a cream cheese or a light buttercream frosting with fresh raspberries in it.
Hi! Are you really supposed to melt the butter for the frosting? I’ve never heard of that and I’m scared. 🙂
I love to use melted butter for chocolate frosting. It helps to bloom the cocoa powder and give it a richer taste. You can leave it room temp if you want to.
This cake is perfect!! It’s rich and moist and melt in your mouth! I didn’t have to alter anything!!
Can I use sweetened cocoa powder instead of unsweetened?
Sweetened cocoa powder is for making chocolate drinks, not for baking.
You must use unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe.
This cake was not difficult to make and it was so delicious! What a treat! It looked and tasted so impressive 😊
Could I use espresso instead of water for cake batter?
Sure, sounds great!
Hi, I’d like to triple this recipe. Could I use 2 casserole pans instead? If so would my cook time change?
Can I store the fully assembled cake in the refrigerator if I made it a day ahead? Thanks!
Very easy to make ! Because of my busy schedule (mom of 3 young kiddos) I was able to do this cake in different steps over the week. I froze the cake portions first, made the raspberry middle another day and the chocolate frosting on another day.
After bringing them to room temperature assembly was a breeze !!!!
And … this cake is so moist and delicious!!! Holy smokes is it so amazing! Great recipe !!!!!
For years (we’ve been together 42) yellow cake with chocolate frosting has been my husband’s favorite cake. I made this for our daughter’s birthday. This is now his favorite cake. I’ve done a lot of baking. This cake, frosting and filling are perfection!
Made 5 days ago and we’re still eating it and it still moist. Pretty easy to make and very good. It will become a go-to recipe for company dinners. Thank you.
This is our go to chocolate cake recipe! So delicious! It keeps well, but we don’t usually allow it because we just eat it up too fast!
I made this cake for an engagement celebration. It was so delicious and everyone loved it. Will definitely make again. Thank you so much for giving me such a great recipe.
I love this recipe, this is my second time making it- just a tip, for the veggie oil don’t you sesame oil, I made that mistake once, I won’t make it again.
I’ve made this cake a few times and it’s a hit every time! Thanks for the recipe.
Love this recipe made it for my wife’s birthday last year and it was sooo good I’m at it again. Moist fluffy and delicious 🤤
I split the batter between 2 8″ cake rounds (I think they’re standard depth) and it overflowed in the oven. That was my only problem though. Otherwise, t
The cake was moist and tasty and the raspberry filling was just the right sweetness.
Next time I’ll know how high to fill the pans, and it will be perfect!
This is an annual request for my kids birthdays. They do not want any other chocolate cake, many years over.
This cake was sssooo good! I
It is the best Chocolate cake i have ever made !
I thought the batter was thin, but it came out of the oven perfectly.
Great Recipe!
Yes, for sure!
The best ever. I have had some issues with sinking in the middle even though it seems to be done. Any ideas? I live at 5500 feet.
I’ve found that using extra large eggs in cake recipes resolves all problems with baking at high altitude. Hope this helps!
Does anyone have any experience with making this gluten free please?
I made this for Thanksgiving last year and it came out absolutely delicious my brother in law loved it so much that I had to share the recipe.
This cake was absolutely fantastic !! I bake cakes frequently and this was one of the most delicious cakes that I have made. Very good recipe, directions were clear and easy to follow . I used the fresh raspberries and dark cocoa powder, flavor was great, cake was really moist and the icing was amazing, an all around winning recipe , I will be making this again !
Wow, wow, wowie, wow woo! That chocolate frosting! I had been out in the garden, noticed a football sized zucchini and decided I would make a chocolate cake…later while the cake was cooling, I strolled out to the raspberry patch…googled chocolate raspberry cake and the rest is history. I will make your chocolate cake next time but even as it was…Everyone LOVED it!
That sounds fantastic – love the imagery. What a cool garden you have! 😀
This is such a great and easy to follow recipe! Would 100% make this again and have had tons of family members ask for the recipe. I was a bit hesitant since I saw comments that the chocolate cake was not rich enough or didn’t have enough flavor but I think it had the right amount of of flavor. I ended up going with seedless raspberry filling but would def try again just mashing up the raspberry’s. Overall, if you are looking to blow someone away with a dessert this is it! Go for it and enjoy because you won’t regret it!
I am from Italian decent. I learned cooking and baking from my family. I have never responded with a comment to any recipes that I have made. However this recipe and final product was so wonderful. The richness , texture and flavor were beyond store bought and bakery level. I find myself very pleased to comment for the first time on this recipe and this cake.
Fantastic is a very fitting description. Thank you Lauren for sharing.
Alida
My friend requested I bake a chocolate cake with raspberry filling for her daughter’s birthday and I think I’m going to try this recipe after reading all the great reviews! I was wanting to do a 3 layer 6” cake as well as cupcakes. Any experience making this recipe in any other size? Wondering how much the batter will yield
I’m making this cake my second time right now and both times have done 3, 8” layers. They each come out to about an inch and a half thick and I also add in the frosting with the raspberry filling in between layers. Cook the cake 5 min or so less. So perfect
My daughter used this recipe to nake our anniversary cake. It wad delicious! It is now a family favorite.
What do you think about making this cake into four layers? Is it possible to cut each cake in half (longways, of course) and then have 4 layers instead of 2? Should I make more raspberry filling if I want to do this? Thanks!!
Yes, you could torte them to make 4 very thin cake layers. Enjoy!
I made this with some adjustments for my birthday and it’s the best cake I’ve ever made. For the batter I used cake flour, a blend of regular and dark baking chocolate, swapped the boiling water for a cup of fresh coffee, and mixed very little after combining; and I cut the sugar in the frosting down by about 1/3. Had I followed the recipe exactly this would still be a perfect chocolate cake, the filling is to die for, and the frosting is incredible.
Not only does it make something delicious, this is one of the best written and thoroughly informative recipes I’ve ever seen, and it’s so simple it’s practically fool-proof. Honestly it should be a crime that something so irresistibly good should be this easy to make.
Excellent cake and filling. What a treat! Made for daughter’s birthday, and have put into permanent file. A Keeper.
Do you have any suggestions for making a strawberry filling stead? Would you use the same instructions and ingredients as the raspberries? Thank you!!
P.S. I’ve made this cake already with the raspberries and it’s so so good!!
Hi Denise: I’d certainly think so. For strawberries to make a good sauce, I personally would consider prepping them similarly to how you do for jam: once the berries are clean, use a potato masher (or similar) on them, then cook. While raspberries very naturally and easily break down while cooking, strawberries: not so much. This would help — so you end up with a smoother sauce, not a super-chunky one.
Hi,
If I wanted to make this cake with 2 9-inch round pans, it’s what I have on hand, what would the measurements for the ingredients please?
Thank you!!!
Shirley
This recipe will work as stated, to fill two 9 inch round pans.
Excellent!!
light cake, great flavor with the raspberry filling.
Everyone loved it
It was perfect and easy to make. I made recipe as directed but used regular milk instead of buttermilk. Cake was light and fluffy and moist. They held together nicely even when stacking the cakes. The raspberry filling was so flavorful- I refrigerated it before putting it on the cake. The frosting was not too sweet and spread easily. Highly recommend this recipe!
Very moist cake. Loved the raspberry kick (special request from DH). Cake itself we didn’t think chocolate flavor was as deep as it should have been… I might try blooming just the cocoa next time w hot water before adding rest of dry ingredients? Used TJs cocoa, which produces crazy lovely flavor in recipes where I bloom it with butter but maybe not holding up as well with water?
Have you tried dutched cocoa? It’s a deeper chocolate taste.
This cake is AMAZING!!!! My family loved it so much they asked me to make it, just one week later, for Christmas. The only thing I did different was to use melted butter instead of oil.
Loved this recipe. Made it with Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder & loved the intensity of the chocolate. Will definitely make it again. Super moist, great crumb, not too sweet.
LOVE Love Love!
Made for my family Christmas and it was a hit
Also made it a few days ahead and was perfect on the day.
This is a delicious recipe!!!
For the filling…..how did we change the raspberries to strawberries, lol
The cake looks so delicious. What could i used instead of the buttermilk ? I live in Italy and it’s not easy to find it.
Try a buttermilk substitute!
Cake was moist but not as good as my usual chocolate cake recipes. Kind of bland. The raspberry layer helps, but would’ve been better with more flavor.
This cake wins on all levels. Beautiful, delicious and easy to make.
I made this for a friends birthday and it was absolutely delicious. I followed the directions to a T and it came out perfect. I will be making this again for sure.
I made this cake for a colleagues birthday and it was amazing! definitely recommend. I made no changes to the recipe either so perfect as is … so scrumptious and so happy with my recipe choice. Thankyou!
Great recipe, the cake is just beautiful and has a lovely crumb, delicate and moist. Would you be able to post how long we should cook the raspberry filling and how much we should put between the cakes? I had some issues with it because I know it continues to thicken after you take it off the heat, and I don’t know if I didn’t cook it long enough or if I put too much on, because it oozed out.
Soooooo delicious. Made exactly as directed. Will make again and again!
I made this cake for Father’s Day today and it is INCREDIBLE!!! Every step of the recipe is easy to follow and comprehensive. The cakes turned out super moist and rich. The rasberry filling made the whole cake. It is 4 simple ingreidents and it is so so yummy. It cuts the sweetness/richness of the chocolate and adds a delicious tartness! Thank you for this, definitely a new staple.
Fabulous cake! My family said it’s the we ever had and I’ve made many. So moist! Will definitely make it again!
Thank you!
Can I replace the chocolate frosting with chocolate ganache instead ?
Sure!
Possibly the best cake I’ve ever made!
My 12 year old daughter used this recipe for her first time ever baking a cake. She baked it without any of my help and it turned out better than any cake we could buy locally.
That is incredible! I’m so happy it was enjoyed!
I asked a really good friend what kind of cake she would like for her birthday tomorrow. She said her mom always made her a chocolate raspberry cake. Sadly her mom died earlier this year so I told her I would make one for her. She was thrilled. I found this recipe and just baked it. Wonderful! We take the cake over tomorrow. Could be very emotional and thank goodness it’s chocolate. Many thank yous!!!!
I’m currently making the cake, it’s coming out great. For the frosting, do I need to melt the butter in microwave or just room temperature?
Ps: batter and fulling are delicious!
Thanks
Melted butter.
I used this recipe to make my very first ever cake, and it went great!!! Simple, doable, and super yummy. Only change I made was only 1 cup of sugar in the chocolate cake batter. 🙂
I made this cake for my birthday and it was so delicious. I love the sweet raspberry and dark chocolate combination! Definitely a new favorite cake recipe!
It was very easy. Im also making this for my birthday.
AMAZING!
Hi,
question, is this cake recipe for 2 cakes? or is it for 1 cake &then I need to replicate to get the 2nd cake?
Thanks,
Mary
It makes a double layer cake.
This recipe is a total winner!
Would chocolate buttercream frosting taste as good on this cake?
Yes, that would be delicious!
Try putting a layer of frosting on the cake layers and seedless raspberry jam… we used to divide the layers (2=4)!! Easy and delish!!
what kind of cocoa did you use? Baking?
yes, unsweetened baking cocoa
I would really like a from scratch raspberry filling recipe..but can’t find it..Could you please post it? Thanks
Hi Sharlene, Here’s a great from scratch recipe for raspberry filling!
http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Raspberry-Filling-1
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi April–soo sorry we missed that! Thanks for catching it! You were right, 2 eggs!
Hi! I’m just trying out this recipe but it seems to be missing how many eggs I need… I’m going to try 2 and hope it turns out 🙂
Looks amazing…I found this on six sisters! Thanks