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
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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
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.
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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.