Valentine's Day Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Valentine's Day Chocolate Raspberry Cake. A moist, delicious chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream, fresh raspberries and chocolate hearts.

Valentine's day is just around the corner and what better way to say I love you to your sweetheart than with making them a show stopper Chocolate Raspberry Cake .

I love making over the top decadent desserts for holidays, especially ones that are all about the sweets, such as Valentine's Day. The day to shower your loved ones with flowers, chocolates and candies. Or a fancy chocolate raspberry cake that really isn't that hard to make.

I don't normally use boxed mixes for cake. This recipe was originally for a post for a brand, but the brand went out of business so their mix is no longer available. I haven't remade the recipe using a from scratch cake recipe, but if you have a recipe from scratch that you would like to use feel free to do so. 

I kept it simple by leaving the cake layers visible, and had some fun with piping buttercream designs for the frosting in the middle layer and on top of the cake. You can customize the buttercream designs any way you want. The sky is the limit!

I love making cakes like this one because they are faster to decorate, no waiting for crumb coat then final coat to set. I think they are less intimidating too for the beginner cake decorator. You can find piping tips at a local cake decorating store such as Michael's and JoAnn Crafts.

You can practice on a piece of wax paper before piping on the cake first to get used to the different designs. I used several different sizes of open star tips for this cake, those are the ones that make rose like swirls.

Usually when I make a cake I fill the layers with buttercream and either a curd or a jam. With a "naked cake" or a cake without the sides fully covered in frosting I don't use a jam or a filling that would ooze out. Instead I pressed fresh raspberries into the buttercream. Which is also raspberry flavored.

Making the chocolate hearts decorations is pretty simple. 

I found a heart clip-art online and copied and pasted it to a blank page then printed it out. Placed a piece of wax paper over the top. Melted chocolate and poured into a piping bag and traced the outline of the hearts with the chocolate. I slid this onto a tray, you could do it all on a tray to skip that step, and froze them until set. They peel off the wax paper easily. They are fragile so make extra in case some break. Some of the hearts I filled in with chocolate and those were a little more sturdy, but I loved the look of just the outline hearts so I put more of those on the cake. 

I used the template because I can't draw hearts to save my life. Something so basic, yet mine are always lopsided. If you have better heart drawing skills than I do, feel free to freehand them. 

Since I didn't do a completely covered in frosting cake, I had a little fun with piping the raspberry buttercream between the layers and on top.

For the middle later I piped larger rosettes and placed raspberries between them so you could see them from the side of the cake. Then I filled in the middle and scattered more fresh raspberries around. Didn't worry about any pattern or design here since it wouldn't be seen.

For the top of the cake I used a few different piping tips and sizes of rosettes and drop flowers. You can really do any pattern you want here. It is all up to you!

A few notes about the recipe first:

• You can make the cake layers ahead of time. Bake then once cool enough to handle wrap in plastic wrap then place in a resealable bag and freeze. Thaw before assembling the cake
• The frosting can also be made ahead of time. Keep chilled in an airtight container in your fridge then when ready to use bring to room temp and whip on low until creamy again. 
• The chocolate hearts can also be made ahead of time. They are very fragile so keep frozen and decorate right before serving
• Have fun with piping different designs with the frosting. If you mess up a little - cover up with another rosette or star. Really there is no right or wrong way to decorate this cake. Its is up to you to make it how you want it to look!

Valentine's Day Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Shanna

A showstopper of a cake that is really easy to make!

Makes one 2 layer 8” round cake 8-12 servings

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Additional Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

For the Cake

• 1 Box Organic Chocolate Cake Mix see notes
• 3 Large Eggs room temperature
• 1 Cup Chaokoh Coconut Milk
• ¾ C Avocado Oil
• 2 teaspoon Torani Signature Raspberry Syrup
• 1 C Ghirardelli Semi Sweet chocolate chips
• 1 C fresh raspberries cut in half, lightly dusted with cocoa powder
• Butter and cocoa powder for dusting cake pans

Raspberry Buttercream

• 6 egg whites
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 sticks butter cool room temperature, unsalted
• 1-2 tablespoon Torani Raspberry Syrup
• natural pink food coloring - optional

Garnish

• Fresh Raspberries
• 3-4 ounces Dark chocolate for chocolate hearts

Instructions

 

Make the cake:

• Butter two 8” round cake pans (preferably aluminum cake pans with high sides), line each with a round of parchment paper then butter the parchment paper. Lightly dust with cocoa powder. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350 Deg F.
• In a mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, avocado oil and raspberry syrup. Add in the cake mix and mix until fully combined. Fold in the chocolate chips then gently fold in the cocoa dusted raspberry halves. Divide the cake batter evenly between the two pans. place side by side in the oven and bake for 25-35 min or until top of cake bounces back when pressed gently.
• Let cool for 10 min in cake pan then release to wire cooling racks to cool completely. Frost and decorate when completely cool.

While the cake is cooling make the buttercream :

• Set a sauce pan filled ¼ the way with water over medium heat to bring to a low simmer.
• In a bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl combine the egg whites, sugar, salt, cream of tartar and vanilla extract. Whisk well. Set over the pan of simmering water, making sure the mixing bowl isn’t touching the water, and whisk for 7 minutes or until temperature is 165-170 on a digital thermometer.
• Whip the mixture on high with a whisk attachment if using a stand mixer or regular beater blades if using a hand mixer. Whip until the bowl is cool to the tough and meringue has just about tripled in volume. Add in the butter one tablespoon at a time and mix until all the butter is added in and the butter cream has thickened. Flavor with 1-2 tablespoons Torani raspberry buttercream and color with pink or red natural food dye ( optional for more pink buttercream)

For the chocolate hearts:

• Either draw hearts or print out heart clip art on a piece of white paper. Set a piece of wax paper over the top. Melt the chocolate in a bowl in a microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after every 30 seconds until melted. Let cool a few minutes then transfer to a plastic piping bag. Snip off the very end.
• Trace the heart outlines with the chocolate. You can go over it two or three times for a thicker heart if desired. Once the edges have set you can fill, make designs or leave as an outline. Let firm up completely before using. You can speed up the chocolate firming by placing the wax paper with the hearts on a tray and set in the freezer for 20 min. The frozen heart outlines will be more fragile so handle carefully. Make extra in case some break.

To assemble the cake:

• Place one cake layer on a cake stand. Brush with one tablespoon Torani raspberry syrup. Spread a thin later of buttercream just short of the edges. Fill piping bags fitted with various size open star tips, whichever design you like, and fill with remaining butter cream. Pipe on rosettes, large and smaller stars around the edge.
• Press fresh raspberries into the buttercream. Fill the middle with a little more buttercream to make it even then press more raspberries into the buttercream.
• Place the second cake layer on top. Brush with one tablespoon of Torani raspberry syrup. Decorate the top with rosettes around the edges, large and smaller stars or rosettes to fill in the rest of the top of the cake. Pipe one large rosette in the middle. Press raspberries into the buttercream between each of the rosettes on the edges. Carefully remove the chocolate hearts from the wax paper. Place the largest one in the large rosette in the middle of the cake. Smaller hearts into the smaller rosettes around the edges.
• Refrigerate cake if not serving immediately. Bring to cool room temperature before serving.

Notes

I used an organic chocolate cake mix for this recipe and added in the additional ingredients not according to the package since I decided to enhance this mix to make a richer cake. You can use any cake mix you like, I prefer organic mixes when I am not making a cake from scratch since they have less additives and preservatives.

I originally made this recipe for a brand but the brand has since gone out of business. I have yet to remake this recipe using a from scratch cake recipe, if you have a recipe you would like to use in place of the box mix feel free to do so.