A quick, easy and delicious raspberry cake, flavoured with buttermilk and studded with raspberries. A perfect dessert any time of year.
Whenever I find myself with raspberries and I’m in the mood for a little baking, this is the cake I make!
I first discovered this cake in Bon Apetit and have made it countless times since. It’s lightly sweet and loaded with fruit, so it’s a perfect slice any time of day.
Serve simply with a dusting of icing sugar or dress it up for a lovely dessert, with a dollop of whipped cream (or vanilla iced cream), if you like.
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Ingredient Notes: Tips and substitution suggestions
All Purpose Flour: This is the regular baking flour, sometimes known as plain flour. I have not tested this recipe with gluten free flour, but I suspect a cup-for-cup gluten free blend should work here.
Butter: You can use salted or unsalted butter here. If using salted butter, you may wish to reduce the amount of added salt slightly.
Sugar: You can reduce the added sugar somewhat, if you prefer. I wouldn’t suggest going below 1/2 cup of added sugar here.
Buttermilk: Buttermilk is lovely for a nice tangy flavour to your cake. If you don’t have any on hand, you can make your own, by measuring out 1/2 cup of regular milk and adding 1 1/2 tsp of either lemon juice or white vinegar to the milk. Let stand 10 minutes, then use. I haven’t tested this recipe with alternative milk substitutes, though I suspect they should work here cup for cup.
Raspberries: You can use fresh or frozen raspberries here. If frozen, use from frozen and allow a little extra baking time. If will often add more than the 1 cup recommended, though I would go beyond 1 1/2 cups of fruit.
Baker’s Notes: My best baking tips
Use a 9 or 10-inch springform pan. An 8-inch pan is likely too small to hold all this batter safely. If you only have an 8-inch, go ahead and use it, but maybe hold back a bit of the batter to be safe.
You can bake this cake up rustic-style in a 10-inch top diameter cast-iron skillet, if you like.
Lining the bottom of your springform pan with parchment ensures that it can be easily removed from the pan after baking. If you aren’t concerned about presentation on a plate, you can just grease well and skip the parchment,
Every oven is different and darker coloured baking pans will speed up the baking process. As such be sure to check on your cake often during the last part of baking, as yours may cook more quickly. Likewise, be sure to test the cake with a cake tester inserted in the centre of the cake before removing from the oven. The tester should come out clean.
Top Tip! Try this delicious cake with other berries, as well. Blackberries or blueberries would also be lovely.
Storage Notes: Making ahead, storage and freezing
This cake keeps well wrapped and stored at room temperature. It should be good for a couple of days.
This cake would also freeze well, tightly wrapped, for up to a month.
More raspberry cake recipes you might like …
Buttermilk Raspberry Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt reduce slightly if using salted butter
- 1/4 cup butter salted or unsalted, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup buttermilk well shaken *or see Notes
- 1 cup raspberries fresh or frozen (unthawed)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp white granulated sugar for sprinkling (course sugar would be good, as well)
- Icing/Confectioner's sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. and place rack in centre of oven. Grease a 9 or 10-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper, for easy removal. (You can also bake this in a greased 10-inch top diameter cast-iron skillet, if you like).
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer or with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Add the egg and beat well.
- With the mixer at low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 batches, starting with 1/3 of the flour, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, then half the remaining flour, the rest of the buttermilk and finishing with the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until combined.
- Spoon the batter into prepared cake pan or skillet, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over the top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.
- Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into centre comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. If baked in a skillet, serve right from the skillet. If baked in a cake pan, then turn out onto a rack and allow to cool 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.
Kim says
Hi. Can I use frozen fruit instead of fresh? Any tips would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Kim
Jennifer says
Hi Kim and yes, you can use frozen fruit. I would use un-thawed. Allow a bit of extra baking time as the cold fruit will slow down the baking process a bit. Enjoy :)
Marie says
First of all, your cake is picture perfect!
I have made this so many times now. Raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, peach, even cranberry!
Sometimes even for breakfast too ?
I love quick, simple recipes this time of year and this is perfect.
Jennifer says
So glad to hear, Marie! And cake for breakfast is a thing here, too :) Thanks!
Starr says
Hi Jennifer, I’m thinking of making this into a loaf, thoughts? Decreasing cooking temp to 350 but baking longer, thoughts? I was also planning to dust raspberries with flour before putting them in the batter. ?
Jennifer says
Hi Starr, yes, I think this would work. Simply bake until it’s done, testing regularly. I suspect it will be near an hour, if not a bit more. I would suggest an 8×4-inch loaf pan as equivalent to the 9-inch round. Let me know how it works out!
Cait says
Hi Jennifer,
I was looking for an easy cake recipe to use my raspberries – and oh my goodness did I find it in this recipe!!!
I made this last week and just made it again. I coated the raspberries in flour to avoid them sinking to the bottom. It was a tip I read elsewhere and works really well – splash the raspberries in flour and then put them on top, and there is no flour taste or caking after the cake is baked.
Thank you for this recipe! It is already much-loved in my household :)
Jennifer says
So glad you enjoyed this one, Cait! I love a buttermilk cake and it’s so nice with raspberries, especially. Thanks for coming back to let me know :)
monica villate says
Dear Jennifer, I tried this recipe a year ago, and I’m obssesed with it. I love the spongy of the cake and the moist of the raspberries….heaven! Sadly in Bogota, Colombia, where I live, raspberries are a luxury so I’ve only enjoyed this original recipe twice. But I’ve made some changes replacing them for frozen raspberries or frozen blueberries….and even once I made it with caramelized rhubarb…. It’s a different story, but your recipe inspired me to take some risks. Thank you for your blog!
Jennifer says
Hi Monica and I’m so glad you are enjoying this recipe! I imagine it would be lovely with any fruit :)
Karen says
Would this cake freeze well? Looking for some ideas for a dessert buffet for a wedding reception?
Jennifer says
I think it would, Karen. Honestly, I’ve never frozen it myself, so can’t say for sure, but generally cakes freeze fairly well.
Jennifer says
So glad you enjoyed it! Makes me long for raspberry season to come again soon.
Elizabeth says
This cake was so yummy. A definite “do again” and again :)
Raspberry says
Wow! That looks like a scrumptious cake! I love using raspberries and other fruits in recipes…it just makes eating cake and other treats seem like you are eating healthy stuff too!
Photographs are lovely as well!
Miz says
I love this recipe! I’ve made it 3 times now–twice for my family and once as a gift for a sick friend. Everyone raved about it and it is so, so easy to make. The first time, I didn’t have buttermilk so I used regular milk that I added a few tablespoons of lemon to and let sit a bit. It worked great. This cake has such wonderful flavor and smells lovely while it bakes. As I type, I have another with some extra blueberries we picked over the weekend. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
So glad you are enjoying it, Miz. I made it with peaches last weekend and it was really nice, too. – Jennifer
alex says
i made this the other day and all my berries sunk to the bottom! i didnt press them into the batter either, i just lightly sprinkled them on top. i saw that you didnt have that problem, is there anything that you suggest to help with that?
Hi Alex, the batter should be fairly thick when you put it into the pan, and that should keep the berries on top. Was yours thick? Did you use real buttermilk? – Jen
the urban baker says
oh, i have made this! it is so perfectly good!
We loved it too. So simple but a lovely way to end a meal (or for breakfast ;)
Dorothy Sherard says
I just made this cake and I hate to say, but the 8″ pan is far too small. It ran all over the oven and that spill burned as the cake finished baking. My kitchen has a burned smell of course. I would suggest a 9″ pan for this cake. It looks very good. Still cooling after I scrapped all the over-spill off the sides of the pan to release it and of course have cleaned the oven.
On dear, Dorothy. I’m sorry for your mess. I just went and re-confirmed my pan size and I definitely baked mine in an 8-inch (1 3/4 inches high). It did puff up while baking but not to the point of boiling over the side. Perhaps because of the extra berries I put on top? That said though, I’ll alter the instructions to suggest a 9-inch (or at least a baking sheet underneath).
Shelley says
Beautiful cake! I’ve made this recipe before as well. My cake turned out a little too moist- almost to the point of sogginess- both times times I made it. Did this happen to you? Wondering what I’m doing wrong…
I found the cake definitely got soggier by the second day but didn’t find it too moist on the day I made it. I think it’s certainly best eaten soon after being baked. Maybe just cut back on the buttermilk a tad?
cake recipe says
That cake looks wonderful. I’d definitely give this a go. I really enjoy baking for my kids. Lately we’re really into experimenting with different fruits in my cake recipes. You see they love fruit bits in their pancakes. So now, we’re trying to figure out which fruits will go best with my cake recipes. I think this will be a good candidate, lol, they love raspberries! :)
I think this cake would lend itself to any number of fruits. Maybe just tweak the sugar a bit depending on how sweet or tart the fruit is. – Jennifer
Honey says
This looks gorgeous.. i made something similar using lemon.
Beautiful pics… and i love that it isn’t too much fat.
I was pleased at how little butter went into it as well, Honey! (And used 1% buttermilk, as well). You wouldn’t know it from tasting it. It was moist and full of rich flavour. – Jennifer