Cinematic overhead view of an elegant raspberry lemon cake with vibrant pink swirls and fluffy cream cheese frosting, adorned with fresh raspberries and lemon zest, set on a white marble surface with soft natural lighting and inviting bakery ambiance.

Raspberry Lemon Cake That’ll Make Your Taste Buds Dance

Raspberry Lemon Cake That’ll Make Your Taste Buds Dance

Raspberry lemon cake is that perfect collision of sweet, tart, and utterly irresistible that makes people ask for seconds before they’ve even finished their first slice.

I’ve made this cake at least two dozen times, and here’s what I know: it looks fancy, tastes like you bought it from an expensive bakery, and requires nothing more than basic baking skills.

No complicated techniques. No weird ingredients you’ll never use again. Just pure, lemony, raspberry-studded perfection.

Key Info

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 20 minutes (including cooling)
Servings: 10-12 slices
Difficulty level: Beginner-friendly
Dietary tags: Vegetarian (contains dairy, eggs, wheat)

Equipment Needed

You probably own most of this already:

  • Two 8-inch round cake pans (or one 9×13-inch pan if you’re going simple)
  • Stand mixer or hand mixer
  • Mixing bowls (one large, one medium)
  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Rubber spatula
  • Wire cooling rack
  • Parchment paper
  • Toothpick or cake tester
  • Offset spatula for frosting (or a butter knife works fine)

Don’t have a stand mixer? A hand mixer works brilliantly. Your arm will get a workout, but the cake won’t know the difference.

Skip the fancy cooling rack? Flip a muffin tin upside down and use that.

A clean kitchen countertop featuring arranged ingredients for raspberry lemon cake: softened butter in a ceramic dish, fresh raspberries on a marble surface, and lemons being zested, all bathed in soft morning light.

Ingredients
For the Cake:
  • 2½ cups (300g) all-purpose flour
  • 1¾ cups (350g) granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature (this matters!)
  • 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk (or Greek yogurt thinned with 2 tablespoons milk)
  • 1½ cups (190g) fresh raspberries (frozen work too—don’t thaw them)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest (zest before you juice—trust me)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons flour for coating raspberries

Substitutions that actually work:

  • Swap buttermilk for sour cream thinned with milk
  • Use frozen raspberries (they sink less than fresh)
  • Replace half the butter with vegetable oil for extra moisture
For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
  • 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 8 oz (226g) cream cheese, softened (NOT straight from the fridge)
  • 4 cups (480g) powdered sugar, sifted
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1-2 tablespoons milk (only if needed for spreading consistency)
For Garnish:
  • Fresh raspberries (handful)
  • Thin lemon slices (optional, but gorgeous)
Method
Getting Started (The Boring But Essential Stuff):

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Don’t skip preheating—I learned this the hard way with a sunken middle.

2. Line two 8-inch round pans with parchment paper. Grease the sides with butter or cooking spray. The parchment is your insurance policy against stuck cake.

3. Bring your eggs, butter, and cream cheese to room temperature. This takes about 30 minutes on the counter. Cold ingredients = lumpy batter = dense cake. Nobody wants dense cake.

4. Zest your lemons BEFORE juicing them. Trying to zest a juiced lemon is like trying to wrestle a wet bar of soap.

A baker's hands spreading lemon cream cheese frosting between golden cake layers, with raspberry juices visible, on a white cake stand surrounded by fresh raspberries and lemon zest, in a sunlit kitchen.

Making the Cake:

5. Toss your raspberries with 2 tablespoons of flour in a small bowl. Set them aside. This flour coating stops them from sinking straight to the bottom like little pink torpedoes.

6. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set this aside too.

7. In your stand mixer (or large bowl with hand mixer), beat the softened butter and sugar together on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes. You’re looking for light, fluffy, and pale yellow. This is where air gets incorporated. Air = tender cake.

8. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Don’t dump them all in at once unless you want scrambled egg cake (you don’t).

9. Mix in the vanilla extract and lemon zest. The kitchen should smell incredible right now.

10. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the buttermilk and lemon juice. It’ll look curdled. That’s exactly what you want.

11. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture. Start and end with flour.

Pattern: Flour → buttermilk → flour → buttermilk → flour.

Mix until just combined after each addition. The second you stop seeing flour streaks, STOP MIXING. Overmixing creates tough, chewy cake that tastes like regret.

12. Gently fold in the flour-coated raspberries with a rubber spatula. Some will break and turn the batter pink. That’s not just okay—it’s beautiful.

13. Divide the batter evenly between your two prepared pans. I use a kitchen scale for this, but eyeballing works fine too.

14. Bake for 22-25 minutes. The cakes are done when:

  • A toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs
  • The edges pull slightly away from the pan
  • The top springs back when you gently press it

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