Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
on Apr 11, 2025
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If you love easy baking recipes that are showstoppers without requiring any decorating skills, this raspberry buttermilk cake is for you. The berries do all the work. As the cake bakes and rises, you end up with a beautiful and rustic golden top with streaks of raspberries. You can use fresh or frozen berries. If you like a more even balance of cake and fruit, then go frozen because they spread more. Fresh berries hold their shape and result in more cake.
Looking for another berry cake recipe? Then try this blackberry lemon yogurt cake.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I’m a big fan of any from-scratch cake that is easy and turns out far more impressive than the effort actually required to bake it. You can’t ask for much more. This is one of those simple fruity bakes that’s always good to have around because it works for dessert, brunch or afternoon tea.
This cake is for everyone who loves baking, but isn’t a confident decorative baker. I am mesmerized by baking videos on Instagram and TikTok. The more elaborate the better, but my skill level is nowhere near those amazingly talented creators. That’s why I lean into bakes that are meant to be irregular and have tons of character plus the wonderful flavor to match.
Buttermilk is for more than just waffles, pancakes and scones. It can work that same magic in cake. Buttermilk adds its tang while making the crumb fluffy and light. Buttermilk and strawberries are a classic pairing, but I like it with raspberries because of their strong sweet-tart flavor.
Buttermilk Cake: Fresh vs. Frozen Berries
I started baking this cake when I found the recipe in an issue of Gourmet magazine from June 2009. Ever since, I’ve been hooked on it, making tweaks, specifically to my approach with the berries. As a seasonal eater, I wish berry season lasted the entire year, but sadly it doesn’t. I have baked this cake with fresh raspberries and frozen raspberries. They both have their merits. It comes down to your preference.
The first time I made this cake, I used fresh raspberries. As the cake rose, only a few berries were left peaking out by the time it was finished. I was curious what would happen if I used frozen raspberries the next time. Was there be a major difference in how it turned out? Yes!
Frozen berries are more likely to break apart or be in pieces than fresh ones. The cake had jammy clusters of raspberries. I figured out that when I baked with frozen I was more likely to get in fruit in each bite.
Choosing Between Fresh and Frozen Raspberries
While I love this cake both ways, I have to admit that I am always taken with drama of big berry moments, so I prefer frozen. Each slice has a mix of cake and almost berry jam. The cake is good both ways. It does let those tiny bits of frozen berries at the bottom of a bag shine because they naturally find themselves all over the cake.
It just depends if you like a more even balance of cake and fruit, then go frozen. If you prefer more cake and less fruit, then use fresh.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Raspberries: As mentioned, fresh or frozen berries will work in this recipe. Frozen will spread more and be jammier throughout the cake.
- Buttermilk: The cultures in buttermilk make it more tangy and acidic as well as thicker than regular milk. As a result, the cake crumb is more tender.
- Butter: The unsalted butter should be softened at room temperature. Take it out of the refrigerator and let it sit on your kitchen counter before you start baking. If you forget, you can grate the butter on the large holes of a box grater, so it’s in smaller pieces that will soften faster. This is a trick I use when I make cookies.
- Sugar: The cake is sweetened with granulated sugar. I also sprinkle sugar on top of the berries before baking.
- Egg: The recipe calls for 1 large egg.
- Vanilla extract: To bring out the buttery vanilla flavor, I add pure vanilla extract.
- Flour: The cake uses all-purpose flour.
- Baking powder & baking soda: For rising, the cake has both. The acidity in the buttermilk activates the baking soda.
- Kosher salt: A touch of salt in any recipe is the on-switch for all the flavors. That even applies to sweet baking.
How To Make This Raspberry Buttermilk Cake Recipe
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a round 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.
1. Combine the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. In another bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar. Give them 3-4 minutes to turn pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract until fully combined with the creamed butter and sugar.
4. Fold in the flour mixture and buttermilk. You can do this either with the mixer on low speed or by hand. Add the dry ingredients in three batches alternating with the buttermilk. Be careful not to over mix.
5. Assemble the cake in the prepared pan. Spread the batter into the pan. Scatter the berries across the top and dust with sugar. If you use frozen raspberries, some will be in smaller and more broken pieces than fresh whole berries.
6. Bake the cake. The top will be golden brown at the edges and more pale in the middle. It will also pull away from the sides of the pan. When you press down on it gently, the cake should spring back. Also, toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean without any batter on it. Give it 30-35 minutes.
Serving
If you use fresh berries, cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes before removing it and letting it cool more on a wire rack. If you use frozen berries, let the cake cool completely in the pan. Since you will have bigger pockets of berries in the cake, it will be more likely to fall apart.
For both, it helps to run a paring knife around the sides of the cake before getting it out of the pan. You can serve the cake warm or at room temperature. I like it with a dollop of greek yogurt or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Leftovers & Storage
The cake is best eaten in 1-2 days. Store it in an airtight container at room temperature. Fruit desserts do not last as long as others because of the moisture in the berries, which causes the cake to spoil faster. If you want to save the cake longer, you can freeze it wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Thaw it at room temperature.
Recipe Tips
- Do not over mix the cake when you combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. You want to avoid stirring carelessly. Gently fold the ingredients together with slow motion. This way you will avoid having tunnels and holes in the crumb of the cake.
- Use your eyes and touch to determine the cake’s doneness. Oven temperature varies from kitchen to kitchen. If the cake looks really pale and wobbly in the middle and does not spring back when you press it, then it is not ready. You may need to add a few minutes beyond the bake time on the recipe card.
- Frozen cake is easier to thaw if you cut it into slices. Put parchment paper between the slices or wrap them separately, so they don’t stick together.
- You can swap with other kinds of berries. If you are using frozen, look for a blend of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. If it does have strawberries, you will need to chop them if they are whole.
More Berry Recipes
Lemon Blueberry Scones
Strawberry Almond Scones
Vegan Blueberry Chia Muffins
Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes
Baked Berry Oatmeal
Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
Ingredients
- Butter or non-stick cooking spray for greasing pan
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
- 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Line with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until fully combined
- On low speed, or by hand, add the flour in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan, smoothing into an even layer. Scatter the raspberries on top and sprinkle with 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar.
- Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes until it is golden brown at the edges and more pale in the middle. It will also pull away from the sides of the pan. When you press down gently, the cake should spring back. A toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean without any batter on it.
- If you use fresh berries, you can cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes before removing it and letting it cool on a wire rack. If you use frozen berries, let the cake cool in the pan. For both, run a paring knife around the sides of the cake before removing it from the pan.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe originally published on April 4, 2019. Updated on April 11, 2025 with additional process photos and revised bake time.
Amazing! Excellent flavor, almost like a raspberry donut cake. My berries (frozen) mostly sunk into the cake but still beautiful and delicious.
This was amazing. I used frozen raspberries which worked perfect. The only change I made was I used parchment paper in the pan the second time because the cakes stuck to. The pan the first time. Family loved it!
Wonderful. The raspberries got kind of caramelly at the bottom of the cake. Sweet and delicious. My butter and sugar never got creamy – it stayed crumbly – I’m not sure why.
Delicious and easy, my fruit all sunk down so didn’t look as beautiful as the photo but it was still enjoyed. 🙂
I had a bag of frozen strawberries and buttermilk in need of some baking-love and found your recipe…very tasty. Cake is delicious.
Tried today with frozen raspberry and all raspberry sink to the bottom. And I topped with cream cheese frosting. OMG super delicious
Wonderful, easy recipe. I used fresh buttermilk powder and added it to the dry ingredients. I then alternated dry with water when adding to wet ingredients. I also used fresh raspberries. It came out great.
Lovely result. Difficult to know precise measurement for butter but guessed 100 g. Worked well. Fruit will not sink if you toss raspberries in flour to coat.
Tastes so good! Wanted a quick treat to have with coffee this morning and wanted raspberries in something. What I did was toss the frozen berries in flour and spread on TOP of batter. Very few berries sank, evenly dotted throughout. Seriously flavorful and moist. I also added raw sugar on top when I baked it and topped with a lemon buttermilk glaze. So pretty!
Everyone was pleased to taste this cake, which i made with Greek yogurt diluted a little milk instead of using buttermilk. Many thanks for the recipe!
Turned out perfectly!
Lovely cake, was as delicious as I hoped it would be. I will be making this one often. Thank for the recipe.