6" Raspberry Cream Cake

 6" Raspberry Cream Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 1 round 6" cake (3 layers)

Time: Awhile

Ingredients:

For the raspberry filling:

• 12 oz. fresh raspberries
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. pectin

Cream filling:

• 4 egg yolks
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch

Vanilla cake:

• 3/4 c. salted butter, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 egg whites
• 2 tbsp. vanilla
• 1 2/3 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/2 c. whole milk

Frosting:

• 1 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 4 c. powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 2-4 tbsp. raspberry filling
• 1 tbsp. heavy cream
• pink food coloring (optional)

Instructions:

• For the raspberry filling, stir together the raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, and pectin in a medium sized sauce pan and set over a medium temperature, do not stir. The filling is done when the berries have cooked down into a sauce and the mixture has thickened somewhat. Set the raspberry filling in the fridge. 
• For the cream filling, beat the egg yolks with 1/4 cup of the sugar until the yolks thicken and turn pale yellow, mix in the cornstarch and set aside. 
• In a medium sized pot stir together the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar with the heavy cream, milk, and salt. Set the pot over a medium-low heat and cook until the sugar dissolves and the cream starts to simmer. Take the pot off the heat. 
• To temper the egg yolks add one cup of the cream mixture to the eggs and stir rapidly. Pour the egg mixture into the pot with the rest of cream and set over a low heat. Stir the cream constantly until it thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not allow to boil or simmer. Too much heat will curdle the cream.
• Take the pot off the heat and set it inside of an ice bath. Stir rapidly until the cream cools to room temperature. Cool completely in the fridge. 
• Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line three 6" round cake pans with parchment paper. 
• To make the cake batter, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg whites one at a time and then stir in the vanilla. 
• In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter but DO NOT MIX...yet. 
• Add in the sour cream and milk and then mix all the ingredients together until just combined. If you over-mix the cupcakes won't be as soft and fluffy. Split the batter between the three pans and gently smooth it so that the batter covers the base of each pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the center of each cake springs back when touched. Take the cakes out of the pans and cool completely on a wire rack. 
• While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting by creaming together the butter and cream cheese. Beat in the powdered sugar one cup at a time and then mix in the vanilla, salt, and heavy cream. I wanted the raspberry flavor included in the frosting so I mixed in around 3 tbsp. of the cooled raspberry filling. You might need more or less depending on your preferences so add it in one tablespoon at a time until you reach the flavor you want. I also added a tiny bit of pink food coloring to get a stronger color but you don't have to add it if you don't want to. 
• Once the raspberry filling, cream filling, and vanilla cakes are completely cool you can start assembling the cake. Start by placing one of the cake layers on your cake stand and cover the top of the cake with a thin layer of frosting. Take a second layer of cake and carve out a circle of cake on the inside of the layer so that you have one ring of cake (the ring should be around one inch thick.) Place the cake ring on top of the first layer and frost the top of the ring. Fill the ring with a layer of the cream filling and then a layer of the raspberry filling. You might want to insert several toothpicks into the ring to support the weight of the third cake layer. Place the third cake layer on top of the ring and very gently frost the entire cake with a thin crumb coat of frosting. Chill in the fridge for around a half hour. 
• Take the chilled cake out of the fridge and add an additional layer of frosting. Decorate as desired. For my cake I frosted roses across the top and left the sides plain. But I wish that I had added an additional layer of raspberry and cream fillings on top of the cake. If I had done that I would have not done the roses and instead piped a solid ring of frosting across the top edge of the cake. Then I would have filled the ring with more of the raspberry and cream fillings.