This soft and buttery 4 layer vegan almond cake is layered with creamy dairy free vegan cream cheese frosting and raspberry jam. Light, fluffy, and a complete showstopper!
Why you’ll love this almond raspberry cake:
Spring cakes have really been having a moment lately, from my vegan strawberry cake to this one bowl lemon blueberry cake (that’s even in my cookbook!) and my chocolate cream cheese banana cake.
I even love these easy sheet cake recipes, like my vegan lemon poppy seed cake, blackberry sheet cake, and banana peanut butter cake.
But right now, this deliciously soft and lush almond raspberry layer cake is taking center stage.
It’s perfectly soft, fluffy, and deliciously nutty with rich almond flavor from both freshly ground almonds and almond extract.
Then we have a beautiful ruby red raspberry jam and cream cheese frosting to tie it all together. I was absolutely OBSESSED with the look of Ashely from Baker By Nature’s almond raspberry cake, so I wanted to replicate it with my own version.
Let me tell you, this cake is a dream. And you won’t even believe that it’s made without eggs, no dairy, and is entirely vegan. Plus, you only needone bowlto make the almond cake batter (so put those stand mixers away!). How lovely is that?!
How to assemble a four layer almond raspberry cake:
The full recipe of how to make this unbelievably vegan almond raspberry cake is detailed in the recipe card below. However, I wanted to share some photos to illustrate how to assemble a four layer cake!
Tips for making this almond raspberry layer cake:
Use homemade almond flour:I like to take whole almonds and simply pulse them in the food processor. I think the flavor is a lot better, and the texture is a bit more rustic, which is what I wanted (similar to the vegan pistachio cake!).
When slicing the cakes in half, a long kitchen knife works well!This will be easiest for getting an even slice.
Use a kitchen scale for the most accurate baking:This is especially important if you’re using gluten free flour. Using the gram measurements will give you the most accurate bake for this raspberry almond cake!
You can make your own homemade raspberry jam!If you’d like, you can easily make your own homemade raspberry jam using this strawberry jam recipe and swapping in fresh raspberries or frozen raspberries.
Swap in raspberry buttercream instead of cream cheese frosting:Simply use my strawberry buttercream recipe, and swap in freeze dried raspberries instead! Or you can use my blueberry frosting recipe, and swap in raspberry jam in place of blueberry jam.
Tips for assembling this vegan almond cake:
Make sure that the cake layers are fully cool:Cream cheese frosting is a lot less sturdy than a vegan buttercream frosting (though I have a tip for helping it stabilize when assembling a cake!). This means that you really want to make sure that there is absolutely NO warmth to your cake layers when assembling.
Use a crumb coat first before finishing the frosting:This is a thin layer of frosting along the outside edge of the cake. Then you’ll place the raspberry almond cake into the fridge to chill, which is so essential for cream cheese frosting! Finally, once the cake has chilled and set, then you can frost the outside of the cake 🙂
Create walls of frosting for your raspberry filling:To ensure that the raspberry jam doesn’t flow out of the frosting, I create a well in the frosting in between each layer (see photos!). It’s super helpful!
If you don’t want to make a four layer almond raspberry cake:You can absolutely just keep this to a two layer cake, or you can even divide the batter amongst three cake pans and bake a three layer raspberry almond cake! I just thought the four layers were fun, like what Ashley had done 🙂
You’re just going to LOVE this soft and fluffy almond raspberry cake! You won’t even know it’s vegan 🙂
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
One Bowl Vegan Almond Raspberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star5 from 4 reviews
- Author: Britt Berlin
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 45
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This soft and buttery 4 layer vegan almond cake is layered with creamy dairy free vegan cream cheese frosting and raspberry jam. Light, fluffy, and a complete showstopper!
Ingredients
Scale
Cake styling inspired by Baker By Nature’s Raspberry Almond Cake
- 1 1/2 cups (300 mL) vegan buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup (300 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 cup (240 g) dairy free yogurt, room temperature
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 1 1/3 cups (170 g) almonds, ground into a flour
- 2 1/2 cups (325 g) all-purpose flour (or gluten free 1:1 baking flour + 1 tbsp arrowroot or cornstarch)** (see notes for GF)
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup raspberry jam
- 2 batches vegan cream cheese frosting
- 1 cup raspberries, for decoration
- 1 cup crushed almonds, for decoration
Instructions
- Prep:Preheat the oven to 350F, and line two 8″ cake pans with parchment paper. Measure out all ingredients. Make sure that the almonds are pulsedinto a rustic flour. You can use a food processor.
- Make the almond cake batter:In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, melted vegan butter, dairy free yogurt, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Add in the ground almonds, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Slowly pour in the vegan buttermilk as you whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stop just as the wet ingredients are fully integrated into the dry ingredients.
- Bake:Divide the cake batter into the two pans, and bake for 40-42 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven.
- Cool and slice:Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 10 minutes. This will help the tops of the cakes sink back down so you don’t have to torte the layers. Then transfer the cake layers to fully cool on a cooling rack. Once they’ve completely cooled, carefully slice each cake layer in half so that you have four round 8″ cake layers. I recommend using a large kitchen knife and placing the cake layers onto a cake turntable to easily slice the cakes in half. If you don’t want to create a four layer cake, you can just keep it as a two layer cake!
- Make the cream cheese frosting:Once the cakes are cooled and sliced, make the vegan cream cheese frosting.
- Assemble the cake:Place one cake layer onto a plate and then onto a cake turntable for easily assembly. Scoop about 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese frosting on the top of the cake layer and spread it to the edges. Create a well in the frosting for where the raspberry frosting will go and so that the frosting has walls along the edges (see blog post photos). Scoop about 1/3 cup of raspberry jam into the middle of the frosting, and spread it to the walls of the frosting. Place the next cake layer on top and repeat, then place the third cake layer on top and repeat once more. Place the final cake layer on top, and smooth the frosting around the edges to create a crumb coat (see blog post photos for reference). Place the cake into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
- Finish frosting the cake:Remove the cake from the fridge, and frost the remainder of the cake with the cream cheese frosting. Top with raspberries and sliced almonds. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Gluten free:I really only recommend using King Arthur Measure-for-Measure Gluten Free Flour or a similar blend with xanthan gum that also weighs 125 g per cup. Please note that Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF Flour will NOT work here.
See blog post for all tips and tricks!
