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This berry cake is made with fluffy layers of genoise sponge cake, whipped cream, and fresh, ripe berries! It’s the best summer cake that highlights sweet strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries!
If you’re looking for a spectacular berry cake, look no further! Fresh berries are placed on top of a light and airy whipped cream and layered with a soft and fluffy genoise cake.
This berry cake highlights a medley of sweet, ripe berries – strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries to be exact. Use any mix of berries you’d like but I recommend going with berries with contrasting color and texture for the best aesthetic.
Serve this berry cake for Easter, birthdays, or even the holidays if you can find fresh berries during that time of year.
Ingredients
- Eggs – Start with room temperature eggs for a fluffy, light cake.
- Cake flour – Cake flour contains less protein than regular flour which helps produce a light, delicate cake.
- Sugar – Use white, granulated sugar. I don’t recommend other sweeteners for this recipe.
- Vanilla – Use good quality vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
- Butter – Butter makes the cake moist and gives it a rich flavor.
How to Make Berry Cake – Step by Step Photos
- Bain-marie: Place the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a heat-proof bowl. Then place this bowl into a larger bowl that’s filled with hot water. For a sponge cake recipe that doesn’t require a bain-marie, try my Easy Sponge Cake recipe instead.
- Using a hand-held mixer with a whisk attachment, beat on high speed until it becomes light and fluffy.
- Check that the sugar is completely dissolved and the egg mixture is warm to the touch.
- When it has tripled in volume and the color is a pale yellow, lift up the whisk to check for ribbons that flow down and keep its shape for 3 to 4 seconds. This is called the ribbon stage.
- Sift the cake flour in three steps and fold after each time.
- You should no longer see any dry bits of flour. Be careful not to over mix.
- Add about 3 tablespoons of batter to the warm, melted butter. This helps the butter incorporate better.
- Add the butter mixture and gently fold. It’s very easy to deflate the batter at this step so don’t over mix. Bake at 350 degrees F until golden brown and done.
Remove the cake from the pan and any parchment paper. Allow it to rest on a cooling rack and slice when it’s completely cooled.
To add more moisture, brush on a layer of cake syrup to each cake slice. Then, top each layer of cake with fresh berries and whipped cream. Serve this berry cake within 2 days for best results. Enjoy and happy baking!
Berry Cake Tips
- When whipping eggs with sugar, it’s essential to completely dissolve the sugar. The final result should be about 3 times the volume of its initial stage and achieve a ribbon stage where the mixture keeps its shape for 3 to 4 seconds when drizzling off the whisk.
- Cake syrup – To keep the cake moist and delicate, brush the cake syrup on each cake layer. This technique is used by many commercial bakeries and pastry chefs, including in my own family.
- When adding butter, it’s very easy to deflate the batter. Make sure the melted butter and batter are still warm. Cold temperatures will solidify the butter and deflate the batter. Fold very gently at this stage until just combined.
- Make sure the berries are dried very well. This keeps the cake fresh for longer.
- Avoid overfilling the layers. It can cause the cake to collapse if too heavy.
More recipes:
Fresh Berry Cake
This berry cake is made with fluffy layers of genoise sponge cake, whipped cream, and fresh, ripe berries! It's the best summer cake that highlights sweet strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries!
Equipment
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake
- 1 cup cake flour
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 ¾ tablespoon butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Cake Syrup
- ⅓ cup hot water
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Whipped Cream
- 1⅔ cups heavy whipping cream, cold
- 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, adjust to taste
Berry Topping and Filling
- 2½ cups berries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries
Instructions
For the Vanilla Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom and sides of the cake pan with parchment paper.
- Whip Eggs: In a large heat-proof bowl, add the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Place this bowl inside a larger bowl that's been filled with hot water (bain-marie). Using a hand mixer, beat the eggs on high speed until soft, fluffy, and pale yellow ribbons form, about 8 to 10 minutes. Replace the hot water halfway through as it cools down. See Note 1.⅔ cup sugar, 4 eggs, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add Flour: Sift in the flour in three parts, gently folding after each time.1 cup cake flour
- Add Butter: To help incorporate the butter, mix 3 heaping spoonfuls of the batter into the warmed, melted butter. Next, gently fold the butter mixture into the batter. See Note 2.1 ¾ tablespoon butter
- Bake: Pour the batter into your cake pan and bake at 350°F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For one 9-inch round pan, about 25 minutes. For two 6-inch round pans, about 18 minutes.
- Cool: Remove all parchment paper and allow it to cool completely on a cooling rack.
For the Whipped Cream:
- Using a whisk attachment, beat the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy.1⅔ cups heavy whipping cream, 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
Assemble:
- Cake syrup: Make cake syrup by dissolving the sugar in hot water. Set aside.3 tablespoons sugar, ⅓ cup hot water
- Fill: Slice the cake into even layers using a leveler. Working with the bottom cake layer, brush on a layer of cake syrup, then add a layer of whipped cream. Top with mixed berries, being careful not to overfill. Repeat these steps for the next cake layer. See Notes 3 and 4.2½ cups berries
- Decorate: Decorate the top layer with more berries. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Makes one 9-inch or two 6-inch cakes (the photo shown is of a 6-inch cake).
I highly recommend using a kitchen scale and the metric measurements provided for the best results. Click on “Metric” under the ingredients list to access gram measurements.
- Whipping eggs: It is essential the egg mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar is completely dissolved for this step, thus requiring a bain-marie. See step-by-step photos in the post for the proper ribbon stage. If you’re looking for a sponge cake that doesn’t require a bain-marie, try my Easy Sponge Cake recipe.
- When adding butter, it’s very easy to deflate the batter. Make sure the melted butter and batter are still warm. Cold temperatures will solidify the butter and deflate the batter. Fold very gently at this stage until just combined.
- Cake layers: I recommend using no more than 3 layers per cake as it can easily collapse if too tall. If using a 9-inch cake, use 3 layers. If using two 6-inch cakes, create two 2-layer cakes or one 3-layer cake.
- Overfilling the cake with too many berries or whipped cream can cause it to collapse. Be conservative when placing the berries and be sure they are level. Otherwise, I recommend using cake dowels which are great for supporting tall, layered cakes.
- Storage: Store decorated and filled cake in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
Calories: 437kcal, Carbohydrates: 45g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 27g, Saturated Fat: 16g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 156mg, Sodium: 141mg, Potassium: 125mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 32g, Vitamin A: 1088IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 58mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
This berry cake is superb! I honestly was a little daunted at the thought of making it, but it was so much simpler than I could imagine (and it looks like a total showstopper!)
I really appreciated all of your tips, but a special thank you for the tip about completely dissolving the sugar – I think that is a crucial step that I was missing before, but I won’t make that mistake again, and will now be able to make the perfect Genoise cake every time!
Nothing beats the taste of fresh berries and fluffy whipped cream! The cake was light and fluffy and paired perfectly with the berries. It was a huge hit!
This is my type of a cake. Love all the delicious berries on top – so delicious and so good-looking!
This is the perfect cake to serve for Valentine’s Day! I made a version to test it out and now I’m going for all red berries that will look great against the white cream. The cake was so light and moist that I know the fam will devour it again.
I love how soft the cake turned out. I added some lavender extract to the whipped cream and made a wonderful anniversary cake for my husband. I can’t thank you enough. It was perfect!
Thanks to all your great tips, this cake turned out perfect! We loved it, thank you.
Lovely cake and just in time for berry season in Australia. I used regular plain flour and added baking powder so it would rise better as I didn’t have cake flour on me.
Fantastic cake! I picked up some blackberries at the market and used them. I’ll make again swapping out the berries for a different taste throughout the year.
My husband was requesting a berry cake tonight so I made this. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, it was such a hit!!
Just what I was looking for! This recipe was light, fresh and perfect for the end of summer. The texture and flavor were spot on. I was nervous to make a 3 layer cake, but this one was super easy and I am glad I tried it. Will make again.
This cake is so gorgeous and easy to make together. This is the perfect cake to make for any occasion and I can use whatever berries I have that are seasonal. Thanks so much!
This berry cake not only turned out perfectly but was so refreshing and delicious. This recipe is a keeper that we will be making time and time again during the berry season!
This cake is amazing! Cannot wait to make it again next weekend for a big family dinner 😉
This berry cake is so light, fluffy, and delicious! The perfect cake recipe that is simple to make and everyone will love!
The taste is super yummy! Only thing was my layers came out very dense and dry. 9in pan at 20 minutes is too long so I suggest even less time.
Oh my goodness this cake is absolutely stunning! My mama’s birthday is coming up soon and I’m definitely making this for her. She’ll be so delighted ^_^ Thank you!
How pretty! This seems like a very versatile cake – perfect for almost any type of gathering or celebration!
This cake is the perfect way to use up all of my end-of-summer berries in the fridge! Can’t wait to make it soon!
Wow this berry cake is so fluffy and soft!! Amazing!