Tart, tangy, and sweet. This Raspberry Almond cake is super moist, full of fruity flavor, and boasts a beautiful wildflower buttercream design.

You might know Amanda Faber as the winner of The Great American Baking Show. You might recognize her voice from the baking podcast Flour Hour. But if you ask me, she will go down in layer cake history for self-publishing her cookbook, Cake Portfolio. With an unwavering desire to put thoughts and ideas onto paper and her uncompromisable artistic style, also known as '“cake decorating without rules,” Amanda pulled off the near impossible: self-publishing, printing, and distributing her own book. And what a beauty of a book it turned out to be!

Cake portfolio is divided into three sections: process, design, and recipes. For Amanda, the artistic process for building a beautiful cake is equally as important as the ingredients. While she does combine flavors and designs together for the purpose of creating complete cakes in the book, the recipe sections feel like she is encouraging us to mix and match.

There was no mixing and matching necessary when it came to her Raspberry Almond Cake. Her variation is stunning! But the raspberry-specked buttercream was the perfect canvas for the carved wildflower buttercream design that I’ve been dying to try (more on this later). But the recipes! They are so incredible. I eat a toooon of cake, and this one truly blew me away.

The almond cake is moist, tender, and sturdy - all at the same time. It was one of those recipes that nearly made me mad because it was so well constructed that I wish I had developed it myself. Same goes for the raspberry buttercream: tangy, tart, and sweet.

Freeze dried raspberries give it a real raspberry flavor without being overly sweet (like when using raspberry jam). They are also responsible for the beautiful pink color. Cream cheese was a natural addition to creating a tangy, not-too-sweet buttercream, but vinegar? I was skeptical at first, but it totally works. I’ll be adding a pinch of salt and a dribble of white vinegar to all my American Buttercream now - thank you, Amanda!

The wildflower buttercream design was completely inspired by Alice and Rosa Cake Studio. I’ve been dreaming of the botanical bespoke cakes ever since I found them on Instagram. The stems are carved into the frosted cakes. The flowers are piped and painted on after. A splattering of edible gold paint finishes off the some-what bohemian vibe.

Raspberry Almond Cake

Recipe from Cake Portfolio, reposted with permission from the author
serves 15

For the Almond Cake
330g all-purpose flour
160g almond flour
1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
500g granulated sugar
155g unsalted butter, at room temperature
80g vegetable or grapeseed oil
4 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
340g milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 8-inch cake pans and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the oil and mix until combined. Add in the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time - making sure each is incorporated before adding in the next. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.

With the mixer on low, slowly add in half of the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated. Stream in the milk, followed my the vanilla and almond extracts. Add in the remaining flour and mix until just combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool the cakes on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before removing from their pans. Completely cool before frosting.

For the Raspberry Cream Cheese Buttercream
35g freeze dried raspberries
226g unsalted butter, at room temperature
160g cream cheese, at room temperature
700g confectioners’ sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white vinegar
50g heavy cream

Place the freeze dried raspberries in a food processor and grind to a powder. Sift out the seeds using a fine-mesh sieve and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the raspberry powder, cream cheese, and butter. Turn the mix to low speed and mix until smooth.

Slowly add in the sugar, salt, and vinegar and mix until combined. Add in half of the cream then increase the speed to medium. Continue to mix for another minute or two until the frosting is light and creamy. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. If the frosting is too thick to spread smoothly, add in the remaining cream and mix until combined.

To Assemble
Place one layer of cake on a cake board or serving dish. Place about 1 cup of buttercream on top and spread with an offset spatula until smooth. Top with the next layer of cake and repeat. Crumb coat the cake with the buttercream and chill for 15 minutes. Reserve about 1 cup of the buttercream, then fully frost the cake.

To Decorate
Tint the remaining frosting various shades of pink, purple, and orange.*

Using a scriber needle tool, toothpick, or other thin fondant sculpting tool carve flower stems and foliage by gently dragging the tip up the sides of the frosted cake.** Fill piping bags fitted with various star and petal tips with the tinted frosting. Pipe petal and flowers at the top of the engraved stems. Add green leaves to the stems. Finish by trimming some of the flowers with edible gold paint or splattering paint over the cake, if desired.

*I made a small batch of plain American Buttercream to tint green for the leaves.

**If the buttercream is pulling, try heating up your tools with warm water.