A simple recipe for raspberry cake filling. Today’s recipe is easy and can be made on the stovetop with fresh or frozen raspberries.
A quick and easy recipe to start off the week.
I wasn’t originally going to make a standalone post for raspberry cake filling, I actually developed it as part of Thursday’s recipe. But enough people have asked me for cake fillings that I thought it might make the most sense to give this recipe its own post, and here we are.
Sweet, tart, and simple, you can prepare your own filling in 15 minutes (just keep in mind you’ll need about an hour to let it cool completely). This recipe is great for filling a standard 2-layer cake or 12 of your favorite cupcakes.
What You Need
- Raspberries. Fresh or frozen will work. I generally tend to prefer frozen when making raspberry cake filling because they’re never out of season and they’re often less expensive.
- Sugar. Necessary to properly thicken the filling and to keep it from being too tart. Regular granulated or caster sugar will work.
- Corn Starch. Also key for a filling that’s not too runny.
- Water. Just a splash helps everything to combine nicely and keeps the berries from burning on the bottom of your pan before they have a chance to release their juices.
- Lemon juice. Optional, but I like it for the best flavor. Fresh is great, but bottled will work just fine.
Quick Tips:
- Whisk together your sugar and cornstarch first, before adding any other ingredients. Whisk well. This will prevent any cornstarch clumps in your raspberry cake filling.
- Keep stovetop heat on medium. If you start out with heat that’s too high, the berries will burn and you’ll have a thick paste OR the sugar won’t melt properly and your filling won’t achieve the proper consistency.
- Why no vanilla? I don’t like to add vanilla extract to my filling because I find it takes away from the tart, fresh taste of the raspberries and gives the whole thing a sort of… candied? flavor. If you’re desperate to add vanilla, a small splash (¼ teaspoon) after cooking the mixture would be my most generous recommendation.
How to Store
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. If the filling is too firm to easily spread when you go to use it, you can briefly (5 seconds at a time) stir it until the consistency is spreadable. Don’t heat it so much that it’s runny!
How to Use For Filling a Cake
This recipe will fill a standard 2 layer 8″ or 9″ round cake. It can be doubled or even tripled for larger cakes or cakes with more layers, though sometimes I find I need to add a bit more water when cooking more berries.
Always allow your cake and your filling to cool completely before assembling. I strongly recommend using a sturdy frosting dam around the border of your first layer of cake (Swiss meringue buttercream, buttercream frosting, and my cream cheese frosting are all great sturdy decorating options). This will keep your cake from sliding and will keep the filling from oozing out the sides.
The photo below is actually a photo from my strawberry cake but the same exact technique applies and I thought the visual might be helpful.
I’ll be using today’s recipe to make petit fours for Thursday’s post, so if you want to whip up a batch today you can store it in the refrigerator until then! Hint: you’ll also need a batch of my lemon curd!
How to Use For Cupcakes:
My preferred method for filling cupcakes with raspberry cake filling is to carve a 1″ wide, 1″ deep hole into the surface of a completely cooled cupcake. Remove the core you just carved, slice off the bottom saving a ¼″ thick surface. Fill your cupcakes and then replace the reserved surface before piping.
I use this technique in my pinata cupcakes and gender reveal cupcakes (and you can watch me carve the gender reveal cupcakes in the video in the recipe card, it starts around 6:26). The filling I use there is different but the same concept for carving applies.
How Many Cupcakes will this fill?
You can fill 12 cupcakes with this recipe.
What If I Don’t Like Seeds?
Good news for you! You can eliminate some or all of the seeds from your raspberry cake filling. To do so, immediately after cooking the filling on the saucepan, press all of the filling (or only part of the filling, if you don’t mind some seeds) through a fine mesh strainer.
Use a spatula and you will want to repeatedly press, stir, and press again to squeeze as much of that precious juice through the strainer as possible. Keep in mind that if you strain out the seeds you will have much less filling than the recipe indicates, so if you intend to do this I recommend doubling the recipe.
Use in Any Of These Recipes:
- White Cake
- Dark Chocolate Cupcakes (I’d go with a different frosting other than the peanut butter that’s listed, maybe chocolate cream cheese frosting instead!)
- Chocolate Cake
- Vanilla Cake
- Coconut Cake
Be sure to watch the video in the recipe card before beginning, and please leave me a comment if you try the recipe!
Raspberry Cake Filling
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (65 g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 cups (226 g) fresh or frozen raspberries 8oz
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice optional, but recommended for best flavor
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Combine sugar and cornstarch in small saucepan and whisk until combined.⅓ cup (65 g) granulated sugar, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- Add raspberries, water, and lemon juice and stir together until all ingredients are combined.2 cups (226 g) fresh or frozen raspberries, 2 Tablespoons water, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- Turn stovetop heat to medium (Important! don’t increase the heat above this, you want everything to heat slowly so the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens properly) and cook, stirring almost constantly, until berries release their juices and mixture begins to bubble (it usually takes about 7 minutes for my mixture to begin to bubble).
- Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until thickened (this usually takes me about 2 minutes). Remember that the filling will continue to thicken as it cools, you don’t want it to become pasty in the saucepan or it will be too thick after cooling
- Transfer to a heatproof container and allow to cool to room temperature before spreading over cake. If not using immediately, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. If mixture is too thick to spread over cake after refrigerating, briefly heat it in the microwave for several seconds until it is a spreadable consistency.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Teresa Jones
Under the frozen raspberry measurements, it says 2 cups but then says 8 oz (?). One cup is 8 oz, so it would be a total of 16 oz, correct?
Thanks—
Sam Merritt
Hi Teresa! 1 cup of raspberries weighs 4oz. It’s not the same as a cup of water. 🙂
Rosie de Vetter
Absolutely delicious! So tangy and has a gorgeous taste. ☺️ Looking forward to using it on my cakes.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Rosie!
Becky
I absolutely love this recipe!! It’s become my go-to raspberry filing for cupcakes!! My kids love using the left overs for PBJ’s too.
Leslie Casey
Delicious..cried pleaser. Just oerfect.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Leslie! 🙂
Lisa Warner-Pernod
Love
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Lisa! 🙂
Niki Porterfield
hands down the best raspberry filling recipe and love how the measurements were in the instructions
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Niki! 🙂
Eva
I’m making it now! Completely agree, the measurements in the recipe are so helpful. Wish everyone did this!
Kristyn
This was THE BEST raspberry filling! I can’t wait to make it again. Yum!
Nick
The flavor on this is bright and tart. I added a tablespoon of Chambord to the recipe but looking back, i would have subbed the Chambord for half the water in the original recipe. very pleased with the flavor and this will be used as the filling to a double layered chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That sounds great, Nick! Thanks for trying our recipe 😊
Katie
This recipe is delicious! It turned out perfect for your petit fours recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much Katie! 🙂
Julia
I don’t have any cornstarch, and am wondering if it would possibly work to use powdered sugar in place of the sugar and the cornstarch? This looks delicious 🙂
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Julia! Unfortunately, we don’t think the powdered sugar would have quite enough cornstarch to thicken the filling properly. Flour could work, but it could also potentially make it a little bit “gummy”. Cornstarch really is best!
Brenda Corrie
Hi Sam I just made this but it seems to be tart still I put it in the frig But now I don’t know what to do can I still add sugar so how?
Sam
Hi Brenda! It depends on your raspberries as to how tart it will be, but it is designed to be tart. It’s typically paired with a cake and that will temper the tartness. 🙂
Elizabeth C.
I used this for Raspberries and it worked beautifully! But I recently tried it with Strawberries and it didn’t quite turn out as nicely. Could you post a recipe for a strawberry filling?? 🙂
Sam
Hi Elizabeth! I’m glad you enjoyed the raspberry frosting. I’m surprised this didn’t work with strawberries. I assume maybe it was a little too dry? I’ll add a strawberry filling to my list. 🙂
Elizabeth C.
Thank you SO MUCH!!! I’m not really sure why mine didn’t quite turn out. I’m thinking maybe it was too much sugar because it ended up kind of gummy? I also might have cooked it a little too much and evaporated too much of the liquid out. Either way, I’d love another of your perfectly tested recipes! 🙂
Sam
Cooking it too long will cause it to be a bit gummy. 🙁
Lillie
I actually tried it with strawberries and loved it! I didn’t have lemon juice at the time and I think was still the best filling ever. I use it in everything now
Sam
Thank you for the feedback! I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Carla Elliott
Would this be good to put on top of a cheesecake?
Sam
Hi Carla! I would recommend using my raspberry sauce instead. 🙂
Michelle
Could you put this in a cake and frost it then freeze the whole cake until it’s needed??
Sam
Hi Michelle! That should work just fine. 🙂