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Slice of berry chantilly cake on a plate with the full cake in the background, fresh berries all around.
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Berry Chantilly Cake

Soft vanilla and almond cake filled with fresh berries and delicious mascarpone chantilly cream.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Servings: 14 slices

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 1 ¼ cups Whole Milk 300ml (room temperature)
  • ⅓ cup Vegetable Oil 80ml
  • 3 Large Eggs (room temperature)
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
  • 2 ¾ cups Cake Flour 312g
  • 1 ¾ cups Granulated Sugar 350g
  • 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • 2 sticks Unsalted Butter 227g (room temperature)

For the Raspberry Simple Syrup

  • 1 cup Raspberries 130g - fresh or frozen
  • 1 cup Granulated Sugar 200g
  • 1 cup Water 240ml

For the Filling

  • 4 cups Heavy Cream 960ml (cold)
  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar 120g
  • 8 oz Mascarpone Cheese 225g (cold)
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or vanilla bean paste
  • 3 cups Fresh Berries approx 450g - any kind you like - I used strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
Cups - Grams

Instructions

Make the Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C (160° fan-assisted) and line three 8-inch cake pans.
  • Divide the milk into two containers, one with ½ cup of milk (120ml) and one with ¾ cup of milk (180ml).
    Mix the ½ cup of milk with the vegetable oil and set aside.
    Mix the ¾ cup of milk with the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract. Whisk together lightly and set aside.
  • Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of your mixer and turn on low with your paddle attachment.
  • Slowly add the butter, one small chunk at a time, letting it mix for a few seconds in between additions. Once it's all in, it should look kind of like chunky breadcrumbs.
  • Add the milk/oil mixture and slowly turn your mixer up to a medium speed, just so it doesn't splash. Beat for exactly two minutes.
  • Scrape the sides of your bowl to make sure there are no lumps, then turn the mixer back on low.
    Add the milk/egg mixture slowly and mix on low until just combined.
  • Divide the cake batter between the three prepared pans and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the cake is springy and a skewer comes out clean.
  • Take them out of the oven and let them cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before removing and putting them on a wire rack to cool.

Make the Raspberry Simple Syrup

  • Put the water, sugar, and raspberries in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  • Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is no longer cloudy. This should only take a few minutes.
  • Pass the syrup through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl or jar to remove the raspberries - they should have infused their flavor into the syrup already.
  • Let cool until needed or store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Make the Chantilly Cream

  • In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with the powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Make sure you sift your powdered sugar to avoid any lumps.
  • In a stand mixer, or with an electric whisk, whip the cream until firm peaks. This means peaks that still droop slightly at the top and are not quite as solid as stiff peaks. Do not overwhip the cream.
  • Fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture in two batches.

Assemble the Berry Chantilly Cake

  • Cut any domes off the top of your cooled cakes so you have nice, flat layers.
  • Place the first layer onto your cake plate and brush generously with the raspberry simple syrup.
  • Spread a thin layer of mascarpone chantilly cream on top of the soaked cake to give the berries something to stick to.
  • Lay a single layer of sliced berries onto the cake to cover the whole layer.
  • Spread more chantilly cream on top of the berries. I find the easiest way to do this is to pipe the cream from a piping bag so that it doesn't displace the berries, then smooth it out with a spatula.
  • Place the next layer of cake on and repeat the process.
  • Add the last layer of cake on top and soak with raspberry syrup.
  • Spread a layer of chantilly cream all over the top and sides of the cake, then decorate however you like.
  • Top with more fresh berries.

Notes

This recipe soaks the cake layers in raspberry simple syrup to infuse the cake with moisture and berry flavor. Making your own berry simple syrup is easy to do, but if you don't want to do this step, you can spread raspberry jam on the cake instead, or just leave it out entirely. 
Chantilly cream is a sweetened whipped cream made with heavy cream, sugar and vanilla. The berry chantilly cake also mixes mascarpone into the chantilly cream in addition to the classic chantilly cream recipe.