This gorgeous pink cake is inspired by the coquette aesthetic — basically pink, bows, and lace. I originally made this cake with the Barbie movie in mind, and it was perfect. This recipe features a marbled vanilla cake, raspberry filling, and cream cheese frosting.
Why is this recipe healthy?
While I could go on about the health benefits of raspberries (fiber, vitamins, antioxidants), I think it’s far more important to note another aspect of health: mental. When I was suffering from an eating disorder, cake was one of the scariest foods in the world, especially a buttery, dense vanilla cake slathered in cream cheese frosting. However, there’s a reason why we don’t eat cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day — cake is meant to be special. It is meant to be celebrated and enjoyed because truly, how harmful can butter, eggs, sugar, and flour be? Rather than calculate the calories in your slice, savor every bite. And if you’ve made it this far, I’m proud of you. <3
Coquette Cake
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake
- 3/4 cup butter, softened 156 g
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar 144 g
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract 14 g
- 1 cup buttermilk 213 g
- 2 1/4 cup flour 280 g
- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder 9 g
- 1/2 tsp salt 3 g
- 1 tsp pink food coloring
Raspberry Filling
- 1 pint raspberries
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar 26 g
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/4 cup butter, softened 56 g
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened 113 g
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 150 g
- 1 tsp vanilla extract 5 g
Assembly
- pink roses
- strawberries, diced
- pink food coloring
Instructions
Vanilla Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350º F. Prepare an 8-inch cake pan.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the vanilla extract and beat the mixture until it is smooth and well combined.
- Mix in the dry ingredients in multiple portions, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat the mixture until it is smooth.
- Pour half of the batter into a separate mixing bowl and stir in the food coloring. Scoop the batter into the prepared cake pan, alternating between pink and white batter. Swirl a skewer through the batter to marble the colors.
- Bake the cake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted. Remove the cake from the oven.
- Let the cake cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Transfer the cake to the refrigerator to chill.
Raspberry Filling
- In a small saucepan, combine the raspberries and sugar. Cook the mixture over medium heat until the raspberries have softened.
- Strain the seeds out of the filling by pressing the jam through a strainer. Let the jam chill in the refrigerator.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat until a smooth frosting forms. Let the frosting chill in the refrigerator.
Assembly
- Slice the vanilla cake in half horizontally to obtain two cake layers. Place one layer on a cake stand.
- Pipe a ring of cream cheese frosting around the border of the cake. Pour all of the raspberry filling into the center of the cake. Place the second cake layer on top.
- Cover the outside of the cake with cream cheese frosting. Color some of the cream cheese frosting pink and pipe a shell border around the top and bottom of the cake.
- Use roses and/or strawberries to decorate the cake. Chill the cake until ready to serve.
Notes
- This recipe also works for a 6-inch cake, which is what I made in the photo. Simply use a 6-inch cake pan instead and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
- To get that glossy shine on the strawberries, I coated them with some extra raspberry filling.
