Chocolate Raspberry Cake

This chocolate raspberry cake is my favorite chocolate cake, it is insanely moist and so chocolatey. The filling is a combination of a layer of chocolate ganache and homemade raspberry filling. The ganache gives a little fudgy factor and the raspberry adds a little tart to the sweet.

The frosting is made with loads of melted chocolate, making it nice and fudgy and giving it the best flavor and texture. Make sure to grease your pans well with butter. This allows the cakes to remove from the pan easily. Also, be sure to allow the cake to completely cool before frosting and stacking the layers.

Ingredients;

Chocolate Cake:

• 1 3/4 cup Flour
• 1 3/4 cup Sugar
• 3/4 cup Cocoa high quality
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup Oil such as Canola
• 2 Eggs
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 cup Hot Water

Raspberry Cream Filling:

• 1 – 8- ounce pkg. Cream Cheese softened
• 1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 12 ounces Fresh Raspberries reserve 6 ounces for the top of the cake
• 1/4 cup Seedless Raspberry Jam optional

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

• 1 cup Butter softened
• 3/4 cup Cocoa
• 3 cups Powdered Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Cream Half n Half or Milk
• 2 teaspoons Light Karo Syrup optional for shine

Instructions;

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. If you have a flour sifter, sift all dry ingredients.
3. In mixing bowl, beat oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla for 1 minute. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until combined.
4. Pour in hot water and mix together. The batter will be liquidy but that’s a good thing — it will create a moist cake.
5. Spray two or three 8 or 9-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray. You can use three 8 inch cake pans for this recipe.
6. Pour batter evenly into each pan. Bake at 22-27 minutes. Place toothpick or cake tester in the center of the cake to check if it comes out clean.
7. Let cool before frosting.
   To make Raspberry Cream Filling:
8. In a large mixing bowl, whip cream cheese for 2 minutes, until fluffy, scraping down the sides of
   the bowl.
9. Add powdered sugar and beat for 2 more minutes. Add heavy cream and beat until soft peaks form. It needs to be thick enough that it will hold its shape once on the cake layers.
   To make Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
10. In mixing bowl, cream together Butter, Cocoa, Powdered Sugar, and Cream until light and fluffy. You may want to add more cream or milk depending on consistency.
    To assemble cake:
11. Once the cake has cooled and has been removed from pans, spread cream filling over each cake layer (I used three 8-inch pans). Place raspberries over cream layer.
12. Frost with chocolate buttercream frosting. Top with fresh raspberries in center of the cake. May dust with powdered sugar.