White Chocolate Raspberry Cake (x Pure Leaf Tea)

Happy Christmas Eve! What are you doing tonight and tomorrow? Low-key celebrations? Going all out? I think I am going to do some low-key Christmas baking, drink some hot cocoa, and listen to the She & Him Christmas albums on repeat.

I am pretty last-minute person when it comes to planning what to bring to holiday potlucks. I guess my excuse has always been ‘If I were to bake something, I can’t make it too early in advance because no one wants to eat a stale cake.’ That’s cool right? Well if you are like me and haven’t decided what to make and want to bring something impressive – I got you covered. You’re welcome. This Raspberry White Chocolate cake comes together so easily and you can decorate it any way you like to make it look more festive. Perhaps some sprigs of sugared rosemary along the top and the base of the cake? You can also dust some icing sugar on the fresh berries to make it look like snow. Mhmmmmm.

This cake is made of the fluffiest white cake layers (from the use of egg whites!) with hints of Pure Leaf Raspberry iced tea sandwiching a silky-smooth white chocolate frosting. There are also layers of raspberry jam in the cake to add a fresh pop to the dreamy cake and frosting layers. Pure Leaf kindly shared this recipe for me to recreate this holiday season. When they shared the recipe with me, it was a recipe for two-dozen cupcakes. I decided to forgo the cupcake route and turn it into something I love creating – a layered cake! To me, putting together a layered cake requires the same amount of effort (or even less!) as making and frosting cupcakes. Maybe I just don’t really like icing individual cupcakes as much as I like frosting a whole cake. Frosting a cake seems more forgiving – I don’t need to make the icing look uniform across many cupcakes and I get a larger surface area to work with in terms of decorations. If you are more of a cupcake person, this recipe works just as well for them. This recipe makes 24 cupcakes or a four layer 6-inch cake.

Thank you Pure Leaf for collaborating with me on this post and supporting Constellation Inspiration! 

Raspberry White Chocolate Cake

Yields: 24 cupcakes or four layer 6-inch cake

Iced Tea Cake

3 1/2 cups flour

3 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 egg whites

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup PURE LEAF Raspberry Iced Tea

1/2 cup raspberry jam (for cupcakes)

White Chocolate Frosting

½ cup butter, room temperature

2½ cups icing sugar

6 oz. white chocolate, melted

2 tablespoons whole milk

Raspberry jam

Chocolate curls, to garnish

Iced Tea Cake

For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners and coat lightly with non-stick cooking spray. If making a layered cake, grease four cake pans.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg whites and full egg one at a time, until well combined. Mix in vanilla extract. 

On low speed, alternate adding flour mixture with the milk and raspberry iced tea, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix just until combined.

For cupcakes: Fill cupcake pans halfway with cupcake batter. Place 1 teaspoon of raspberry jam in the middle of the batter and top each cupcake with more batter, filling tin ¾ full. Bake 20-22 minutes, until slightly golden and cooked through. Cool completely before frosting. 

For layered cake: Evenly distribute batter among the four cake pans. Bake for 26 – 28 minutes.

White Chocolate Frosting

Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and icing sugar on low speed until well combined. 

Add melted white chocolate and milk, mixing until smooth and desired spreading consistency. 

To Assemble

For cupcakes: Frost cooled cupcakes and drizzle seedless raspberry jam over the frosting, topping with white chocolate curls.

For layered cake: Place one cake layer down on cake stand/plate. Top with frosting and then spread a thin layer of raspberry jam on top of the frosting. Place second cake layer on top and repeat.

Frost the tops and sides of cake. Smooth out frosting with offset spatula or bench scraper. 

Garnish with fresh raspberries, chocolate curls, and flowers of choice.

Whatever it is you might be doing/baking this Christmas, I hope you have a lovely holiday spent with loved ones. Happy Holidays!