Berry chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting (eggless)

This berry chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting is made with a moist eggless chocolate cake recipe, topped with a thick cream cheese frosting and fresh berries!

I love layer cakes, and to me, this is the perfect cake: alternating layers of moist chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, then topped with a mountain of berries. The cake layers are chocolaty, and the frosting tastes like cheesecake. Together, they are made even better paired with slightly tart, fresh berries.

The chocolate cake recipe is based on this eggless chocolate cake that is so easy and the batter is mixed in one bowl, just like a cake mix. The cake is made with cocoa powder instead of dark chocolate so that it has a more pronounced, deep chocolate flavour.

Make sure you use Dutch-processed cocoa powder, which has a deeper more pronounced flavour and darker colour than natural cocoa powder, which has a flat taste and a red colour. If you aren't sure about the difference, you can read all about the types of chocolate used in baking.

I baked the cake in three 6-inch cake pans so that it was easier to handle. The three layers bake faster separately than one tall cake that you would split in three equal layers after cooling. 

To bake the cake layers, I split the batter between three 6-inch cake pans. Take the time to prepare the cake pans before baking, by buttering the pans, lining the bottom with parchment, and dusting the sides with flour. This way your cakes will slide right out of the pan, without any resistance.

Trick for thick stable cream cheese frosting

As for the cream cheese frosting (taken from the beautiful book Miette: Recipes from San Francisco's Most Charming Pastry Shop), I cannot stress enough how important it is to start by beating together the butter with the icing sugar first, before adding in the cream cheese after. Otherwise, you will end up with a soupy mess.

This is the secret to making thick cream cheese frosting that's pipeable even though it has less than half the icing sugar of most recipes. This cream cheese frosting also tastes great on a poppy seed cardamom cake with cranberries.

Another option for a thick cream cheese frosting is this white chocolate cream cheese frosting that is sweetened with melted white chocolate instead of icing sugar!

Easy summer cake decorating

In the summer, the easiest way to decorate this cake is by topping it with a mound of fresh berries (local strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries). In the winter months, you can top it with chocolate curls or even slices of orange. And if all else fails, you can always sprinkle liberally with sprinkles!

How to store this cake

Given this berry chocolate cake is made with cream cheese frosting, it's best to store it in the fridge. If you've cut into the cake, just cover the cut edges with pieces of parchment to prevent them from drying out. Place the cake in the fridge until the frosting is firm and cold, then cover the whole thing with aluminum foil. You can store this cake for up to a week, or freeze slices for later.

For a detailed explanation, read about how to store cake.

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Berry chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting

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This berry chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting is made from layers of eggless chocolate cake and topped with berries.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Berry chocolate cake, chocolate cake wiith cream cheese frosting

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Servings 12

Calories 503kcal

Author Janice

Equipment

5 Qt mixer

OXO whisk

Mini offset

Ateco turntable

Ingredients

Eggless chocolate cake

• 185 grams (1½ cups) bleached all-purpose flour
• 7.5 mL (1½ teaspoon) baking soda
• 37 grams (⅓ cup) Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 1.25 mL (¼ teaspoon) Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 15 mL (1 tablespoon) white vinegar
• 5 mL (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
• 250 mL (1 cup) skim milk (fat free)
• 60 mL (¼ cup) canola oil
• 200 grams (1 cup) light brown sugar

Cream cheese frosting

• 218 grams (1¾ cups) icing sugar
• 173 grams (¾ cup) Stirling Creamery unsalted butter room temperature
• 500 grams (1 lb) Philadelphia cream cheese (full fat, regular) this is 2 blocks of Philadelphia cream cheese

Toppings (optional)

• 225 grams (½ lb) fresh strawberries
• 225 grams (½ lb) Fresh raspberries
• 225 grams (½ lb) fresh blueberries

Instructions

For the cake:

• Preheat the oven to 175 ºC (350°F). Prepare a three 6-inch cake pans by brushing the bottom and sides with melted butter and dusting it with cocoa, then lining the bottom with a round of parchment. Set aside.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa into a medium bowl and set it aside.
• Combine the milk, vinegar, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Stir, then let it stand for a few minutes so that the milk curdles and thickens.
• Whisk in the oil and brown sugar.
• Add the wet ingredients to the sifted dry ingredients and stir until combined.
• Pour the batter in the prepared pans and bake until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean (about 30 minutes but keep an eye on it after 25 minutes).

For the frosting

• The order of these steps is very important! First, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the icing sugar and butter until it is smooth.
• Then, when the butter and sugar are nice and smooth, add in the cream cheese, and beat until you get a creamy, fluffy frosting, for at least 2 to 3 minutes, if not more.

To assemble

• Trim the cakes to level them with a large, serrated bread knife.
• Place the bottom layer on a cake turntable (find it on Amazon), and smooth on about ¼ of the frosting. Top with the second layer of cake, frost, and repeat with the third layer. Smooth the last of the frosting on the sides and top of the cake.
• Top the cake with a tall mound of the berries.

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Notes

• I used Stirling Creamery unsalted butter for this recipe
• I used Cacao Barry Cocoa Powder - Extra Brute, which is a very dark cocoa powder
• You can also bake this recipe in one 3-inch deep 6-inch cake pan. It will take 60 minutes to bake and make sure to check if the cake is done baking in the middle before taking it out of the oven or else there's a risk that the cake collapses.

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Nutrition

Calories: 503kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 350mg | Potassium: 298mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 905IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 102mg | Iron: 2mg

I do my best to bake with the finest ingredients. Stirling Creamery, a Canadian company, has provided the butter for this post.