Best Chantilly Cake Recipe – How To Make Chantilly Cake

There are cakes, and then there’s Chantilly cake, a towering layer cake stuffed with fresh berries and blanketed in whipped cream frosting. The impressive dessert marries the delicious simplicity of a classic yellow cake with the berries and cream combo that makes shortcakes shine. What’s even sweeter? The all-American dessert has a charming origin story that started in a grocery store bakery. Make it as a summer dessert to enjoy all season long, or as a birthday cake to really show how much you care. Here’s everything you need to know:

What People Are Saying:
“I made this for my son’s 10th birthday and this is the best cake recipe I’ve ever tasted. The cream with the fresh berries was amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.” – tra9411

How To Make Chantilly Cake

INGREDIENTS

The Cake

• Unsalted Butter: Before starting on the cake, make sure you’ve set your butter out to come to room temperature! This is very important—if your butter is cold, it will not only affect the cake’s final texture, but will be difficult to incorporate with our other ingredients.
• Cake Flour: Cake flour absorbs more moisture, and has a lower amount of protein than other flours. This will create a fluffy, tender cake once baked.
• Baking Powder: This will help the cake rise, creating those tall, fluffy layers.
• Kosher Salt: Kosher salt will balance and enhance all of our flavors.
• Granulated Sugar: This cake is the perfect amount of sweet with 325 g. of sugar. Like with most of our baking recipes, I highly recommend measuring your ingredients so that your cake will turn out perfectly.
• Eggs: Eggs will give our cake structure—make sure they have come to room temperature before incorporating!
• Vanilla & Almond Extract: This pairing of extracts—vanilla and almond—are what gives the cake that extra oomph and flavor.
• Vegetable Oil: Vegetable oil won’t bring any strong flavor in this cake, but will ensure that it is perfectly moist.
• Whole Milk: I recommend using whole milk for the richest, best flavor.

Frosting & Assembly

• Heavy Cream: To make Chantilly cream, we’ll need to first create whipped cream by beating heavy cream with vanilla extract and salt until soft peaks form.
• Vanilla Extract: Chantilly cream is typically flavored with vanilla or liqueur; I’m using vanilla extract here for ease.
• Cream Cheese: The cream cheese mixture stabilizes the frosting and adds a tangy flavor that makes it reminiscent of a cream cheese frosting.
• Mascarpone Cheese: Also used in tiramisu, mascarpone is a soft, spreadable Italian cheese. It’s similar to cream cheese, and will work with our cream cheese to create a creamy, rich frosting.
• Confectioners’ Sugar: Confectioners’ sugar will create a silky-smooth frosting texture; no clumps should form, but if you want to be safe, sift it before using.
• Raspberry Jam, Blueberries & Raspberries: I use raspberry jam, blueberries, and raspberries in this cake, but you can use an assortment of fresh berries.

What is Chantilly Cake?

The cake was originally made by Chaya Conrad, who was working as a bakery manager at Whole Foods in New Orleans. She based the dessert off a cake her grandmother once made, and the dessert took off! Conrad now owns Bywater Bakery, but the cake is still sold at Whole Foods locations all over the country. It’s especially popular in the South and is also a TikTok fan favorite. There is also another Chantilly cake that’s popular in Hawaii, but it’s a chocolate cake with a frosting that’s similar to German chocolate frosting without the coconut.