Sometimes deciding on a flavor is hard, but dessert should be easy! So have a slice of this neapolitan cake and led all the day’s stress float away. I made a neapolitan cake a few years ago and it was totally different, click here to check it out. This time around I wanted to go a bit more traditional, so I whipped up a good old American buttercream divided it in three batches and flavored them with vanilla, strawberry reduction, and chocolate. The cake layers are based on my favorite vanilla batter but are again divided and flavored with vanilla strawberry and chocolate.
Now I will admit to going a bit crazy with the decoration. This is called a petal cake and technically it’s really easy and forgiving but it takes TIME; even if you’re going at MAX speed like I was. But it was worth it (at least to me). I love the tricolored spiral effect and it just looks pretty. Also I should mention that this design is buttercream heavy. Soooo if you like your cakes with less frosting, skip this decoration scheme! The cake actually looked nice with a tricolor crumb coat as you can see in the video but sometimes more is more than more ?
If you’ve tried this cake out then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
A Few Pointers
- I used strawberry jam but you can make a fresh fruit reduction if you prefer.
- You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set on the shop page or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
- The layers all bake for different times. Chocolate was the fastest, followed by vanilla, with strawberry taking about ten minutes longer. Keep an eye out and make sure the centers are set before removing from the oven.
How to make Neapolitan Cake
- Add hulled strawberries and lemon juice to a saucepan over medium heat. After the mixture heats up for a few minutes, mash the strawberries then allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. Strain mixture into a bowl. Cover and chill for another 10-15 minutes. Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Mix the wet ingredients together in a medium bowl.
- Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined. Divide the mixture into 3 bowls. Add the cocoa powder to one batch and mix. Add the 3/4 of the strawberry reduction to the second batch and mix. Transfer the three batters into three 6″ cake pans, which have been buttered and floured. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until the centers are springy to the touch. Let the strawberry layer bake 5-8 minutes longer. Test with a toothpick.
- Whip the butter for about 5 minutes using a paddle attachment (stand-up mixer). Beat in the confectioner’s sugar slowly. Add the cream and vanilla. Beat until you have an even, fluffy consistency. Dive buttercream into 3 parts. Transfer one vanilla batch to a piping bag and snip off the tip. For the Strawberry Buttercream, Add the rest of the strawberry mixture to a buttercream batch. Add in a few drops of pink food coloring if you want the color to be more vibrant. Mix together until desired consistency. Transfer to a piping bag and snip off the tip.
- For the Chocolate Buttercream, Mix cocoa into one batch of buttercream. Transfer to a piping bag and snip off the tip.
- Pipe alternating circles between each layer with each buttercream bag. Add layers.
- Pipe and smooth out a crumb coat on the outside of the cake.
- Smooth with an uneven spatula and bench scraper.
- Pipe out petals around the entire cake. Stay consistent with the size of each petal.
Neapolitan Cake
A delicious chocolate, strawberry and vanilla cake.
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 10
Calories 300kcal
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour 213g
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200g
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda heaping
- 1 teaspoon baking powder heaping
- 3/4 cup butter 176g, unsalted, room temperature
- 3 egg whites
- 1/2 cup sour cream room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk room temperature
- 2 tablespoons cocoa
- 6 ounces strawberries sliced, reduced and strained
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
For the Buttercreams:
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 3 lb confectioners sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter 225g, room temperature
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons strained strawberry preserves
- Pink food coloring
- 1 splash whole milk
Instructions
For the Strawberry Reduction:
- Add hulled strawberries and lemon juice to a saucepan over medium heat.
- After the mixture heats up for a few minutes, mash the strawberries then allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Strain mixture into a bowl. Cover and chill for another 10-15 minutes.
For the Cake:
- Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Mix the wet ingredients together in a medium bowl.
- Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined.
- Divide the mixture into 3 bowls.
- Add the cocoa powder to one batch and mix.
- Add the 3/4 of the strawberry reduction to the second batch and mix.
- Transfer the three batters into three 6″ cake pans, which have been buttered and floured.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until the centers are springy to the touch. Let the strawberry layer bake 5-8 minutes longer. Test with a toothpick.
For the Buttercreams:
- Whip the butter for about 5 minutes using a paddle attachment (stand-up mixer).
- Beat in the confectioner’s sugar slowly.
- Add the cream and vanilla. Beat until you have an even, fluffy consistency.
- Dive buttercream into 3 parts.
- Transfer one vanilla batch to a piping bag and snip off the tip.
- For the Chocolate Buttercream:
- Mix cocoa into one batch of buttercream.
- Transfer to a piping bag and snip off the tip.
- For the Strawberry Buttercream:
- Add the rest of the strawberry mixture to a buttercream batch.
- Add in a few drops of pink food coloring if you want the color to be more vibrant.
- Mix together until desired consistency.
- Transfer to a piping bag and snip off the tip.
For the Assembly:
- Pipe alternating circles between each layer with each buttercream bag.
- Add layers
- Pipe and smooth out a crumb coat on the outside of the cake with an uneven spatula.
- Pipe out petals around the entire cake. Stay consistent with the size of each petal.
Video
Notes
The cake layers will all bake for different times, I'll point out that my strawberry layer needed almost 10 minutes longer than the vanilla so keep a close eye out and make sure the centers are set before removing from oven. For the strawberry buttercream, you could add more preserve if you’d like or even use the liquid from defrosted frozen strawberries. If you’re doing a petal design with a crumb coat, it requires A LOT of buttercream. If you're doing a simpler design, you can halve the buttercream.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 300kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 155mg | Potassium: 120mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 35g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 0.4mg
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You cakes look amazing! I have a question about the flour you use. Why all purpose over cake flour? If you were to use cake flour or pastry flour do you think the same results would happen? I love your cake and thanks for posting the recipe!!
Amy,
I use all-purpose flour because I can never find cake flour at the store! You can totally use cake flour though!
John
Thank you!!
Hello. Wouldn’t using cake flour alter the structure of the cake since cake flour is lighter than AP flour?
Btw the cake looks amazing ?
Sanaya Ali,
You can absolutely use cake flour for this recipe!
John
Looks delicious and stunning! You mentioned a petal cake is easy so I am going to give it a try. Do you use a tip for the “petals”? Thank you.
Christin,
Use a large round tip to pipe the petals! Hope you enjoy!
John
Thank you! Very helpful tip 😉
John,
how much butter in grams, thank you.
Lulia,
170 grams of butter!
John
This cake was beautiful! I’m so happy I made it for my daughter’s 15th birthday!
Love this! Looks great!
hello , my country doesn’t sell sour cream. can i omit it or replace it?
your cake look absolutely stunning and yummy btw 🙂
Thanks so much! You can use yogurt instead!
thank you for your reply.also a request.can you also listed the ingredients in metric [grams]? i know it will take time. but I’ve tried 4 different website which convert cups to grams and they’re all different.one said 1/2 cup of AP flour is 85 grams the other is 55 grams.so its kind of confusing.
Yea I made this yesterday and that’s exactly why I did, I replaced the sour cream with yogurt and it came our perfect, soft and delicious. Thanks so much John. I am a big fan .
Hi! I would love to try your recipe, but I would be making it for a larger group. Do you perhaps have the recipe for an 8 or 9-inch round cake?
Thanks!
Hi. This recipe looks delicious and I would love to try it. Problem is, I would need at least an 8 or 9-inch round cake to feed the crowd that I’d be serving it to. Do you happen to have recipe adjustments for that size?
Thanks!
Rachel,
Double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple for 9-inch! Use any extra for cupcakes! I hope you love this cake!
John
Okay, perfect. Thank you! And I’m assuming, double or triple the cook time?
What tip did you use to make the petals
Carol,
I used a large round tip, but you can snip off the tip of a piping bag too!
John
Hi John, is it possible to use stabilised whipped cream with mascarpone cheese instead of using buttercream for this cake? I am slightly worried about the amount of sugar as it is going to be for my little boy’s birthday. I am thinking that I can reduce the amount of sugar if I use cream?
This cake is as delicious as it is beautiful! I made a few modifications that I was pleased with. For the strawberry reduction, I used 16 oz of strawberries, 1.5 tbsp lemon juice, and 1/4 cup sugar, and I let it simmer for almost 45 minutes until it was almost a paste. The result is a super-concentrated strawberry flavor. I used 2 tablespoons of this paste in the cake and 2 in the frosting. For the cake, I added 1 teaspoon of salt to the dry ingredients. The only thing I’m not a fan of is this frosting recipe – I used 2.5 pounds of sugar instead of 3, but it was still tooth-achingly sweet. I had to put more butter in the frosting to cut the sweetness, I had to add salt, and I added lemon juice to the vanilla as shown in the video (but not written down here). These changes helped, but next time I’d use way less confectioner’s sugar and also less chocolate powder in the recipe. The decorating is so much fun! I can’t wait to make another petal cake. Thanks John!!