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Hi Bold Bakers!
You know what’s better than a cake? A birthday cake for Bigger Bolder Baking’s 4th birthday! The thing I look forward to the most on my birthday is celebrating with my friends and family by indulging in a slice of homemade cake. If I’m honest, dessert is always the best part of any bash. That is why I decided to rethink the classic birthday cake and create my own version of the ultimate celebration dessert – a 3-Layer Neapolitan Cake!
Some people say their favorite flavor is chocolate while others say vanilla… and let’s not forget about the strawberry fans. When you put all 3 of these flavors together, you get the holy trinity known as Neapolitan. Inspired by my favorite Neapolitan Ice Cream recipe, this 3 Layer Neapolitan Cake is the perfect combination of decadence. From the inside out, with the cakes themselves and topped with the frosting, this cake has got all of your favorites wrapped into one. I love this departure from the same old Funfetti cake. This cake is not only filled with richness and flavor – it’s also one of the most impressive cakes I’ve made to date.
This cake looks gorgeous and making it is as simple as making a classic sponge cake. After the cake batter is mixed up in one bowl, I divide it into 3 equal parts then flavor the batter with cocoa powder, fresh strawberry puree and vanilla extract to give it that Neapolitan twist. All of my GoodCook bakeware comes in handy when making desserts, so I used my GoodCook 9 inch round cake pan for this 3 Layer Neapolitan Cake. From their cooling racks to their cake decorating tools, GoodCook bakeware always helps me get the most professional results.
After I baked off my chocolate, vanilla and strawberry sponge I decorate my cake with… you guessed it, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry frosting! I love how easy this cake is to decorate, especially with using 3 of my favorite Crazy Frosting flavors.
Your friends’ jaws will drop when they see the 3 Layer Neapolitan cake standing tall with a stripe of brown, white and pink frosting. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate any occasion!
Don’t miss my Birthday Cakes Headquarters including my NEW Chocolate & Peanut Butter Birthday Cake!
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Watch The Recipe Video!
3 Layer Neapolitan Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups (12oz/360g) butter , at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (12oz/360g) sugar
- 6 large eggs , at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (12oz/360g) self raising flour
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 cup (21/2oz/75g) strawberries , pureed and strained
- 1/4 cup (10z/30g) cocoa powder
Frosting:
- 1 batch crazy frosting , vanilla
- 1/2 cup (5oz/150g) strawberry puree
- 1/4 cup (1oz/30g) cocoa powder
Instructions
- First prepare your strawberry puree by blending 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen strawberries in a food processor. Transfer puree to a strainer and sieve to remove the seeds then aside.
- Next make your sponge cake batter: Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C), butter and line the base of 3 (9 inch) GoodCook cake tins.
- Using an electric whisk or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Next add in the eggs in one at a time and whisk, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add in the vanilla extract and salt and continue mixing.
- Turn the machine down low and add in the self raising flour and milk, and mix until just combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between 3 bowls. Flavor one with the strawberry puree, and one with the cocoa powder and leave the other as is. Once the additional flavorings are fully incorporated pour each flavor into one of the lined cake tins.
- Bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean.
- Once cooled remove the cakes from their tins and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Once the cakes has completely cooled transfer one layer to a cake stand or serving plate. Frost the first layer with the corresponding frosting flavor then place the next layer on top and repeat with its corresponding flavor of frosting until all 3 layers are complete.
- Next using an offset spatula take 1/4 of the vanilla crazy frosting and frost the outside of the cake lightly to create the crumb layer.
- Next take the remaining crazy frosting and divide into 3. Flavor one with the strawberry puree, one with cocoa powder and leave one as is.
- Fill 3 piping bags fitted with a round tip or no tip at all.
- Using the first flavor of frosting frost the bottom 1/3 of the cake with 1 flavor of frosting. Using a method called pulled dot, dot the butter cream and pull with a spatula. *I strongly recommend you watch my video above to learn this technique!
- Using this method frost the remaining 2/3 of the cake until the whole thing is complete.
- This cake can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.
My 13 year old daughter made this cake with the crazy frosting this past week for our local county fair! She won Reserved Grand Champion Cake for ages 13 – 20! She was so excited and it looked so nice. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Hi Ms. Gemma
im your avid fan here in Hong Kong.i baked this cake yesterday here in our church for our Pastor’s birthday and they loved it.
Thank you for sharing awesome recipes.
Have a good day
Hi there, please can you help, we made the recipe and it was easy to follow however the strawberry layer did not rise at all? any reason for this?
Hi Gemma! I made this recipe today, as it is my daughter’s birthday tomorrow. Unfortunately, after I added the strawberry puree and mixed it with 1/3 of the frosting, it became too runny. I think this is because instead of changing the quantity of strawberry puree (1/2 cup) from the crazy frosting recipe like you did with the cocoa powder, it remained 1/2 cup for a third of the frosting. I suggest you modify it so others don’t run into this issue. For the amount of strawberry frosting used in this cake, there should be 2 and 2/3 tablespoons of… Read more »
Hi Gemma I’m from Malaysia I really love your recipe n I tried before it’s really great. My question is can I used oil instead butter.
What can you use instead of milk
Urgent
I have yet to make the recipe, but since is for a birthday party is this recipe for how many people? I need it to be for 30 people and want to make sure that if I need to double it I do it correctly.
Can this be made as just a loaf cake without cream?
If I have to make a pistachio cake should I reduce any qty of flour and add pistachios powder?
what size pans can I use if I half the recipe.