Raspberry Apricot Brioche Cake

Light and fluffy brioche, filled with raspberries, a honey cream filling, and a white peach and apricot compote, this Raspberry Apricot Brioche Cake is perfect for summer.

Can you make this cake be made in advance?

This cake is best served the day it is stacked. Brioche tends to dry out and become stale if it is refrigerated therefore I recommend baking the brioche morning of or the night before and then simply leave it at room temperature until ready to stack. That being said the fillings can all be prepped the day before and stored in the fridge.

How to get a super fluffy, soft, brioche?

To create a brioche soft enough to use as a cake, you want it to include egg, butter, and milk and give it time to get nice and puffy before baking. I also recommend baking a little hotter and shorter than normal which allows the brioche to puff nicely!

You may also like…

• Lemon Raspberry Cake
• Raspberry Apricot Coffee Cake
• Bienenstich

Tips for making a Brioche Cake

• Make sure the egg and butter for the dough are both at room temperature and the salt doesn’t directly touch the yeast.
• The brioche can be made the night before but is best made day of. That being said the fillings can be prepped the day before and stored in the fridge.
• Adding the butter in after the dough comes together may seem counter intuitive but it allows the dough to create a bit of extra strength!
• When making yeasted dough, ensure that you allow your mixer to fully knead the dough, until it forms a smooth ball and the sides of the bowl are cleaned. This will happen twice while kneading the dough, once before the butter is added and once after.
• If the knife or bench scraper is sticking when cutting the dough into wedges, dust the surface of the dough and the blade with a little extra flour.
• Make sure to bake until just barely golden brown on top. All ovens and pans are different so always go based on look with this!
• For the white peach and apricot filling, you could also do 100% apricots or all peaches, use whatever you can find!
• If you don’t have access to frozen raspberries, you can also mash fresh raspberries with a fork to get some of the juices to release.
• If you don’t like the taste of cream cheese, you can simply double up on the mascarpone to replace the cream cheese.

Ingredients

• Lemons: Lemon zest is used in the dough and lemon juice is used in the cream filling of the cake.
• All Purpose Flour: Any all purpose flour will work for this! I have not yet tried any other flours with this recipe.
• Sugar: This recipe uses granulated sugar in the dough and stone fruit compote. There is also a dusting of powdered sugar on top of the cake.
• Yeast: In this recipe, instant yeast is used. If you are using active dry, simply whisk it in with the warm milk and let it sit for 10 minutes first and then add in the remaining ingredients.
• Salt: Fine sea salt is used to balance out the sweetness and enhance the flavors of the dough and the cream filling.
• Milk: The dough use milk as the liquid in the dough. However, it will also work with non-dairy milks such as almond milk.
• Eggs: I use standard large eggs from the store. There is one whole egg in the dough.
• Butter: Butter is used in the dough and brushed on top just after baking to create a shine and keep the surface of the dough soft. I recommend Kerrygold salted butter for this.
• Vanilla: A little vanilla extract is used in the dough. Vanilla bean paste for the cream filling but just vanilla extract will work too!
• Apricots & White Peaches: Apricots and white peaches make a delicious compote but use whatever ripe stone fruit you can find! If you choose to use peaches just know it will give this cake a deeper and less tart flavor.
• Raspberries: Defrosted frozen raspberries make for the perfect base soak layer for the brioche but mashed fresh raspberries will work too!
• Cream Cheese: This recipe uses cream cheese as part of the cream filling.
• Mascarpone: Mascarpone and cream cheese are used to thicken and stabilize the cream filling.
• Heavy Cream: Heavy cream is brushed over the dough before baking and used for the cream filling.

How to make a Raspberry Apricot Brioche Cake

Lemon Brioche

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, add in the sugar and the zest of a lemon. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers until combined and fragrant.
• Add in the flour and yeast, and whisk to combine.
• Sprinkle in the salt. Then add in the egg, warm milk, and vanilla.
• Use a dough hook to knead everything together on medium low speed for 15 minutes until the dough has smooth edges and the bowl is clean.
• Add half of the butter in and knead again until incorporated (about 5 minutes). Add in the second half of the butter and knead once more until smooth. The dough should pass the window pane test *see notes section for more info.
• Shape the dough into a ball and place it back in the mixing bowl. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and set somewhere warm to double in size (30-45 minutes).
• Preheat the oven to 375 F and place a rack just below the center in the oven.

Shape and bake the brioche

• Once the dough is puffy, knock the air out and pat it into a round disk. Working in a clockwise circle, bring the edges of the dough into the center to create a round ball. Do not use any extra flour when doing this.
• Flip the dough ball over so the seam is on the counter top. Use the outer edges of your hands to cup around the base of the ball. Gently pull and turn the ball of dough towards yourself, keeping the seam side on the counter, until the surface of the dough is taught.
• Flour your work surface. Place the dough ball onto the floured surface and cover with the mixing bowl upside down. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
• After the 10 minutes have passed, use your fingers or a rolling pin to press the dough into a 8″ diameter circle. Use a sharp knife or bench scraper to cut the disk into 8 or 12 wedges depending on how many slices you want to have. 1 wedge = 1 slice.
• Transfer the wedges into a 9″ springform pan or cast iron dutch oven. A standard height cake pan won’t be tall enough for the dough. If using a dutch oven or not a non stick pan I recommend lining the pan with a piece of parchment paper.
• Cover the dough in the pan and let it rise for 20-30 minutes until puffy. It should not fully double in size but it should have a bit of a jiggle.
• Once the dough is puffy and the oven is hot, brush the surface of each wedge with a total of 2 tablespoons of heavy cream.
• Bake the brioche for 12 minutes. Then rotate 180 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes until just barely golden brown.
• Once baked, remove the pan from the oven. Brush the surface of the baked brioche with a total of 2 tablespoons of butter. Leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes.
• Remove the cake from the pan and allow it to cool completely.

White Peach & Apricot Compote

• Rinse and pit all of the peaches and apricots. Cut the fruit into 1/2 chunks, don’t peel the fruit because it holds a lot of the flavor!
• Add the fruit into a medium/large heavy bottomed pot along with the sugar and water.
• Cover and place over medium low heat until the juices start to release and fruit breaks down.
• After 5-10 minutes, remove the lid, the fruit should be bubbling. Continue to cook until reduced and thick. stir the compote every few minutes to prevent it from burning.
• Once thickened, remove the pot from the heat and leave to cool at room temperature. Then, transfer to a bowl and store it in the fridge until ready to use.

Lemon Honey Cream Filling

• In a medium mixing bowl add in the cream cheese, salt, vanilla, and mascarpone. Beat until light and fluffy.
• Pour in the heavy cream, honey, and lemon juice, start on low speed until mostly mixed, then increase the speed and mix until smooth and stiff. Optionally sift in powdered sugar to sweeten more if needed.
• Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Raspberries

• Microwave the frozen raspberries in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring gently in between until just defrosted.
• The raspberries shouldn’t boil, there should still be some pieces in tact. If they get hot, make sure to let them cool before stacking the cake.

Assemble

• Once all of the elements have cooled, it’s time to assemble. I recommend doing this about 15-20 minutes before you plan to serve.
• Use a serrated knife to cut the top off of the brioche about 1/4″-1/2″ below the top edge. So you don’t want to cut right where the edge of each wedge reaches the edge of the cake but rather just below. It’s ok if the wedges of the top layer don’t stay connected to one another.
• Remove the top layer. Spoon the defrosted raspberries and their juices over the bottom layer of brioche.
• Use a scoop or large spoon to scoop the cream filling over top of the raspberries in a thick layer. If needed smooth the cream out into a flat layer almost all the way to the edge of the brioche, feel free to leave a little border as it will squish out slightly.
• Top the cream with the white peach and apricot compote – it’s ok if a little starts to run over the edge of the cream.
• Place the top wedge layer of brioche back over the compote. Dust the top with powdered sugar. Optionally pile fresh raspberries into the center of the cake and dust with more powdered sugar.
• Serve within an hour by slicing in between each wedge. I recommend laying the slices on their side on each plate to prevent everything from squishing out.

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