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A slice of Italian Spumoni Cake on a black serving plate.
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Italian Spumoni Cake

This exquisite Italian Spumoni Cake showcases a delicious trio of strawberry, chocolate and pistachio layered cake. It is crowned with elegantly swirled buttercream and topped with macaron cookies, creating a visibly stunning dessert.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Italian cake, Italian spumoni cake
Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Servings 12
Author Marisa

Equipment

  • 3 9-inch cake pans
  • Electric Mixer
  • 1 Piping bag
  • 1 piping tip (1M)

Ingredients

FOR THE PISTACHIO PASTE

  • 2 cups roasted pistachios
  • 2 tablespoons of honey
  • 1/4 cup water

FOR THE CAKE

  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 3/4 cups cake flour
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour divided
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt I used fine sea salt
  • 240 grams cup whole milk 1 cup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup strawberry or cherry jam divided
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup boiling water
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

FOR THE VANILLA BUTTERCREAM

  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter softened
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt I used fine sea salt
  • 9 cups confectioner's sugar powdered sugar
  • 6 tablespoons whole milk

FOR DECORATING THE TOP OF THE CAKE

  • 1/3 cup crushed pistachios
  • 8 French Macaron cookies (variety of strawberry, chocolate and pistachio)

Instructions

PISTACHIO PASTE

  • Grind the pistachios as fine as you can in a food processor or better yet a spice grinder if you have one.
  • Stir together the ground pistachios and honey in a small bowl.
  • Stir in 1/4 cup of water, one tablespoon at a time, until the paste has the consistency of peanut butter. Cover and set aside.
  • Pistachio paste can be made ahead and stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to one week.

FOR THE CAKE

  • Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round cake pans.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together at medium speed until fluffy. (About three minutes.)
  • Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.
  • In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together the cake flour, 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
  • With your mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk while starting with the flour mixture and ending with the flour mixture.
  • Beat just until combined between each addition.
  • Beat in the vanilla extract.
  • Divide the batter evenly among 3 separate bowls.
  • In the first bowl, fold in a 1/2 cup of well-stirred strawberry preserves and the remaining 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour.
  • Combine the cocoa, 1/4 cup of boiling water and baking soda in a small bowl.
  • Fold the cocoa mixture into the second bowl of cake batter.
  • In the third bowl of cake batter, fold in a 1/2 cup of pistachio paste.
  • Spoon the cake batters into the prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Don't overbake.
  • Test to see if its done by inserting a wooden skewer in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean then the cakes are ready.
  • Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  • Make the vanilla buttercream when you're ready to assemble the layer cake.

VANILLA BUTTERCREAM

  • Place the butter in a large bowl and beat at medium speed until creamy.
  • Beat in the vanilla and the salt.
  • Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the confectioners' sugar.
  • Increase the speed to medium and continue beating until smooth.
  • Beat in the milk, one tablespoon at a time, until the buttercream frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.
  • Fill a piping bag with the buttercream. Follow the directions below to assemble and frost the layer cake. (I used the 1M star tip inserted in a piping bag)

ASSEMBLING THE CAKE LAYERS

  • Place the strawberry cake layer onto your serving platter and pipe a ring of vanilla buttercream around the inside edge of the strawberry cake layer, creating a border. (see above on how to make the vanilla buttercream)
  • Spread the remaining 1/2 cup strawberry preserves over the strawberry cake layer while keeping within the borders.
  • Carefully place the chocolate cake layer over the strawberry layer and pipe a ring of vanilla buttercream around the inside edge, creating a border.
  • In a small bowl, stir 1/2 cup of the vanilla buttercream with the remaining pistachio paste and spread this over the chocolate layered cake while staying within the border.
  • Carefully place the pistachio cake layer over the chocolate cake layer.
  • Spread the remaining vanilla buttercream over the top and sides of the 3 layered cake. (I used a cake scrapper to smooth out the frosting and to create the naked cake look)
  • Use a 1M tip to pipe swirls of frosting on top of the cake and fill the gaps with strawberry, chocolate and pistachio macaron cookies.
  • Sprinkle with crushed pistachios.
  • Slice, serve and enjoy!

Notes

The recipe is adapted from Bake From Scratch Magazine. The only changes I made were in the styling of the cake.
I frosted the cake with a naked look appearance and crowned the cake with swirls of buttercream. I also filled the gaps between the piped swirls with strawberry, chocolate and pistachio macarons.
I also substituted freeze-dried strawberries for crushed pistachios.