Naked Marionberry Cake

A homemade Marionberry Cake filled with marionberry jam and frosted with marionberry buttercream! This cake is dense and delicious. Everything is made from scratch and is sure to be a summertime treat you will make over and over! Oh, and there is a cocktail recipe at the end!

This Marionberry Cake was a last minute addition to my son's birthday party for the adults. I had some extra pound cake batter from the Batman Cake (recipe HERE) and we had just picked a bunch of fresh marionberries at a local farm. So of course I decided to make a Naked Marionberry Cake (duh!). LOL.

What's a Marionberry? It's a berry that was created at Oregon State with 2 varieties of blueberries, the chehalem and the olallie. They look like blackberries and taste like a black-blue-raspberry, IMO. If you can't find marionberries, you could use raspberries, blackberries, etc.

This post has recipes for fresh marionberry jam and syrup, marionberry buttercream and the pound cake I used. I also put an easy cocktail "recipe" at the end. After all the baking I did, I needed a drink!

Pound Cake Ingredients

¾ cup butter, room temp

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs, room temp

3 ½ cups flour

4 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cup milk, room temp

yellow gel food coloring

*Keep in mind I made this small cake with the left over batter from my Batman Cake, so if you are making a small cake, I would cut this recipe in half.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prepare baking pan(s) with non-stick spray or butter and parchment paper. I used two 6" round pans.

2. In a bowl add flour, baking powder and salt and mix together until combined.

3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar with mixer.

4. Add vanilla and mix in completely.

5. Add eggs one at a time, fully mixing in after each one.

6. Add ⅓ of dry mixture to butter mixture and combine then add ⅓ milk and combine. Repeat until all ingredients are added and mixed in.

7. Add batter to prepared pan(s) and bake for 30 -35 minutes or until toothpick is clean.

Marionberry Jam/Syrup Ingredients

2-3 cups fresh marionberries

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

½ teaspoon cornstarch

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a pan and bring to a boil while stirring and mashing.

2. Boil for about 1 minute and remove from heat to cool.

3. Continue to mash the berries as the mixture cools.

4. Once cool, strain through a mesh strainer to separate the jam from the syrup.

5. Use jam for cake filling and syrup for frosting and cocktail. Syrup will keep for 7-10 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Marionberry Frosting Ingredients

¼ cup unsalted butter, room temp

¾ cup vegetable shortening

1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

4 cups confectioners sugar

3-4 teaspoons water

¼ cup Marionberry syrup (from jam)

*This made quite a bit of frosting and since I made my cake "naked". I would half the recipe next time. If you want a fully frosted cake, leave as it.

Directions

1. Place butter and shortening in mixer and cream together on medium speed.

2. Add in vanilla and salt and continue mixing.

3. Begin to add confectioners sugar one cup at a time, mixing on low speed until combined then med-high speed for a minute or so each time. After each cup addition, add a tablespoon of water.

4. Add marionberry syrup and fully incorporate.