Just in time for your Easter celebrations: Neapolitan Cake! I've wanted to make one of these for a long time, and when I found these little bunny grahams at the store, it sealed the deal! The little bunnies make this perfect for Easter, but this beauty is dessert glory year-round!
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This Neapolitan Cake is a three-layer queen! With the traditional flavors of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla bean, it's a crowd pleaser! Each layer is so flavorful on its own, it's unbeatable when you put them together!
If you enjoy this recipe, you should check out the recipes for my Blueberry Angel Food Cake, Lavender Lemon Cake, and Chocolate Champagne Cake!
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Neapolitan Cake Ingredients
This recipe for Neapolitan Cake is a bit involved, since you have three flavors of both cake and buttercream! That said, it's totally worth the effort! You'll be rewarded with a 3-layer Neapolitan Cake that is the stuff of dreams! Measurements for each of the ingredients are included in the recipe card, below.
Chocolate Cake Ingredients
- Chocolate - For decadent flavor! I used bittersweet (60% cacao) chocolate because that's my jam.
- Dutch Process Cocoa Powder - For chocolatey flavor! Dutch process cocoa is also sometimes called "dark" cocoa. I really like the deep flavor and dark color it lends to this cake! Check the FAQs section or the recipe notes if you'd like to substitute with regular cocoa powder, as you will need to adjust the leavening if you do!
- Hot Coffee - The cake won't taste like coffee, I swear! The freshly-brewed coffee enhances the chocolate flavor, and I highly recommend it! If you would prefer not to, you can use hot water instead.
- Flour - Provides structure and moisture for the cake. I used all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, because I was concerned that the cake flour wouldn't provide quite enough structure for the melted chocolate in the recipe.
- Sugar - For sweetness and keeping the cake soft and moist.
- Baking Soda - Provides leavening for the cake.
- Salt - Helps to balance and enhance the flavor of the cake.
- Vegetable Oil - Provides even more moisture to the cake than butter would, and easier to incorporate into the batter!
- Eggs - to provide structure, additional leavening, and a little richness.
- White Vinegar - The vinegar reacts with the baking soda (think second grade volcano science project), which gives your cake a lighter, fluffier texture. You won't taste the vinegar!
- Vanilla Extract - for flavor.
- Chocolate Extract - For even more flavor! I highly recommend this (sometimes overlooked) extract! It lends an amazing depth of flavor to chocolate baked goods! If you can't find it in your local grocery store, you can find some here. Even better, makes yourself some Homemade Chocolate Extract for next time!
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Strawberry Cake Ingredients
- Strawberries - For fantastic flavor!
- Cake Flour - Provides structure and moisture to the cake. I used cake flour so the resulting cake would be very tender. You can substitute with all-purpose flour, the cake just won't be quite as tender.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda - Provide leavening for the cake.
- Salt - Helps to balance and enhance the flavor of the cake.
- Unsalted Butter - For rise and a light and tender texture to the cake. Unsalted so that you control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Sugar - For sweetness and keeping the cake soft and moist.
- Egg Whites - Provide structure for the cake.
- Sour Cream - I use full-fat sour cream for flavor, moisture, and richness. You could substitute plain yogurt if you'd like.
- Vanilla Extract - for flavor.
- Milk - I use whole milk for moisture and a little richness.
- Pink Food Coloring - For color, of course, and completely optional.
Vanilla Cake Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter - For rise and a light and tender texture to the cake. Unsalted so that you control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Coconut Oil - For the same reasons as the butter, but is white in color so as to keep the cake whiter (less yellow). You want to use the coconut oil when it's solid, but not hard.
- Sugar - For sweetness and keeping the cake soft and moist.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda - Provide leavening for the cake.
- Salt - Helps to balance and enhance the flavor of the cake.
- Egg Whites - Provide structure for the cake.
- Vanilla Bean Paste - For flavor. Because vanilla is the only flavoring in this layer of the cake, I went for paste instead of extract for an extra punch of flavor!
- Cake Flour - Provides structure and moisture to the cake. I used cake flour so the resulting cake would be very tender. You can substitute with all-purpose flour, the cake just won't be quite as tender.
- Buttermilk - For flavor, richness, and moisture. Any cake with buttermilk will be sooo soft and fluffy! (Check out the FAQ section below or the recipe notes for a quick substitution if you don't have any on-hand.)
Neapolitan Buttercream Ingredients
I tried to simplify the process of making three buttercreams by starting with one big batch of vanilla bean buttercream, then flavoring portions of it with strawberry and chocolate. After making the vanilla buttercream, you'll set half of it aside (leaving it flavored only with vanilla). Then split the remaining buttercream into two bowls, flavoring one strawberry and the other chocolate. More detailed instructions are included in the recipe card, below.
I split the buttercreams this way so that I would have more vanilla frosting for the buttercream swirls on top! You could choose to split the flavors into thirds if you'd like an equal amount of each flavor.
- Unsalted Butter - The base of your buttercream. Unsalted that you don't end up with salty buttercream.
- Powdered Sugar - For sweetness, because it dissolves and gives the buttercream a smooth texture.
- Vanilla Bean Paste - For flavor. I find that paste is more flavorful than extract!
- Heavy (Whipping) Cream - To make the buttercream smoother and provide a bit of creaminess.
- Freeze-dried strawberries - For flavor. Ensure that you're using *freeze-dried* strawberries!
- Dutch Process Cocoa Powder - For flavor. You can use regular cocoa powder if that's all you have on-hand, the resulting buttercream will just be lighter in color.
Instructions
Here's how to put together this cake, step-by-step! More detailed instructions are included in the recipe card, below.
Making Chocolate Cake
- Combine chopped chocolate and cocoa powder. Pour hot coffee over the top and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate chocolate mixture for 20 minutes.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- After chilling, remove chocolate mixture from the refrigerator and oil, eggs, vinegar, and extracts. Whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.
Making Strawberry Cake
- Purée the strawberries and transfer the purée to a saucepan. Cook until reduced to about ¼ cup. Cool completely.
- Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg whites and beat until combined. Next add the sour cream and extracts and mix until incorporated.
- Alternate additions of half the dry ingredients, half the milk, the remaining dry ingredients, then the remaining milk, allowing each addition to incorporate before adding the next.
- Add the strawberry reduction and mix just until combined. Add pink food coloring, if desired.
Making Vanilla Cake
- Combine butter, coconut oil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg whites one at a time. Add vanilla bean paste and mix to combine.
- Alternate additions of flour and buttermilk, adding half the flour, then half the buttermilk. Repeat for remaining flour and buttermilk, allowing each addition to incorporate before adding the next.
Making Vanilla Bean Buttercream
- Cream butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla bean paste and cream and mix to combine.
- Half of this frosting will remain vanilla bean flavored, ¼ will become strawberry buttercream, and ¼ will become chocolate buttercream. There will be more vanilla than the other flavors so you have enough to frost the vanilla cake layer and to put vanilla buttercream swirls on top of the cake.
Making Strawberry Buttercream
- In the bowl of a food processor, process the freeze-dried strawberries until they become a powder.
- Place ¼ of the vanilla bean buttercream in a bowl and add the strawberry powder and cream. Mix to combine.
Making Chocolate Buttercream
- Place ¼ of the vanilla bean buttercream in a bowl and add the sifted cocoa powder and cream. Mix to combine.
To Assemble
Frost cooled cake layers with buttercream. I decided to frost each cake layer with its matching flavor of buttercream (chocolate with chocolate, etc.), but you can choose to frost as you desire. If storing in the refrigerator, allow the buttercream to warm a bit before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can substitute dutch process cocoa powder with regular cocoa powder in the cake, but with a slight change in leavening due to the acidity! Add the same amount of cocoa, but add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda (for ¾ teaspoon baking soda total). In the buttercream, you can substitute the cocoa type in the recipe with no changes, but the buttercream will be lighter in color.
If you don't have buttermilk on-hand, you can do a quick substitution with white vinegar or lemon juice and milk (2% milkfat or higher). Just pour 1 ½ teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice into a measuring cup, then pour in the milk to the ½ cup line. Stir, let sit for 5 minutes, and then it's ready for use!
You can make the cakes a day in advance and, wrapped well, leave them out on your counter. Storing cakes in the refrigerator could make them dry out.
You can also make the buttercreams a day in advance, but it's a bit of a hassle. If you choose to make it ahead, store it in the refrigerator, but take it out well in advance so it can come to room temperature and be re-whipped before using. I usually just make the buttercream the same day to avoid these steps.
Okay. So it's a lot of recipes and a lot of dishes to clean but IT'S WORTH IT!! Pro tip: make the cakes in stages/in advance, wrap tightly in plastic, and freeze to assemble the cake later.
Happy Easter to you and yours! I hope you have a super sweet time! <3
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Chocolate cake adapted from Brown Eyed Baker. Strawberry Cake adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction. Vanilla Cake adapted from Bravetart White Mountain Cake.
Neapolitan Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used 60% cacao)
- ⅓ cup dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ cup hot coffee (see note)
- ¾ cup flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoon white vinegar (see note)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon chocolate extract (see note)
Strawberry Cake
- 8 oz strawberries
- 1¼ cups cake flour (see note)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 egg whites, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoon sour cream (I used full fat)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup whole milk, at room temperature
- pink food coloring, if desired
Vanilla Cake
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, soft but still cool (4 tablespoon or ½ stick)
- 3 tablespoon coconut oil, solid but creamy
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt
- 2 egg whites, at room temperature
- ½ tablespoon vanilla bean paste (see note)
- 1 cup cake flour (see note)
- ½ cup buttermilk (see note)
Vanilla Bean Buttercream
- 3 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 6 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (see note)
- 3 tablespoon heavy (whipping) cream
Strawberry Buttercream
- ¼ vanilla bean frosting, prepared above
- ½ cup freeze-dried strawberries
- 1 tablespoon heavy (whipping) cream
Chocolate Buttercream
- ¼ vanilla bean frosting, prepared above
- ¼ cup dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 tablespoon heavy (whipping) cream
Instructions
For Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 8" cake pan and set aside.
- In a large heatproof bowl, combine chopped chocolate and cocoa powder. Pour hot coffee over the top (see note) and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate chocolate mixture for 20 minutes.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- After chilling 20 minutes, remove chocolate mixture from the refrigerator. Add oil, eggs, vinegar (see note), vanilla extract, and chocolate extract (see note). Whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake 35-38 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn/rotate cake pans halfway through baking to help ensure an even bake. Cool cake 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For Strawberry Cake:
- Purée the strawberries in a food processor. You should have about ½ cup of purée. Transfer the purée to a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until reduced to about ¼ cup. Cool completely.
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease an 8" cake pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients (cake flour [see note], baking powder, baking soda, and salt). Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the egg whites and beat until combined. Next add the sour cream and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Continue to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add half the dry ingredients and and mix until nearly incorporated. Follow with half the milk, the remaining dry ingredients, and then the remaining milk, allowing the mixer to incorporate each ingredient before adding the next. Be careful not to overmix!
- Finally, add the strawberry reduction and mix just until combined. If you'd like the batter to be more colorful, you can add a few drops of pink food coloring.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn/rotate cake pans halfway through baking to help ensure an even bake. Cool cake 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For Vanilla Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325° F. Grease an 8" cake pan and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, coconut oil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer running on low, add the egg whites one at a time. Add vanilla bean paste (see note) and mix to combine.
- With the mixer running on low, alternate additions of flour and buttermilk (see note). Add half the flour, followed by half the buttermilk. Repeat for remaining flour and buttermilk, allowing each addition to incorporate before adding the next.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn/rotate cake pans halfway through baking to help ensure an even bake. Cool cake 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For Vanilla Bean Buttercream:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sifted powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla bean paste (see note) and cream and mix to combine.
- Half of this frosting will remain vanilla bean flavored, ¼ will become strawberry buttercream, and ¼ will become chocolate buttercream. There will be more vanilla than the other flavors so you have enough to frost the vanilla cake layer and to put vanilla buttercream swirls on top of the cake.
For Strawberry Buttercream:
- In the bowl of a food processor, process the freeze-dried strawberries until they become a powder.
- Place ¼ of the vanilla bean buttercream in a bowl and add the strawberry powder and cream. Mix to combine.
For Chocolate Buttercream:
- Place ¼ of the vanilla bean buttercream in a bowl and add the sifted cocoa powder and cream. Mix to combine.
For Assembly:
- Frost cooled cake layers with buttercream. I decided to frost each cake layer with its own flavor of buttercream (chocolate with chocolate, etc.), but you can choose to frost as you desire. If storing in the refrigerator, allow the buttercream to warm before serving.Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate.
Vanessa
This cake is so good! My daughter loves neapolitan ice cream, so neapolitan cake was perfect to serve with it on her birthday!
Amee
Oh I'm so honored that you made it for her birthday, and so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you, Vanessa!