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Berry Mascarpone Cake, sliced, on a cake plate.
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Berry Mascarpone Cake

This scratch Berry Mascarpone Cake is moist, soft, and delicious! Homemade vanilla mascarpone cake layers are filled with whipped cream and berries, and frosted with mascarpone buttercream.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Additional Time40 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 15 slices
Author: Melissa and Bebe

Ingredients

For the Mascarpone Cake Layers

  • 8 oz mascarpone cheese, softened (226g)
  • 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened. (168g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 cups granulated/white sugar (400g)
  • 4 large eggs room temperature (to save time you can warm them in a bowl of very warm water for 5 min)
  • 3 cups cake flour- see Notes for substitution (342g)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder (8g)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
  • 1¼ cup buttermilk (299g)
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil (we used canola oil) (54g)
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract (10g)

Whipped Cream Filling

  • 1 cup heavy cream (240g)
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar (29g)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)

Fresh Berries for Filling

  • 1½ cups thinly sliced strawberries (We sprinkled our sliced strawberries with about 1.5 teaspoons sugar- Wait about 5-10 minutes- this produces more juices.)
  • ¼-⅓ cup blueberries Adjust berry amounts to your liking!
  • Additional berries for the top (optional)

For the Mascarpone Frosting

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened. (226g) **See Notes
  • 8 oz mascarpone cheese, softened (we used one 8 oz package)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (adjust amount to your liking) (4g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
  • 6 to 6½ cups powdered sugar (690g to 747g) start with 6 cups and adjust as needed for desired consistency.

Instructions

For the Cake Layers

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch pans. We like to line the bottom of our pans with circles of parchment paper.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
  • In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your mixer, add the softened butter and softened mascarpone cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.
  • Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 3 minutes.
  • Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended.
  • With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (We did 3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet). After the last addition, mix just until well combined.
  • Divide the batter between the three prepared cake pans.
  • Bake at 325 degrees F for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack before turning out.
  • This recipe makes approximately 8 cups of batter. Works for cupcakes also (although there will be little to no dome).

Whipped Cream Filling

  • Chill the mixing bowl and beaters/ whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes.
  • Pour the whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract into the chilled mixing bowl, begin beating on low speed gradually increasing to medium high speed.  
  • The cream begins to thicken (approx. 1 ½ minutes) and stiff peaks form- be careful not to overmix. This happens fairly quickly! At "stiff peak" stage, peaks form and hold their shape when beaters are lifted. ju

For the Mascarpone Frosting

  • Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Mix on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
  • Add the softened mascarpone and mix until smooth and combined.
  • Add the vanilla extract. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing on low speed until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar.
  • Increase mixing speed and mix just until well combined and fluffy. Be careful not to over-mix.
  • This frosting will pipe best if used while still a bit chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
  • Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake.

Assembling and Decorating the Berry Mascarpone Cake

  • Place the first cooled cake layer on the cake plate or pedestal. Pipe a dam of frosting around the edge of the cake layer using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.
  • Spread the sliced strawberries and juices over the cake layer along with desired amount of blueberries. Dollop with whipped cream and gently spread it over the berries. (I did it in this order so that the strawberry juices would be absorbed into the cake layer.)
  • Top with the second cake layer and repeat the steps for the dam of frosting, berries and whipped cream. Top with the final cake layer.
  • Pipe frosting into any remaining gaps between the cake layers and then apply a thin crumb coat of frosting over the cake. At this point I like to chill the frosted tier for 15 minutes in the freezer (or longer in the refrigerator) to firm everything up before applying the final coat of frosting. This prevents the cake layers from shifting as you frost with the final coat of frosting.
  • Just like cream cheese frosting, mascarpone frosting is soft- if at any time it becomes too soft to easily work with, pop your bowl or piping bag in the refrigerator to firm it up for a few minutes or return the cake back in the freezer for 10 minutes or so as needed.
  • Decorate however you like. After applying the final coat of frosting, I smoothed around the sides with a metal bench scraper, used a knife to add a bit of texture and then added piping on top with a large star tip (1M).
  • Because of the whipped cream filling and mascarpone cheese frosting, this cake should be refrigerated. Remove from the refrigerator 2-3 hours before serving to allow it to warm up for best flavor and texture.

Notes

*For a bit more frosting, (if doing a lot of piping like we did on top) you can increase the butter to 3 sticks, and add about ¼ cup additional powdered sugar as needed.
Substitution for Cake Flour: (Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour) For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend