Marscapone filled cake with wine infused berries

First, a belated congratulations to…

…Debbie Roberts Clark!

You are the winner of the Target e-gift card. Thank you for being a Twitter follower! Please email me at cncliving{@}gmail.com with the email address where you wish to receive the gift card. Thanks everyone for entering!

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Every birthday deserves a cake.

I was researching cakes for my little one’s 100 day party and came across the “Best cakes” section on epicurious.com. I always have to check a “Best..” section and was intrigued by this marscapone filled cake…it had me at marscapone. I loved the color and boozy kick from the berries and this cake seemed like a great celebration of summer. This great has a great drama and DIY element. While I put the berries on top for the pictures, I set aside the berries and cream so our friends could make their own cake toppings. I also didn’t whip the cream that much so it was much more of a liquid than a cream. But trust me, your friends won’t mind and will simply put another berry on top.

Table of Contents

Marscapone filled cake with wine infused berries

Adapted from epicurious.com

Ingredients

2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk

For berries:

1/2 cup white wine (if sweet, use less sugar)
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups mixed berries, cut if large

For cream:

8 ounces mascarpone (1 cup)
1 cup chilled heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Servings

About 12 servings

Preparation

Cake

Make cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Liberally butter a 9-inch round cake pan.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer at low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing after each addition until just combined.

4. Spread batter in cake pan, smoothing top. Rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles.

5. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Reinvert cake onto rack to cool completely.

Macerate berries:
1. Bring wine and sugar to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved.

2. Put berries in a bowl and pour hot syrup over them, gently tossing to coat. Let stand 15 minutes.

Make cream and assemble cake:
1. Beat mascarpone and cream with sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest in a large bowl using cleaned beaters until mixture just holds stiff peaks. If you don’t have a beater or whisk, you can beat the cream until it thickens and use it as a creamy topping.

2. Halve cake horizontally with a long serrated knife. Carefully remove top half and reserve. Put bottom half on a plate, then spread evenly with all of cream and replace top half. Serve with berries and cream.