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This Berry Mascarpone Layer Cake has layers of fluffy vanilla cake, fresh berry filling and mascarpone whipped cream frosting! It’s light, fruity and perfect for spring!
Berry Mascarpone Layer Cake
I never really realized how much of an effect caffeine has until I stopped drinking it recently. As part of the IVF process, caffeine isn’t really recommended so I’ve been doing my best to not drink it. Since soda has less caffeine than coffee, I’ll have a little if I’m desperate. I’d rather have coffee though. 🙁 Much more yummy.
Point is though – the lack of a picker-upper is brutal! And the tiredness is making me crave a way to increase energy so now I just want to eat all the carbs and sugar, which I’m also avoiding. Sometimes I feel like I just can’t eat anything. It’s not a good situation. I’ve gotta find a way to muster up some energy!
My go-to move right now is to play some of my favorite music and dance around while working. Gets the blood flowing and pumps me up. 🙂 Yay for 90s music! That’s my era.
And this is my cake.
Boy, do I love this cake! Fresh berries are some of the best things ever and we’ve had them galore for the last month or so. I can’t get enough of them! Especially the blueberries and strawberries. I just want to eat a carton at a time. And I can eat fruit – yay! 🙂
How to Make Berry Mascarpone Layer Cake
This cake starts with a moist and easy vanilla cake. The batter is so easy to put together, you could simply use a whisk to combine everything if you wanted. I always love a good stand mixer – it takes the work out of it for you – but you could do it by hand. Just combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then add them all together with a little water. Done! Plus, the ingredients are all nice and straight forward. Rock on.
Then there’s the berry filling. You could almost think of it as a homemade jam, but not quite as thick. I used an even mix of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, but you could use whatever combo you like. The berries are purred in a food processor, then cooked over heat with some sugar and cornstarch. The heat reduces the liquid a bit and the cornstarch helps thicken everything. Once it’s cooled, you’ve got the perfect berry filling!
The mascarpone whipped cream frosting is used both to add to the cake filling and to frost the cake. I love how light this frosting is! You basically make whipped cream and add mascarpone cheese to it. The mascarpone flavor is lighter than a more straight forward mascarpone frosting, but this version runs much less risk of getting a super soft mascarpone frosting. Just be sure to add the full amount of powdered sugar to make sure the frosting stays stable. It makes a great addition to the cake and keeps things light and fresh!
The final cake is perfect for spring, Easter and all through the summer! It was a huge hit!
Watch How To Make It
SHOP THE RECIPE
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Berry Mascarpone Layer Cake
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 26 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 11 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Berry Mascarpone Layer Cake has layers of fluffy vanilla cake, fresh berry filling and mascarpone whipped cream frosting! It’s light, fruity and perfect for spring!
Ingredients
VANILLA CAKE
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (240ml) water
BERRY FILLING
- 1 1/2 cup (240g) mixed berries (I used strawberries, blueberries and raspberries)
- 3 tbsp (45ml) water
- 3/4 cup (155g) sugar
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
WHIPPED MASCARPONE FROSTING
- 2 1/2 cups (600ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
- 1 1/2 cups (173g) powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 16 oz (452g) mascarpone cheese, chilled
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare three 8 inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray and parchment paper in the bottom. These cakes can have a tendency to stick to the pans a bit, so I strongly recommend the parchment paper in the bottom.
2. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixer bowl and combine. Set aside.
3. Add the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and eggs to a medium sized bowl and combine.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat until well combined.
5. Slowly add the water to the batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake for 24-28 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
7. Remove the cakes from oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling. These cakes can have a tendency to stick to the pans a bit so jiggle them a bit to loosen from the sides of the pan before turning the cakes out to cool.
BERRY FILLING
8. To make the berry topping, add the berries and water to a food processor and puree until smooth. You should end up with about 2/3 cup puree.
9. Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Stir in the berry puree.
10. Cook over medium heat, stirring consistently until mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 8-10 minutes.
11. Allow to boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Refrigerate and allow to cool completely.
FROSTING AND ASSEMBLY
12. Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and whip on high speed until soft peaks form.
13. Add the mascarpone cheese to the whipped cream and whip until stiff peaks form. It will happen fairly quickly.
14. To assemble the cake, use a large serrated knife to remove the domes from the top of the cakes.
15. Place the first layer of cake on a serving plate or a cardboard cake round. Pipe a dam of frosting around the outside of the cake. I use Ateco tip 808 for the dam so that it’s tall.
16. Spread half of the berry filling evenly on top of the cake layer, inside the dam. It should fill the dam about half way full.
17. Add some additional mascarpone frosting to the top of the berry filling and spread into an even layer to fill in the remaining dam space.
18. Add the second layer of cake and repeat the filling layer with the remaining berry filling and additional mascarpone frosting.
19. Add the final layer of cake on top, then smooth out the frosting around the sides of the cake.
20. Frost the outside of the cake, then use an icing decorator (I use this Ateco Icing Smoother ) to add a striped pattern to the sides.
21. Finish off the cake with some swirls of frosting and fresh berries.
22. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Cake is best for 2-3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 678
- Sugar: 53 g
- Sodium: 216.6 mg
- Fat: 40 g
- Carbohydrates: 74 g
- Protein: 8.7 g
- Cholesterol: 118.4 mg
Enjoy!
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If I wanted to make this a chocolate cake, how much cocoa powder would I add to it and would I need to make any modifications to the rest of the recipe?
This was a complete disaster. I consider myself amateur baker and this recipe ended in a complete fail. Beyond all the cost of the ingredients (mascarpone cheese and berries are not cheap) and the wasted time (working full time while parenting two kids below 5), I’m gutted that it’s my husband’s birthday tomorrow and I don’t have a cake! The instructions are generic and not mentioning how long the layers need to be chilled for etc. very disappointed
This cake tasted amazing, but the top layer skid off the base of the cake and feel apart. I was so devastated showing up to my nieces graduation looking the way it did. Everyone laughed about it, but I was so upset. I’ve never had that happen before with any other cake I’ve made. I don’t know why it did that, and I don’t know how to prevent it in the future. I don’t know if it was the frosting, since it was softer. It never got hard like a buttercream does. My brother in law wants it for his birthday next month and I’m afraid to make it again.
I wanted to know how long can the batter be out for? My oven won’t fit that many cake pans in my oven so I wanted to know how long the batter can be out for and should I put it in the fridge?
I haven’t really tested it to see how long you can let it sit for. But if you have to bake one pan at a time, it should be fine. I would not refrigerate it.
This is the 3rd of your cake recipes I have tried and honestly they have been life changing! I always struggled with cakes but not anymore, it’s a fool proof recipe in my option which is also super easy to follow! I have just served this cake at a baby shower and it was a huge hit. The sponge is so so easy to make and I used your chantilly cream frosting in stead which is so tasty! Highly recommend! I swapped out the milk for buttermilk and I cheated and used store bought jam instead but it worked like a dream 😍 I also used half cake flour / half all purpose flour because that’s what I had and it worked brilliantly! I made it on Thursday and crumb coated it before serving on Saturday with a fresh layer of frosting and it was still super fresh, soft and fluffy!
I’m so glad to hear that!
hey, can i use caster sugar and self raising flour instead?
I’m not sure about caster sugar, but I would think that should be fine. Self rising flour though will not work.
Absolutely delicious! I bake a lot and I was really nervous about how thin the cake batter was, but I trusted the recipe and the layers came out so light and so fluffy. After mixing the icing, I popped it in their fridge raider for about 15 minutes and then woke it up with another 20 seconds in my standing mixer. That really helped the icing form those perfect stiff peaks that make it easy for piping. My whole family was amazed. I ended up making another batch and turning at cupcakes for my neighbors and those were also a hit. I followed the recipe to a T except I changed the jam in the middle to be a blackberry orange jam.
Can I use self rising flour instead of all purpose flour and leave out the baking powder?
Sorry, no.
The icing recipe seems so simple, yet mine is extremely runny. Why could this be?
You are right that it is quite simple. It is just whipped cream with mascarpone cheese in it. But if it’s runny, my first questions would be if you’re sure that you used heavy whipping cream and not another kind of cream? And then to be sure that your mascarpone cheese wasn’t too warm. If it gets too warm or is whipped too much, it can actually break down and get watery.
Can you substitute frozen berries for the jam? Finding quality fresh fruit in my area is a challenge.
You can, but I’d recommend thawing and patting them dry first to get rid of excess water.
I’ve made this cake twice now (my mothers birthday and Easter dinner with my in laws) and it was a huge hit at both events! My husband said it was the best cake I’ve ever made, and his father was still talking about the cake a few days after Easter!! It is very easy to make but the few different components (cake, berry filling, non traditional icing) make it seem like a fancier cake. It’s not overly sweet which is great for dessert after a big family dinner, and a huge hit with adults who don’t want a super sweet buttercream icing. This one has been added to my recipe box!!
Hello! I plan on making this cake for my family on Easter. I would like to do a speckled egg cake design on the frosting and was wondering if the mascarpone frosting would work instead of a sturdier buttercream. Im afraid of the speckled bleeding on a softer frosting. Any advice would be great appreciated!! Thanks.
I’ve honestly never tried it, so I’m not sure.
It says to put the frosting in the fridge. For how long? Also, once I take it out of the fridge, do I have to thaw it, or can I use it right away?
It’s really just until you’re ready to use it. If you’re going to use it pretty quickly, you can leave it on the counter. You don’t want to leave it in the fridge for too long though, just while prepping for the next step.
Hi, I really want to try this recipe out!! I’m wondering can you use 1 large cake tin and split the sponge or is it better to use three individual cake tins? Thanks, Can’t wait to try!!
No, one large tin will result in a dense and over baked cake.
This was the frosting on our wedding cake 30 years ago
I would like to update you on this recipe. I found your website about three or four years ago. I was looking for a cake with berries for Mother’s Day. I have been making this cake ever since. It is a huge hit whenever I serve it. It looks beautiful and it tastes amazing. We are foodies, and my sister-in-law, who is very particular, has asked for this cake every year since for her birthday. Now my teenage daughter who always asked for my chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, is asking for this. Thank you so much! I also, love your strawberry poke cake.
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for sharing!