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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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This was brilliant! I used half the sugar for the batter and absolutely no water, and it turn out a very good sponge! I also halved the sugar for the other 2 layers, and did not puree just smashed the fruits. Also, I added a bit of rose water to the mascarpone, and it really did good to it!
It is delicious!
I’m an avid baker and this recipe just didn’t work for me. The batter was so runny and the layers came out thin. I couldn’t continue to the layering part and ended up using another recipe. Not sure where I went wrong.
Are the cake layers thin? How many cups of batter does this recipe make? I want to make enough batter for two 6 inch cake layers.
When I make a 6 inch cake, I typically cut the recipe in half, so I would recommend that.
I cannot wait to make this beautiful cake. 🍰
I have been making this cake for a few years now. It has become my sister-in-laws and my mom’s birthday cake. They request it every time. It is so impressive and it tastes amazing.
So glad to hear that!
This cake was so amazing I’m making it again for my family! Question though, can you use frozen fruit? What do you think?
Glad you enjoyed it! Frozen fruit should be fine. Just that it and pat it dry first.
What brand of heavy whipping cream did you use? I used the Canadian one which is 35% and
it wasn’t as sturdy as yours. Please help. Taste is amazing though but I want to pipe flowers on top and side of cake.
I actually use a store brand here called Publix.
Just made this cake! It’s delicious! I have a lot of extra frosting. Can I freeze it?
Glad you enjoyed it! Whipped cream won’t thaw very well, I’m sorry.
Want to make this for a birthday cake. Your thoughts on making the frosting ahead of time and storing in the refrigerator for a day or two until ready to frost?
Since it’s a whipped cream, I’d make it right before you need it. Whipped cream will last well when sitting in the fridge, but tends to deflate if you mess with/stir it again.
Hello I would like to make this for my daughters birthday. However, an 8″ cake will not serve 13 ppl that I need cake for. If I make a sheet cake should I do 2 full recipes do you think? I going to skip the berries as my daughter does not care for them and just use the icing. Do you think double the icing or probably not quite? Please give me your educated guess. Thank you
What size sheet cake do you mean? A 9×13?
Hi, Lindsay! How do you make the whipped mascarpone so smooth on the cake?
Here’s my frosting a cake tutorial. The only difference is that with a whipped cream frosting such as on this cake, you won’t use a paper towel.
I made this recipe using a 9×13 pan and was delicious
Hi planning to bake this but, I only have a 9″pan would that work?
Sure, but I might only do two cake layer. Three might be quite thin.
I have tried it, thanks so much for the advice. This made our 9th Anniversarry more than special
Can you freeze this cake?
I don’t typically recommend freezing fully cakes whole, but you could try it.
I’ve made this cake twice. Followed the directions to the T and it came out perfect both times. So light and refreshing. The cake layers don’t get real fluffy and high but the 3 layers turn out perfect when all put together. I’m not very good at decorating cakes so I just kinda throw it together and it still looks beautiful. My favorite cake, by far.
I have baked ALL kinds of cakes..this cake is so so good. My husband isn’t a huge sweets person so if he’s in love, it’s a big deal. I did add some cream cheese to the frosting to give it a little tang. When it’s really cold the texture is so soft and delicate it’s almost like a cheese cake. So good!