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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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Hi Lindsay
I tried this cake and it was 50% a disaster. The cake portion was not very nice at all. I had to bin it and use another recipe which was also not to my liking (I am willing to conceed that I was having a very off baking day). With that said, The icing and the compote were absolutely beautiful and I will for sure make them again.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
I’m glad you enjoyed the filling and frosting. As for the cake, I truly don’t know why some are having trouble. I’ve had so many people have success and share photos of the final cake with me that I know the recipe itself is fine. Perhaps there’s a difference in elevation or climate that is making a difference for people? If you’d like to try out an alternative cake and see how it works for you, these vanilla cake layers are also great.
Hello, I want to adapt this recipe to make a pineapple cake. So I will substitute berries for pineapple. I stead of water is it worth using pineapple juice? The fat content shouldn’t change? I m just not sure whether to go half and half or use full cup of juice instead of water. Any advice?
I would try the pineapple juice. It should be fine.
Oh my! This looks so incredibly delicious. I’m so making this for Mother’s Day. I also have one side question: where did you get that beautiful cake stand? I totally love it!
The cake stand is from Home Goods. 🙂
Hi Lindsay!
i’m going to try and make this cake for my mom for mother’s day but want to try and make it in advance. Would it be okay to bake the cakes one day, and then freeze them overnight and then take them out and assemble the cake the next day? Thanks so much for such an amazing recipe, i can’t wait to try it out!
Sorry for the delay! For future use, if you are just making the cakes one day ahead, you shouldn’t need to freeze them. They’d be fine in a well sealed container (like a cake carrier).
Hi Lindsay! It is so interesting cake and I want to make it perfect. I have some problem with cake layers. I just baked it 3 times and it went to garbage. Maybe it is so a lot of liquid or not enough of flour because my layers are always like raw. I bake longer as you put time, and I just know my oven well because I bake cakes very often. I never baked layer with a lot of water and milk. Where do you think is problem? Thanks.
I honestly don’t really understand why people are having this problem. I’m not sure how the cake is under baked if it’s been baking long enough. Since I can’t recreate the problem, it’s really hard for me to say. Feel free to email a photo of your result. Maybe looking at it will help me understand better? I only know that the measurements are correct and I’ve never had a problem. I really wish I knew what the answer was. I’m sorry.
Hello,
So I do have a client wants a not so sweet frosting for his cupcakes. do you think the mascarpone will be good on cupcakes?
Btw I made this berries and mascarpone with my rainbow cake and it was a blast!
Thank you!
Yes, I think it would be fine on cupcakes depending on what he wants. You could also consider a swiss meringue buttercream (which I don’t currently have a recipe for).
DON’T ADD WATER TO THE BATTER
I baked this a second time as the first time it came out like dense pancakes, so I only put a couple of tablespoons of water to the batter as it already had the perfect consistency anyway with the oil and eggs, and it worked. Water is not needed. Just makes the batter thin and the cake comes out like a pancake.
Made the cake …beautiful to look at and delicious to eat!! Thanks for the receipe!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Can you tell me what kind of tip you used to pipe the frosting? And will the cake recipe make enough for all 3 layers or is it just for one layer?
Yes, the recipe is enough for all 3 layers in the cake. I used Ateco tip 808 for the swirls on top.
How long will this cake last with or without refrigeration
It’ll hold up pretty well for several hours, I’d expect.
Lindsay did you use hot water or room temperature?
Either is fine. I’d initially specified hot, but either way is fine. It won’t affect anything.
This cake was really good, perfect for spring! I was making it for someone else, so I couldn’t taste a piece, but I had small spoonfuls of frosting, filling, and batter along the way. I do have a couple questions though. First, the filling seemed a little sweet for me, but that’s just a personal preference since I like berry fillings a little tart. Should I just omit some of the sugar next time? Also, I had some trouble with the frosting not spreading evenly and clumping. Do you think I mixed it too long?
Same issue here, plus the cake was a little bit on the dense side, but still yummy????❤️
I’m glad you were happy with it overall! Yes, you could just decrease the sugar in the filling a bit, if you prefer. As for the clumping, I could only assume that it was from the mascarpone cheese. I usually just add it to the whipped cream cold, but if you have trouble, maybe try letting it come closer to room temperature. Just be careful – if mascarpone gets too warm or soft, it can be hard to get it to firm up again.
Lindsay, I’m going to make this cake for my grandmas birthday. I don’t have mascarpone cheese so I was planning on making a whipped vanilla buttercream instead. Will that be all right with the berries and cake. Thanks so much!
Yes, that should be fine. Hope you enjoy it!
If I use 9×13 pan do I have to double the recipe? Thank you. I will make it for my cousin’s 18th birthday.
Thank you so much
No, this recipe will work for a 9×13.
It looks so good! Can we make the mascarpone filling with chocolate? It’s my daughters birthday and I would like to bake one but she only likes chocolate!
Thank you!
That should be fine. Just reduce the powdered sugar a bit and replace it with cocoa. Maybe 1/4 or half a cup, depending on who strong you want the chocolate.
I made the cake and used 9inch pans and my layers also came out kind of thin, but what I was wondering was, Is the cake batter supposed to be such a thin consistency? Mine seemed so thin and watery that I ended up mixing in about 1/2 cup more flour before adding to pans, might explain why my layers were flavorful yet dense, not fluffy and airy as described.
Yes, it’s a very thin batter. Adding extra flour would definitely throw it off. I used 8 inch pans, so 9 inch would definitely be thinner cakes.
I decided to make this cake for my son’s birthday. Followed directions exactly, however I also did not have 8″ cake pans and used 9″ instead. The cake was thin, did not rise, and was so dense it was almost like cookie dough. Not edible. The berry filling – seemed to me that 3 tablespoons cornstarch was way too much for the amount of puree called for in the recipe and sure enough, the final product of berry filling was very thick and when cooled was more like solid jello rather than spreadable. By the time I got to the frosting, I decided to only make half a batch just in case it didn’t come out good since by this time I had lost confidence in the entire recipe. The frosting however was the only thing that came out well. Bottom line, I went to the bakery to buy a cake. I will keep searching for a tried and true vanilla/yellow cake recipe.
I am an experienced baker and this cake has more than 1 component that does not work. The cake itself comes out flat and dense. And yes, I followed the instructions to a “T”.
Is baking soda missing ? The fruit puree is way too sweet. I cut it with lemon juice.
I will remake the white cake using a different recipe.
Very disappointed
I’m sorry you were disappointed, but I can assure you that the entire cake does work. I’ve made all the components of it many times without problem.
I have made this cake two time and both times there were air bubbles when I cut the domes off. Any suggestions. The cake it self is delicious.
Air bubbles are pretty normal. The air in the batter/cake is what helps it rise and be fluffy. I know some cakes have a tighter structure, but this one doesn’t. Hopefully you’re still able to enjoy it!
HOw long do I let the icing chill? I made it about a half hour ago.
It depends a little on your frosting. If the mascarpone was cold when added, it should be good to go and may not even need to be refrigerated. If it’s soft, you might need to. Sorry if that isn’t terribly helpful.
Hi Lindsay!
Im going to make this cake for a birthday party but I dont have 8 inch pans, I was thinking about making it in 3 9.5inch pans instead (24cm). Would that work do u think?
Greetings from Sweden!
I think it would make fairly thin 9 inch layers. You might want to use 1 1/2 recipes worth for a full 9 inch cake.