Two layers of rich chocolate cake filled with luxurious mascarpone cream and mixed berries.
Happy April!!! It is the start of a brand new month and 2 days till Easter. Well if you are looking for an easy, effortless yet showstopper dessert I have one to share with you.
The dessert starts off with my favourite chocolate cake recipe, with a slight adaption. Instead of white sugar that I used light muscovado sugar. Light muscovado has a deep caramel flavour which works brilliantly in the chocolate cake. The chocolate cake is soft, the crumbs are tender and extremely delicious and forms the perfect foundation for this wonderful dessert.
Baking tip – grease and line the sides and base of your cake tin with parchment paper for easy removal of cake. This also prevents your cake from sticking to the tin.
The chocolate cake can be baked at least 3 days in advance and wrapped and left to chill in the fridge. And with the chocolate cake being oil based it stays moist.
The frosting is absolutely is one of my favourites. I used it for this Devil’s Food Poke Cake i shared recently on the blog. The mascarpone cream is smooth, silky and luxurious. Whip together mascarpone cheese , whipping cream and icing sugar till stiff peaks form.
Assembling this cake is effortless, no need for a bench scraper or piping nozzles. All you need is an offset spatula and a serving platter.
Place on layer of cake on the serving platter spread a thick amount of mascarpone cream then spread some berries around the edges of the cake. Use whatever berries are in season where you live. Top with the final layer of cake then spread another thick layer of frosting and decorate the top with mixed berries.
Drizzle with chocolate ganache if you wish and serve.
And enjoy!!!
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Chocolate Cake with Mascarpone Cream & Berries
Ingredients
- 210 grams (1¾ cup) all purpose or plain flour
- 360 grams (2 cups) light muscovado sugar
- 120 grams (1 cup) cocoa powder
- 1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon  salt
- 2 eggs
- 120 ml sunflower oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 250 ml (1 cup) whole or semi skimmed milk , room temp
- 250 ml (1 cup) hot coffee ( 1 cup hot water mixed with 2 teaspoons espresso powder)
Mascarpone Frosting
- 250 grams (1 cup) mascarpone cheese
- 250 ml (1 cup) double or whipping cream
- 50 grams (½ cup) icing sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon  vanilla extract
- 250 grams (8.8 ounces) strawberries
- 125 grams  (4.4 ounces) raspberries
- 125 grams (4.4 ounces) blackberries
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 160°C Fan/180°C conventional/ 350°F. Grease and line the base and sides of 2X 8 – inch round cake tin with greaseproof paper.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer sift together cocoa powder, sugar, flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.
- In a measuring jug or bowl combine eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla extract. Add liquid mixture to flour mixture and beat on medium speed until smooth and incorporated. Stir in hot water.
- Divide chocolate cake batter equally between the cake tins.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes.
- Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Invert onto rack gently, discard parchment paper and then cool completely.
- Wrap in cling film and chill in fridge until ready to use.
Mascarpone Cream
- Combine mascarpone cheese, cream and icing sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until thick like firmly whipped cream. Add vanilla. Cover and chill until needed. Will keep for up to 2 days.
To Assemble
- Place one cake layer onto cake plate and layer with mascarpone cream.
- Place strawberries, raspberries and blackberries over the cream and gently press down into whipped cream.
- Cover berries with 2nd layer of of cake and press down gently to level out the cake. Finish cake with more mascarpone cream and remaining berries.
Wow! That is one stunning cake! The marscapone cream sounds delightfully rich 🙂
Thank you June. The mascarpone cream is delightful 🙂
Can this be mad with regular brown sugar? I can’t find Muscovado sugar anywhere here.
Hi Terri, yes it can be made with light or dark brown sugar.
This gorgeous cake looks beyond delicious!!!
Thank you Amanda 🙂
What a decadent cake! Loving all the fresh berries and fluffy cream the top it – so perfect for springtime!
Thank you Thalia 🙂
What a gorgeous looking cake! Mascarpone frosting is one of my favorites!
Thank you Shiran. Mascarpone frosting is one of my favourites as well!!
I always get excited for mascarpone!! I love that you paired it with fresh berries and a rich chocolate cake!
Same here Zainab and thank you for stopping by.
This sounds delightful – I’m off to the kitchen to bake!
Such a great cake! Made this for Christmas and it was a hit!
Thank you Emma. So happy to hear this cake was a hit.
I’m making this cake for the second time today. It’s so good! The mascarpone frosting is much better than chocolate frosting. I’m just wondering if I can freeze the cake with the frosting minus the berries.
Hi Jean, Thank you for your amazing feedback😊. Mascarpone is not suitable for freezing as the liquid separates when frozen and the thawed frosting may be grainy.