Blackberry Mascarpone Lemon Cake

Jeff the Chef
"Blackberry Mascarpone Lemon Cake," from Make It Like a Man!

The lemon is soft, rather than bright. The cheeses bring out the blackberries’ floral notes. The mousse-like whip makes the cake seem even creamier. On top of that, this Blackberry Mascarpone Lemon Cake is gorgeous.

Blackberry Mascarpone Lemon Cake
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Blackberry Mascarpone Lemon Cake

Recipe by America's Test KitchenCourse: Dessert
Makes

1

8-inch, 2-layer cake
Serving

12

There are a lot of steps, but this isn’t a difficult cake.

Ingredients

  • For the Jam

  • 8 oz. (1½ generous cups) fresh blackberries, plus more for garnish

  • 3½ oz. (½ cup) sugar

  • For the Cake

  • 5 oz. (1¼ cups) cake flour

  • 7 oz. (1 cup) sugar, divided

  • 1½ tsp baking powder

  • ¼ salt

  • 5 eggs, room temperature

  • 3 oz. (6 Tbs) butter, melted and cooled

  • 1 oz. (2 Tbs) water

  • Zest of 1 lemon

  • 1 Tbs lemon juice

  • 1 tsp vanilla

  • For the Frosting

  • ½ tsp unflavored gelatin

  • ½ oz. (1 Tbs) water

  • 4 oz. (½ cup) mascarpone, room temperature

  • 4 oz. cream cheese, softened

  • ½ oz. (2 Tbs) confectioners sugar

  • ½ tsp vanilla

  • Pinch of salt

  • 8 oz. (1 cup) heavy cream

Directions

  • Jam
  • Blitz the blackberries in a food processor until liquified, 1 minute. Pour it into a medium-sized saucepot, stir in the sugar, and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Adjust heat to keep the mixture at a moderate boil, and cook until it’s reduced to 3/4 cup, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally at first, and constantly toward the end. Allow to cool to room temperature.
  • Cake
  • Prepare two 8-inch cake pans with butter and flour; set aside. With the rack in the lower-middle position, preheat the oven to 325°F.
  • Mix the flour, sugar, powder, and salt for 30 seconds on speed 4 (of 10). Add two whole eggs and three egg yolks, butter, water, zest, juice, and vanilla. Mix, ramping up to speed 6, until well blended, 30 seconds. Set aside.
  • In a clean mixing bowl, whip the 3 remaining eggs whites on speed 4 until foamy, 1 minute. Increase speed to 6, and continue whipping until the whites begin to mound, but don’t yet form peaks, 1 minute. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until glossy, soft peaks form, 1-2 minutes. Hand whisk 1/3 of the whites into the batter, and thoroughly fold in the rest in two additions.
  • Divide the batter into the pans, 12 oz. per pan, and bake until a tester comes out clean, 30-40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then tip out and cool completely on racks.
  • Frosting
  • Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a coffee cup. Allow the gelatin to hydrate, 5 minutes. Nuke the gelatin mixture for 5 seconds, stir. Repeat until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Set aside.
  • Mix the mascarpone with the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy, 2 minutes on speed 6. Set aside. In a clean bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks, ramping up to highest speed. Gradually pour in the gelatin mixture, and whip to stiff peaks. Hand whisk 1/3 of the cream into the cheese mixture, and fold in the rest of the cream in two additions. Stir the jam to loosen it up, and fold it into the frosting.
  • Divide the frosting between the cake layers, reserving a small amount for the sides of the cake. Stack the layers, frost the sides, and use an offset spatula to scrape the frosting away from the sides, exposing the cake layers. Garnish with remaining berries. Keep refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before serving (see notes).

Notes

  • If you buy your blackberries in 6-oz. containers – which is common – buy two of them. Remove the prettiest ones until you’re left with the 8 oz. you need for the jam. That’ll leave you with just enough berries for garnish. If you really want to go garnish-crazy, buy a third container.
  • You can bring your eggs to room temperature quickly by immersing them in warm water.
  • A cup of cream actually weighs a bit more than 8 ounces, but it’s less than 1/8 oz. more, probably too little to register on your scale.
  • Although, like most cakes, this one is best at room temperature, it also happens to be guest-worthy stright from the fridge.
"Blackberry Mascarpone Lemon Cake," from Make It Like a Man!

The Backstory

This is a modified version of a recipe from The Perfect Cake, a cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen. The one in the book is four impressive layers. I decided to cut it in half an make an adorable, two-layer version. Given this cake’s character – it’s like a person who doesn’t need to try to be the center of attention, because they have a natural, if understated, magnatism all their own … and when you decide to cross the room and introduce yourself, they turn out to be absolutely delightful – I like this two layer version better than its more-spectaular four-layer sibling. Furthermore, although this is one of those cakes that feels exceptionally light, don’t kid yourself: it is highly caloric. You don’t notice it at all until a few minutes after you’ve eaten it; it’s quite satifsyingly filling. I recommend the book, but they’ve posted this particular recipe online.

Social Learning

The day after you make it, this cake is indistinguishble from what it was when it was freshly made. Two days old, if there’s any difference, it’s difficult to percieve. Three days old, and you’ll notice that the cake is beginning to dry out, but it’s still quite good.

When it comes to storage, this frosting is too delicate to come in direct contact with plastic wrap. But if you leave it uncovered in the refrigerator overnight, the frosting will start to become dried out. You can place it in a cake tote, and refrigerate that. Or if you have the right size and shape of mixing bowl, you might be able to use that as a dome. As a last resort, you can refrigerate the cake until the frosting becomes less tacky – it will never become not tacky – and then use plastic wrap loosely.

"Blackberry Mascarpone Lemon Cake," from Make It Like a Man!
Blackberry Mascarpone Lemon Cake

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thanks, Kesor. Thanks Prosper Circle. 

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43 thoughts on “Blackberry Mascarpone Lemon Cake”

  4. Here you are with another damn cake!!! It’s so pretty and I can imagine those flavors. I’ve heard it’s challenging to do the sides like you did. Great job!

    Reply

    • Oh my gosh, no! Super easy! And yes, we do eat a lot of cake around here.

      Reply

  5. Well, hello there, Blackberry Mascarpone Cake. This is a cake that I would definitely cross the room to meet! I really like the idea of using half mascarpone instead of all cream cheese – it would lighten up the mouth feel of the frosting. I’m intrigued! And I also love blackberries, so there’s that.
    David @ Spiced recently posted…Loaded Cajun Nachos

    Reply

  7. BlackBerry and Lemon! My favourite fruits. Looks amazing. Would like to taste every layer of this cake. I saved this recipe. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  8. Did you see me licking the screen? Feel free to send me a piece any time! This looks absolutely delicious!!!!

    Reply

  9. I’ll never turn down cake. Well, maybe, if pie is an alternate choice! This looks fantastic — really pretty. And it takes us a bit of time to get through a cake these days, so I’m glad this one doesn’t dry out two seconds after you make it. Thanks!
    John / Kitchen Riffs recently posted…Asparagus with Parmesan

    Reply

    • Yes! That’s a good part of the reason I made it in only two layers, instead of the orginal four. Although, in a sense, it’s for the opposite reason: we could go through a cake like this in an afternoon! So, smaller cakes!

      Reply

  15. Good God, you’re going to kill me with this recipe. I am a sucker for anything lemon or blackberry. Combine the two, I’m all over it. I like that you cut the recipe down. 4 layer cakes are just too much most of the time. I’ll have to pin this recipe and give it a try once my blackberry bush starts producing its berries this year.
    Theresa recently posted…Tomato Tortilla Soup

    Reply

    • You know, I never had either. I’d heard of it. This usually goes by “stabilized whipped cream.” I always assumed the texture of stabilized whip would be plastic – and this frosting may not be the textbook example of stabilized whip, but it’s actually quite dreamy.

      Reply

  18. I once learned that blackberries are the no. 1 healthiest fruit “on the planet!” Above blueberries even. Which makes this a health food, right? 😉 Seriously though, this cake is so pretty and I love that you can make it ahead and it will still look the same. The flavor sounds incredible. It’s on my spring/summer baking list. 🙂 ~Valentina

    Reply

    • Nothing would make me happier than to consider this cake a heath food! I mean aftera all, it does have fruit in it.

      Reply

  21. In the Perfect Cake Book, it did not state to beat the cake mixture before adding egg whites, so I did not. I just hand mixed it. My cakes did not rise. Also, I used a 9-inch baking pan instead of 8. Why didn’t it rise?

    Reply

    • There are so many variables that could cause a cake not to rise properly. So, without having been there with you, there’s no way I can know for sure. But, you do have to beat the batter before adding the whites. Not doing so would definitely cause a problem with the rise.

      Reply

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