Berry Mascarpone Layer Cake Food

BERRY CHANTILLY CAKE

Steps:

• Note: It's VERY important that your cold ingredients are at room temperature or slightly warmed. See video for tips. Heat oven to 335º F/168º C - 350º F/177º C. I tend to use lower setting to prevent my cakes from getting too dark on the outside before the inside is done baking.
• Place 4oz of the milk and oil in a separate bowl or cup and set aside
• Combine remaining milk, vanilla extract, almond extract and room temp eggs in a separate measuring cup and set aside
• Measure out dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and place them into the stand mixer bowl.
• Attach the paddle to the mixer, and turn on the slowest speed (setting 1 on Kitchen Aid mixers). Slowly add chunks of your softened butter until it is all added. Let mix until batter resembles coarse sand.
• Add milk/oil mixture into the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed (speed 4 on my KitchenAid) and mix for 2 full minutes. Do not skip this step or your cake will not rise.
• Add in 1/3 of your milk/egg mixture. Repeat 2 more times until batter is just combined. Don't forget to scrape your bowl.
• I always start by baking for 25 minutes for 8" and smaller cakes and 30 minutes for 9" and larger cakes and then checking for doneness. If the cakes are still really jiggly, I add another 5 minutes. I check every 5 minutes after that until I'm close and then it's every 2 minutes. Cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.
• Remove the cake pan from the oven and "tap" it lightly on the counter once to remove air from the cake and keep it from shrinking un-evenly.
• Place cakes on a cooling rack and press down the dome immediately with an oven mitt covered hand. After cakes have cooled for 10 minutes or the pans are cool enough to touch, flip the cakes over and remove from the pans onto the cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.
• Once the cakes are chilled in the refrigerator (about an hour for this size, longer for larger cakes), tort, fill and crumb coat all at once. If you do not plan on crumb coating the same day, you can leave the wrapped cakes on the countertop. Chilling can dry out your cakes before they are iced, so avoid keeping them in the refrigerator longer than necessary. Cakes can be frozen in freezer bags for later use as well.
• Cream together the softened butter, cream cheese and mascarpone cheese together until smooth.
• Add in the powdered sugar and continue creaming until combined
• Whip the whipped cream to soft peaks. Add in the pudding mix to stabilize the whipped cream and whip until just combined. Add in the vanilla and almond extract. Peaks should be firm but not curdled. This happens quickly so watch your cream closely! Check out the stabilized whipped cream recipe to see other options to use besides instant pudding mix.
• Fold your cream cheese mixture and whipped cream together to make your frosting.
• Place the berries in a medium saucepan with 2.5 oz of sugar and bring to a simmer.
• Combine the cornstarch with the cold water to make a slurry. Pour the slurry into the bubbling berries.
• Cook a few minutes until the mixture is thick (1-2 minutes). Remove the berries from the heat and stir in the zest of one lemon and your lemon juice.
• Cool berry filling before using.

ALMOND BERRY LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush 3 (8-inch) round baking pans with butter and line the bottoms with parchment paper cut to fit. Brush with butter again and dust with flour, tapping out excess.
• Place 1 tablespoon flour, the almonds, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground.
• Fill a pot (large enough to set the bowl of an electric mixer in it without the bowl touching the bottom) with 1 inch water and bring to a simmer over low heat.
• Place the eggs, egg whites and sugar in the bowl and gently whisk to incorporate. Place the bowl over the pot of steaming water and whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved, about 3 minutes.
• Return bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until pale yellow, thick and fluffy, about 7 minutes. Add vanilla and gently stir to combine.
• Using a rubber spatula, gently fold almond mixture into batter. Divide batter evenly among pans and bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. The centers will rise and fall during baking. Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool 5 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of the cakes and turn them out onto a flat plate or cardboard round. Peel off parchment and invert onto another plate or round. Cakes should be right-side up. Cool completely and wrap in plastic wrap if not using immediately.
• In a chilled metal bowl, whip the mascarpone and creme fraiche, either by hand or with an electric mixer, until it holds its shape and is not at all runny. Add the lemon zest, confectioners' sugar and liqueur, if using, and beat to combine well. Add up to 2 tablespoons more sugar, to taste, if you choose.
• Place one of the cakes on a serving plate. Top with 1/3 of the mascarpone filling and 1/3 of the berries. Repeat with the remaining 2 layers, leaving the prettiest berries for the top. If not serving right away, chill until ready to serve. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.

MARY BERRY'S ORANGE LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. You will need 2 x 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins, greased and bases lined with baking parchment. Measure all the cake ingredients into a large bowl (reserve a little orange zest for decoration) and beat with a wooden spoon or electric hand mixer until combined and smooth.
• Divide evenly between the 2 tins. Bake for 20-25 mins or until well risen, lightly golden and shrinking away from the sides of the tins. After 5 mins, remove from the tins and leave to cool on a wire rack.
• To make the icing, put the butter and icing sugar into a bowl and mix with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in the orange zest.
• Remove the paper from the cakes. Sit 1 cake upside down on a plate. Make the glaze by putting the caster sugar and orange juice into a saucepan, stirring over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Boil until reduced by half, then brush half on the upside-down cake, using a pastry brush. Spread half the butter icing over the glazed cake. Sit the other cake on top, brush with the remaining glaze, then spread with the remaining butter icing. Scatter with the reserved orange zest. The cake is best eaten on the day, but will keep for up to 3 days in a cool place. It freezes well un-iced or filled.

BERRY MASCARPONE LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• CAKE LAYERS 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. Set whipped frosting in the refrigerator.
• 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 one) to add a striped pattern to the sides. Finish off the cake with some swirls of frosting and fresh berries.