It was my birthday last weekend and I made a birthday cake for myself. Never really thought about it but from the reaction I got from everyone who knew I was doing this, not everyone does it! Control issues? Maybe, but I know what I like and how to get it! Do it myself.
My birthday always comes when strawberries are plentiful so naturally most of the cakes I have baked have strawberries involved. This year they took center stage…along with some Limoncello of course!
I first made this cake almost 2 years ago, here, and absolutely fell in love with it. It is a beautiful dense cake and the mascarpone whipped cream was the perfect compliment but I was not really keen on the sherry macerated berries so this year I decided to macerate the berries in Limoncello…good move too!
Mascarpone-Filled Cake with Limoncello Strawberries – adapted from Gourmet, July 2008
Ingredients:
For cake:
2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 large eggs
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
For berries:
1/2 cup Limoncello
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups strawberries, quartered
For cream:
8 ounces mascarpone cheese (1 cup)
1 cup chilled heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
Directions:
Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep). Line bottom with a round of parchment paper, then butter parchment.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer at low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing after each addition until just combined.
Spread batter in cake pan, smoothing top. Rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles.
Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Discard paper and reinvert cake onto rack to cool completely.
Macerate berries:
Pour the limoncello and the sugar over the berries and toss gently ( allow to satnd for about 30 minutes mixing periodically - or you can do it the real way and bring Limoncello and sugar to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Put berries in a bowl and pour hot syrup over them, gently tossing to coat. Let stand 15 minutes. make cream and assemble cake.
Beat mascarpone and cream with sugar in a large bowl using cleaned beaters until mixture just holds stiff peaks.
Halve cake horizontally with a long serrated knife. Carefully remove top half and reserve. Put bottom half on a plate, then spread evenly with half of the cream and replace top half. Use the rest of the cream on the top and serve with berries.
Cooks notes:
•Cake, without cream, can be baked 1 day ahead. Wrap in plastic wrap once cool and keep at room temperature.
•Berries can macerate at room temperature up to 2 hours.
