Naked Cake with Mascarpone Cream and Crushed Strawberries

• Produce

  • 1 Lemon, Zest of
  • 2 cups Strawberries

• Refrigerated

  • 4 Eggs, large

• Condiments

  • 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste

• Baking & Spices

  • 2 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking soda
  • 250 g Caster sugar
  • 250 g Flour
  • 1/4 cup Icing sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 cup Sugar

• Dairy

  • 250 g Butter
  • 175 ml Double cream
  • 250 ml Mascarpone

• Other

  • Organic flowers, dried rose petals and pink sprinkles for decoration
  • • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

Found on vikalinka.com

Description

Ingredients

• • 250 g/ 1 cup butter, softened and unsalted
• • 250 g/1⅓ cup caster sugar
• • 4 eggs, large
• • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
• • 250 g/1¾ cup flour
• • 2½ tsp baking powder
• • ½ tsp baking soda
• • ½ tsp salt
• • zest of 1 lemon
• • 250 ml/ 1 cup mascarpone, chilled
• • ¼ cup icing sugar
• • 175 ml/ ¾ cup double cream
• • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• • 2 cups strawberries, quartered
• • ½ cup sugar
• Organic flowers, dried rose petals and pink sprinkles for decoration

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350 C, grease two 8/20cm round cake pans and line with parchment paper, set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer cream softened butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
• Start adding eggs one by one, whipping until well combined after each addition for about a minute.
• Add vanilla bean paste and lemon zest.
• Combine sifted flour, baking soda and powder and salt in a separate bowl.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well, stopping the mixer and scraping sides and the bottom of the bowl.
• Divide the batter between two pans. Weigh them to get exactly the same cake in size.
• Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely.
• Whip chilled mascarpone with icing sugar and vanilla bean paste for 1-2 minutes until well combined.
• Then add double/whipping cream and whip for 2 more minutes until stiff.
• In a small bowl mix 1 cup of quartered strawberries with ½ cup of sugar and crush them gently with a fork until they resemble a rough, juicy mash, add the remaining cup of strawberries for more texture and mix.
• To assemble the cake spread ¼ of mascarpone cream on top of the bottom layer of the cake. Dab the crushed strawberries all over, they shouldn’t cover the entire cake, then add more mascarpone cream directly on top of strawberries and level everything with a cake spatula. Cover with the second cake layer.
• Cover the entire cake with the remaining mascarpone cream, making pretty swirls on the top of the cake, and then using an offset spatula scrape the mascarpone cream of the sides of the cake to reveal the sponge, thus creating the “naked cake” effect. Decorate the top with organic flowers, rose petals, sprinkles etc.