Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Buttermilk Cake with Mascarpone and Berries

I've mentioned a million times that I'm not really a cake person but I saw this particular beauty in the most recent issues of Gourmet and I HAD to try it. It is simple and elegant and downright delicious. I made a few changes-namely, I had no sherry so I just macerated the berried with sugar. Also, since I was using blueberries and I ADORE the flavor combination of blueberry and lemon, I zested a lemon into the cake batter and it was really phenomenal. One mistake I made though was when I added the buttermilk, the batter looked like it was curdling a bit. This freaked me out so I kept beating until smooth. I tasted my mistake in the ever-so-slightly tough texture of the cake. Moral of the story; don't be afraid of the buttermilk and only mix to combine ingredients completely and no more.

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 pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk

For berries:
1/2 cup Fino (dry) Sherry
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups mixed berries, cut if large

For cream:
8 ounces mascarpone (1 cup)
1 cup chilled heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar

Garnish: confectioners sugar

PreparationMake 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:
Bring Sherry 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 all of cream and replace top half. 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.







3 comments:

Live.Love.Eat said...

This looks outstanding!!!! I love the word Macerate. Ha ha. It sounds like something you can get arrested over.

Anonymous said...

well arent we ms. fancypants, over there? this cake looks delicious and im not a huge cake person either!!

karima said...

FEAR NOT BUTTERMILK!