Chocolate Cake with Roasted Strawberry Mascarpone Frosting
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Serves 10 -12Difficulty:
Intermediate
With spring in the air, we had a lovely Easter weekend and I could not go without baking a cake. I fancied something chocolaty but seasonal at the same time.
Following a trip to our local farmers’ market, I came home with free-range eggs, strawberries, asparagus, free-range chicken and plenty of other seasonal delights. I was all set to make my chocolate cake for Easter.
This cake is stupendously easy to make! Making the cake batter takes hardly any time at all and you don’t need to do much apart from weighing the ingredients into the mixing bowl (whilst boiling the kettle), then mix, divide and bake. It’s as simple as that!
For that reason, I prepare the strawberries first as they need to be roasted at the same time as the cake is baking. The strawberries are best if they are very ripe, because the flavour is even better, then the strawberries become almost jam-like during roasting and a delicious intense red strawberry syrup forms. Once cooled, half of the roasted strawberries then get blended with the mascarpone to make the frosting (which is delicious but not too sweet).
This cake is a fantastic recipe, even if I say so myself! The oil in the cake batter helps to keep the baked cake moist and it has an almost fudge/truffle-like texture. Delicious!
Ingredients & Method
For the roasted strawberry mascarpone frosting
- 250g strawberries, hulled, washed and quartered
- 200g icing sugar
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- ½ vanilla pod, split in half lengthways and seeds scraped out
- 250g full-fat mascarpone
For the chocolate cake
- 350g plain flour
- 130g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
- 500g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 180ml sunflower oil
- ½ vanilla pod, split in half lengthways and seeds scraped out
- 375ml boiling water
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas Mark 4. Line a small baking tray with parchment paper, and grease and base-line two 20cm diameter sandwich cake tins. Set aside.
For the roasted strawberry mascarpone frosting, spread out the strawberries on the lined baking tray, then dust over half of the icing sugar and scatter over the water. Set aside while you make the cake batter (the strawberries go in the oven at the same time as the cake).
To make the chocolate cake batter, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients, except the boiling water, and whisk together. Slowly add the boiling water, whisking continuously, until smooth and well combined (do not over mix). Divide the cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake tins, levelling the surface.
Bake the cakes and the strawberries in the oven at the same time for about 45 minutes (quickly remove the strawberries from the oven after 15 minutes cooking time), or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
Leave the roasted strawberries to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a bowl or dish along with the syrup and leave to cool completely (refrigerate them, if you can) for at least 1 hour. The strawberries will become jam-like during cooking and the syrup that forms will be bright red in colour.
Remove the cakes from the oven, leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely (the cake must be completely cold before adding the frosting).
To finish the strawberry mascarpone frosting, blend half of the roasted strawberries (reserve the rest) with the remaining icing sugar in a blender, then add the mascarpone and vanilla seeds, a little at a time, blending until smooth.
To assemble the cake, spread half of the strawberry mascarpone on one cake, top with half of the remaining roasted strawberries, then place the other cake on top. Decorate the cake with the rest of the strawberry mascarpone, then the remaining roasted strawberries, and finally drizzle over the roasted strawberry syrup. The cake is now ready to serve, so enjoy!
Cook’s Note
This cake will keep moist and delicious for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge (remember to keep it refrigerated though, as the mascarpone will not last if left out of the fridge).