Strawberry Mascarpone Cake

I had a lot of mascarpone left over from making the Tiramisu and did a search in my folder of recipes. I found this recipe for a Strawberry Mascarpone Cake from Rabbit sims that I bookmarked a loooong time ago. I'm so glad I found this because I had forgotten all about it.

I really really love the sponge cake in this recipe. I will now use this in all of my future cakes. I love the texture of this cake, it's really soft and taste so yummy!

As for the strawberry mascarpone part, eh..it's so so. Before putting in the refrigerator to set, I tasted the cream and thought it was delicious and very creamy. But after refrigeration, I thought it got kinda grainy. I think it's because of the gelatin, so I'm going to omit the gelatin for the next time or at least reduce it by at least half. Here's the recipe.

Strawberry Mascarpone Cake
adapted from Rabbit Sims
makes one 7" cake
total time: 2 hours

1 1/2 lbs fresh strawberries, cut some in halves, and the rest in cubes
250 ml Whipping cream
20g Dark chocolate
one 7" Vanilla chiffon cake (recipe below)
250 g mascarpone
6 tbsp icing sugar
3g of gelatin powder (see note)

1. First prepare the cheese filling: Whip the cream until stiff peaks are formed. Refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Sprinkle the gelatin in 3 tbsp of cold water and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Melt the gelatin in a double boiler or in the microwave for 15 seconds.

3. In a bowl, whisk the mascarpone and icing sugar till sugar is dissolved. Take 3/4 of the whipped cream and fold into the cheese mixture. Then fold in gelatin and strawberries cubes. Chill the cream in the refrigerator.

4. Line the cake tin with parchment paper. Take the baked chiffon cake and slice the cake in half. Place one of the cake slices on the bottom of a 7" springform pan.

5. To decorate the side of the cake, line the side of the pan with strawberries which were cut in half. Pour in the mascarpone mixture and top with the other piece of chiffon cake. Press slightly to remove air pockets.

6. Spread the remainder of the whipped cream on top. Smooth with a palette knife.

7. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and using a spoon drizzle over the cake to decorate. Chill in the fridge till set.

Chiffon cake
makes an 8" cake (see note)

50g milk
40g sugar
40g vegetable oil

80g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg whites
40g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Preheat the oven to 338 degrees.

2. Combine milk and 40g of sugar. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Add the vegetable oil and whisk until emulsified. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until completely combined.

3. Sift the flour and the baking powder together and fold into the egg yolk mixture.

4. In an oil free and water free bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat the egg whites. Add the sugar in three batches and continue to beat until stiff peaks are formed.

5. Take a third of the beaten egg whites and fold into the egg yolk batter to loosen it. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites in two increments.

6. Pour into an ungreased 8" cake tin. Bake the cake until a toothpick or thin skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Note:

• The recipe for the chiffon cake makes an 8" cake. The recipe for the Strawberry Mascarpone cake calls for a 7" cake. You can either make the 8" cake and trim the edges to fit in a 7" pan, or you can bake the cake in a 7" pan and bake the rest of the batter in another pan (muffin tin?).
• As I said above, I think it would be best to reduce the amount of gelatin or omit it all together. I haven't experimented with a smaller amount of gelatin, so I can't give you an exact number.