Mascarpone-Filled Cake with Sherried Berries

Name:  Mascarpone-Filled Cake with Sherried Berries

Difficulty: Easy

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

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 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

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: 
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.

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 hour