Lemon Berry Mascarpone Cake

For those of you who don’t know, I work at the local coffee shop.  Well, once upon a time, we had this amazingly awesome cake that we bought frozen and sold by the slice.  Did I mention it was awesome?  I may or may not have had a slice of this decadent cake for lunch once.  Okay, twice.   But seriously, people…this cake was that.  good.

I needed to recreate this cake so that I could have it anytime I wanted.  I went home, went to my kitchen and started playing…er…baking.  After a few tries, it was perfect. 

And, because it’s spring, because in the spring I love all things lemon and/or berry, because it’s 11:27 pm on Monday night, and because I absolutely love my blog readers, I’ve deciced to share this fantabulous creation with you!

There’s three parts to this cake.  The cake itself, the crumb topping, and the mascarpone filling.   Start by making the crumb topping.

Combine one cup flour, 2/3 cup sugar, the zest of one lemon and 6 tbsp of melted butter.

Grab a fork and stir this mixture around until it forms a crumbly, delicious mess.

Resist the temptation to eat this with a spoon.  Set the crumbly-ness to the side.

Now, let’s move on the to cake portion.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Butter two 8″ cake pans. 

 In a small bowl, sift together 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp baking soda.

In mixer bowl, cream 1 stick of softened butter and the zest of one lemon.  Add 1 cup sugar and mix well.  Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Add the juice of one lemon.

Add dry ingredients, alternately with 3/4 cup sour cream.  So, add 1/3 of the flour mixutre, 1/4 of the sour cream, etc.

Beat until well combined.

Divide batter between prepared cake pans.

Grab a bag of frozen mixed berries and sprinkle generously over the top of each cake – use about 1/2 to 3/4 cup per cake. 

Now, remember that crumbly bowl of heaven from before?  Divid that between the two pans.

Press down genlty and place cakes in the oven.  Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until cake tester (or toothpick) inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cake cool completely in pans.

When you’re ready to assemble, prepare your filling.

Beat together 12 oz. mascarpone cheese, 1/4 cup half & half, and 4 tbsp powdered sugar.

Place one cake layer on your serving plate, crumb side up, and spread all the filling on top. 

Top with second cake layer, crumb side up,  and dust with powdered sugar.

Refrigerate the cake until the filling is nice and firm…a few hours at least.  Serve cold or at room temperature, but store leftovers in the refrigerator.

This will keep for 3-4 days in the refrigerator (not around here, though…I’d eat it faster than that!), or you can wrap it well and freeze it.