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    You are here Home Β» food

    by Melissa

    Italian Berry Cake with Mascarpone Cream

    This Italian Berry cake with mascarpone is a light and delicious layer cake that is so easy to make. This Italian layer cake is perfect for the non-baker because it does not require any special cake decorating skills to pull off a beautiful presentation. It is really one our favorite Italian desserts!

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

    About this Italian Cake:

    This Italian cake is almost as easy as making a trifle and any imperfections in the cake can easily be covered up when assembling. This cake is an Italian sponge cake that is layered with more creamy goodness from the mascarpone and then adorned with fresh berries.

    It is a great recipe to have on hand when you want to quickly throw together a delicious layer cake but want it to look like it took a long time. It is perfect for any occasion.

    The ingredients you will need for this Italian layer cake are:

    • All Purpose Flour
    • Granulated Sugar
    • Mascarpone cream (you can find this in the refrigerated specialty cheese section of your grocery store).
    • Fresh berries
    • Sour Cream
    • Eggs
    • Vanilla
    • Baking powder and Salt

    While this is an Italian berry cake, you can also substitute any fresh seasonal fruit that is soft and requires no cooking. Figs make a great fruit that would look beautiful. Just slice the figs into slices for the middle and leave them whole for the top! For this recipe, I used a mix of summer berries but you could also make this with just one type of berry. It is fully customizable!

    Steps to making this Italian cake:

    • You sift all your dry ingredients into a large bowl.
    • Add your wet ingredients and mix well with a hand or stand mixer.
    • Pour your batter into 2 prepared baking pans (to prepare baking pans: add baking spray or butter the pans then add a little flour to prevent the cake from sticking after baking)
    • Bake!

    The Mascarpone Frosting:

    The mascarpone frosting is actually more of a cream layer than a frosting and so easy to make. You are just taking room temperature mascarpone cheese and sour cream and adding vanilla and honey to it and whipping it until it is light and airy.

    You can use this frosting recipe on so many other desserts, not just this cake. You can also serve it along side fresh fruit or cake in place of whipped cream. It is a real keeper recipe!

    This mascarpone frosting that is sandwiched in between and on top of the cake is very light and not too sweet and makes the perfect partner to the berries. This cake makes a great addition to your special occasions (how I use it) or for summertime BBQs because of the freshness.

    For more Italian dessert ideas:

    Italian Basil Olive Oil Cake

    Italian Ricotta Cake

    Ciambella Yogurt Cake

    Italian Pizzelles

    Italian Tiramisu

    Balsamic Strawberries

    Italian Plum Tart

    Print Recipe
    5 from 2 votes

    Italian Berry Cake with Mascarpone

    This light and airy cake with Mascarpone and berries is easy to make and so delicious
    Prep Time15 mins
    Cook Time20 mins
    rest and decorating30 mins
    Total Time1 hr 5 mins
    Servings: 1 cake

    Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!

    Ingredients

    Cake

    • 1 β…“ cup of unsalted butter at room temperature
    • 1 β…“ cups of all purpose flour
    • 1 β…“ cups of sugar
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 3 large eggs
    • 1 Β½ teaspoon of baking powder
    • ΒΌ teaspoon of salt

    Cream Filling and Decorating

    • 4-6 tablespoon of fresh preserves raspberry or mixed berry preserves works great!
    • 16 oz of fresh berries I use a mix of blackberries, strawberries and raspberries
    • 16 ounces mascarpone at room temperature
    • 8 ounces sour cream at room temperature
    • Β½ cup of honey or more to taste if your like your cream more sweet
    • 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
    US Customary - Metric
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    Instructions

    • Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees.
    • Prepare 2, 9 inch round cake pans by greasing them and then dusting them with some flour and set aside.
    • Now, sift all of your dry ingredients for your cake mix into a large bowl.
      1 β…“ cups of all purpose flour, 1 β…“ cups of sugar, 1 Β½ teaspoon of baking powder, ΒΌ teaspoon of salt
    • Next add your eggs, vanilla and butter and mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute. Your batter should be thick but not too thick to spread in the cake pans.
      1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 3 large eggs, 1 β…“ cup of unsalted butter at room temperature
    • Now divide your batter into the 2 cake pans evenly. If it is not spreading easily, grease the back of a large spoon and use that to spread the batter around on the cake pan to reach the edges
    • Place into the oven for 25-30 minutes until the cake is golden on top and a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
    • When done, place on cooling racks for 5 minutes.
    • After 5 minutes, run a knife along the edges of the cake to make sure it is not sticking to the side and then turn the cakes upside down onto the cooling rack and give a few good taps to the bottom of the cake pans to loosen them from the pan. They should pop out easily after doing this! If they do not, keep giving the bottom of the pans a few more good taps until they do.
    • Let sit until completely cooled, about 30 minutes.
    • Cream and topping

    Cream Filling

    • In a medium bowl, add your mascarpone, sour cream, honey and vanilla and mix on medium speed with a hand mixer until it is smooth and creamy.
      16 ounces mascarpone at room temperature, 8 ounces sour cream at room temperature, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, Β½ cup of honey

    Assembling

    • Take one of your cakes and place it on a plate. Now add a few spoonfuls of your preserves and spread it all around on the cake in a thin layer.
      4-6 tablespoon of fresh preserves
    • Next take Β½ of your mascarpone cream and spread that over top of the preserves. Next, add Β½ of your fresh berries evenly over the cream.
      16 oz of fresh berries
    • Add your next cake over the top of this and gently press it into place.
    • Repeat the steps above with the preserves, cream and berries. optional: dust the top with powdered sugar before serving
    • Enjoy!

    Nutrition

    Calories: 3820kcal | Carbohydrates: 394g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 247g | Saturated Fat: 156g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 64g | Trans Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 651mg | Sodium: 40mg | Potassium: 262mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 267g | Vitamin A: 7564IU | Calcium: 101mg | Iron: 8mg

    Nutrition Values are estimates only.

    See full nutrition disclaimer here
    Course :Dessert
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Albert Bevia says

      April 05, 2018 at 10:42 am

      This is the perfect cake for me, I am not much of a baker, and it seems simple enough to make...plus it looks so beautiful and tasty

      Reply
      • Melissa says

        April 05, 2018 at 12:36 pm

        Thanks Albert! Yes, it is a very easy cake that tastes good AND is has a beautiful presentation without any complicated baking techniques πŸ™‚ This was the first cake that I learned to make!

        Reply
    2. AC says

      May 10, 2020 at 2:01 pm

      hey there! i'm excited to make this today -- for the mascarpone, is it 8oz total or 16oz total (2 x 8oz tubs)? thanks so much!

      Reply
      • Melissa says

        May 12, 2020 at 4:17 pm

        Hi. So sorry I am just receiving this. It is 2 tubs so 16 oz total. You can get away with half the amount though and it will still be amazing!
        Hope you enjoy it πŸ™‚

        Reply
    3. Erica Straff says

      October 10, 2020 at 10:09 pm

      Can I make this cake the day before I need it. Will the marscapone filling stay stable?

      Reply
      • Melissa Oleary says

        October 10, 2020 at 11:57 pm

        Hi Erica.
        You can make this ahead of time but you would need to refrigerate it and then bring it back to room temperature so the mascarpone filling is soft when serving. You can also make the cake portion (not the filling) the day before and make the filling portion and assemble it the day you need it. I hope this helps πŸ™‚

        Reply
    4. Sarah says

      August 14, 2021 at 1:47 pm

      5 stars
      This was perfect and looked beautiful!

      Reply
    5. Annemarie says

      September 21, 2021 at 8:18 am

      Delicious! Thank you. Can it be frozen and used later? I made too much!

      Reply
      • Melissa says

        September 21, 2021 at 3:02 pm

        Hi Annemarie.

        I am so glad you enjoyed it! I haven't tried freezing the cake but it should do well since both cake and cream freeze well. If you do freeze it, make sure to wrap it with plastic wrap tightly to prevent freezer burn. I would thaw it in the fridge overnight to let it gradually come back to room temp.
        Let me know how it works out πŸ™‚

        Reply
        • Annemarie says

          September 24, 2021 at 7:07 am

          Thank you! It's the frosting I made too much of so I'll only freeze that. I'll let you know how it goes -- I hope it's fine! Thanks for sharing all this!

          Reply
    6. Jen says

      March 22, 2022 at 4:54 pm

      5 stars
      This was the perfect light cake and we loved those creamy mascarpone layers!

      Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. Italian Berry Cake with Mascarpone Cream - fancy-edibles.com says:
      April 5, 2018 at 11:42 am

      […] Read more at keepingitsimpleblog.com […]

      Reply
    2. Italian Plum Tart • Keeping It Simple Blog says:
      May 15, 2020 at 4:43 pm

      […] just how I like to cook. If you like easy desserts like this one then you should also check out my Italian Berry Cake! It is one of my favorites and beautiful looking when it is all […]

      Reply
    3. Basil Olive Oil Cake with Sweet Whipped Cream • Keeping It Simple Blog says:
      May 22, 2020 at 9:10 pm

      […] olive cakes! If you are a fan of Italian desserts like I am then you may also want to check out my Italian Berry Cake with Mascarpone. It is really simple, beautiful and […]

      Reply
    4. Easy Classic Carrot Cake • Keeping It Simple Blog says:
      March 8, 2021 at 9:14 pm

      […] when it comes to cake decorating. You will see with all my cakes from my Basil Olive Oil Cake to my Italian Berry Cake that I have lots of work arounds to compensate for my lack of decorating […]

      Reply
    5. Easy Italian Plum Tart • Keeping It Simple Blog says:
      June 4, 2021 at 8:40 pm

      […] just how I like to cook. If you like easy desserts like this one then you should also check out my Italian Berry Cake! It is one of my favorites and beautiful looking when it is all […]

      Reply

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