Who doesn’t love chocolate cake? The combination of chocolate cake with something tart is amazing.
This cake is composed of layers of moist chocolate cake with a tart blackberry jam and whipped mascarpone topped with fresh berries. It’s a little labor intensive but it is worth it. I made this for a friend’s birthday. Needless to say they loved it.
Cake layers are baked first.
A very simple jam consisting of blackberries, water, and sugar is next.
Followed by the fluffiest mascarpone whipped frosting.
Then comes assembly.
Build the layers with a ring of frosting so the jam does not seep out.
Add a crumb coat and coat again if you wish. Personally, I am a fan of the semi-naked cake look.
I used the remaining jam passed through a sieve to achieve the coloring on the final cake. The cake and all its components can be made ahead of time and assembled at a later date. Just make sure you wrap the cake tightly in cling wrap to store. Now let’s talk recipe! This recipe yields a 3 layer six inch cake.
Ingredients:
Cake:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coffee
Blackberry Jam:
1 1/2 cup blackberries
4 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar
Whipped Mascarpone Frosting:
1 8oz package mascarpone
4 tbsp room temperature butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream + 1 tbsp powdered sugar
Directions:
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Brew 1/2 cup of coffee. You will need two bowls for this. In bowl one add all dry ingredients (sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt). In bowl two, add all wet ingredients except coffee (Eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla). Add ingredients wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well. Add hot coffee last and mix vigorously for 2 minutes. Distribute evenly amongst 3 parchment lined 6 inch cake pans. Bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake completely before assembly.
Blackberry Jam:
Add blackberries, water, and sugar to a pan. Heat on medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If mixture starts to dry out add water 1 tbsp at a time to bring it to jam consistency. Cool to room temperature before use.
Whipped Mascarpone Frosting:
Add mascarpone and butter to large mixing bowl. With the whisk attachment, whisk on high speed for 3 minutes. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and whisk on high speed for another 3 minutes. In a separate bowl add powdered sugar to heavy cream and whip until stiff peaks form. Add whipped cream to whipped mascarpone by gently incorporating. Chill in fridge until ready to use.
Assembly:
Add a dollop of frosting to the center of your cake stand/plate. Place cake on top of the frosting. Using a spatula, spread frosting on the cake, leaving a space in the center for the jam. Spoon jam into the space in the middle. Add next cake layer and repeat. Once you top with the final layer, spread frosting all over cake . Place cake in fridge for 1 hour to set.
Prepare piping bag with Wilton 2D tip. Place frosting in bag and pipe around the cake. To achieve the color gradient, I used the remaining jam passed through a sieve. I also used the same strained jam for the gradient effect on the cake, placing random drops of the syrup and spreading to smooth.
Decorate with blackberries and store until ready to eat!
Let me know if you try this and how it goes for you!