Italian mascarpone cake

Italian mascarpone cake is a personal favourite. It's flexible and the perfect option for those who don't like overly sweet things. Easy-to-make, it can be made with many different combinations of berries, citrus zest and spices. I'm doing it here with my favourite combination—blueberries, orange zest and nutmeg—but you can adapt it to your own personal preferences.

Grumpy cake

In my old hand-written notebooks of recipes, this one is listed as ‘Grumpy cake’. I was taught it by a friend, a creative director from Venice. She was very reserved but known to get ratty at "unnecessary conversation". When I pressed her to learn more about the history of this cake that she had learned from her mother, she got grumpy and snapped at me: “Pft!. Who cares? Just cook it and enjoy it!”

Thus, I don’t know that much about the history of this cake but I suspect that it probably originated in Northern Italy given that the wonderful cheese mascarpone is generally held to have come from Lombardy. But, as with many other things, the rolling out of mass infrastructures during the 20th century means it now seems to be something enjoyed in many other parts of Italy.

I often whine about not having a sweet tooth and therefore don’t bake cakes very often. One of the things I love about this recipe is that, with its combination of soft berries and citrus, it somehow manages to not be too sweet, despite quite a lot of sugar going into it.

Pick a berry

I’m making the mascarpone cake here with blueberries and orange zest, one of my favourite combinations. But, it can be made with any soft berry—raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc.—balanced with a fresh citrus zest whether orange, lemon or even tangerine. I think blueberry and orange is my overall favourite combination, but I also love the version with raspberries and lemon zest (though I leave out the nutmeg in this version).

If you live somewhere hot and humid where fresh soft berries are hard to get, you can actually try other options. One excellent version I made was as the pudding for a Chinese meal: fresh lychees and lime zest with finely ground star anise rather than nutmeg. Get creative with it. But, if there is one thing I will say, having experimented over the years, it’s better if you stick to one soft fruit and one citrus zest flavour rather than a cacophony of too many fruity flavours.

I recommend baking it in a fairly deep 20cm baking dish—I can say this because I almost always bake it in recyclable disposable tin foil trays since I seldom bake cakes unless they're heading out the door to one event or another.

All the options

In these quantities, this recipe will easily serve 8 (or more) people unless you're heading for Piggy Central. Apparently, in Italy it is as often served as a dessert with pouring cream at supper as it is as a treat with coffee in the afternoon.

While it was obviously once mixed by hand, I strongly recommend using a handheld electric mixer or your big fancy cake mixer if you have one.

One thing that is important to note is that if you don't scoff it all in one go, it should be stored in the fridge and eaten within three days. Because of the high dairy content, it doesn't so much dry out as turn mouldy, like bread.

If you can't get fresh mascarpone where you are, it can be made with Quark as a substitute. It won't be as moist and I recommend baking it for a slightly shorter period of time because seems to cook a little more quickly.

The berry glaze is entirely optional. It's often served simply topped with sifted confectioner's sugar.

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• Be sure to melt the butter on a low heat. You do not want it to boil or simmer. And, once melted, ensure you allow long enough for it to cool, otherwise it will start to cook the eggs.

• The batter will be rather thick, thicker than most cake batters. This is how it should be. Don’t be tempted to add milk or any other ingredients to “water” it down. That way lies disaster.

• If using a berry glaze, make sure you allow time for the cake to sufficiently cool before coating the top. If you add it while the cake is hot, problems can arise, ranging from it being absorbed into the cake to remaining sticky and not setting.

Shopping list

for the Italian mascarpone cake

• 250g mascarpone cheese

• 1 cup fresh, ripe blueberries (or other soft berries of choice); washed and drained

• 2 tbspns freshly grated orange zest

• Approx. ½ tspn freshly grated nutmeg

• 5 tbspns unsalted butter

• One and a half cups plain flour

• ¾ cup white sugar

• 1tspn baking powder

• ½ tspn salt

• 2 large eggs

• ½ tspn Moroccan almond oil (or almond essence)

for the berry glaze (optional)

• 1 cup fresh blueberries (or the berries you're using); washed and drained

• 2 tbspns white sugar

Cooking Method

the Italian mascarpone cake

1. Melt the butter on a low heat. Once fully liquid, allow it to cool

2. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, orange zest and nutmeg

3. In another suitable mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the mascarpone and melted butter into the sugar. Add the eggs and and almond oil and mix them in

4. Add the dry ingredients—about a third at a time—to create a fully assimilated, rather thick batter

5. Add the blackberries to the bowl you used to mix the flour and roll them around. Dusting them in flour will will help them to remain a little "contained" as the cake bakes

6. Pour about two thirds of the batter into your greased baking dish. You will probably need to spread it out using a spatula or spoon because it should be a fairly thick batter. Scatter the blackberries in, then add the remaining batter over the top. Again, you'll need a spatula spreading the batter, ensuring it extends to the edges of the dish

7. Bake in an oven preheated to 175°C for 35mins. NB: you may need to bake it for up to 10mins longer because not all berries are the same. However, by the 35mins mark, you will be able to take it out of the oven (without fear of it collapsing) and work out whether it needs a little longer

8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before adding the berry glaze—if using—or simply dust with confectioner's sugar

the berry glaze

1. Add the blueberries to a small pot (i.e. literally a "saucepan") and heat them on a medium-high heat. As soon as the berries heat, sprinkle in the white sugar and stir in

2. As the sugar melts and the berries exude juice, gently press them down interspersed with stirring in the sugar. Be careful not to mash the berries: you're looking for them to exude enough juice to combine with the melting sugar, not to pulverise them

3. When the juice has assimilated the sugar and starts to thicken, remove from the heat. Wait for it to cool—but not so long that it solidifies as "jam"—and then pour over the cooled cake, spreading out with a spatula. Serve once fully cooled.

Alternatives

This dish is lactovegetarian. I'm not going to pretend to have any experience in searching out any vegan alternatives to mascarpone to create vegan versions, nor indeed am I interested in going down that rabbit hole. I'd rather just make a vegan pudding.

Pairings

Despite what one might assume, I tend towards pairing good coffee with Italian dessert courses—and, indeed, that works. But, in a rare enthusiasm for matching a dessert wine with a pudding, I must recommend Gianni Doglia Casa di Bianca Moscato d'Asti. I remember having it with the 2017 and just being blown away by the sweetness balanced with green herbal notes.