Seasonal Baking: Cherry and Mascarpone Cake

A simple recipe celebrating cherry season.

Happy weekend, everyone! I thought it was high time I shared another simple, seasonal recipe with you: enter my cherry and mascarpone cake, perfect for Summer. Cherry season is short but sweet, so before July was over I wanted to bake with the seasonal stone fruit. The cake is rich and puddingy: the mascarpone makes for a tighter, sweeter crumb that balances the fruit’s sharp freshness. I’ve served the cake with a cloud-like vanilla mascarpone cream that really takes it to the next level.

To make the cake, you will need:

120g caster sugar
30g butter
90g mascarpone
2 eggs
120g self-raising flour
120g cherries (weight includes the stones)
60g cherry jam.

1. Preheat the oven to 160C Fan. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the mascarpone and beat again until smooth and fully incorporated.

3. Add the eggs one at a time with a little flour, then fold through the remaining flour. 

4. De-stone and chop the cherries: cut half of them in two (for the topping) and the others into quarters to fold through the batter.

5. Pour the batter into a greased and lined 20 cm tin and smooth the surface.

6. Warm the jam a little to loosen it, and swirl over the top of the cake. Add the rest of the (halved) cherries, pressing them lightly into the surface.

Serve in slices with a whipped mascarpone cream. To top two portions with mascarpone cream, whip 50g of mascarpone until light and fluffy. Add a few drops of vanilla extract and a teaspoon of maple syrup to sweeten.

Happy baking - see you next Saturday! xxx