Berry Chantilly Cake

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups buttermilk

For the Berry Syrup:

• 1/4 cup raspberry jam
• 2 Tbsp water

For the Frosting:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted
• 1/4 cup butter at room temperature
• 1 t. sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray and line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper cut into rounds.
2. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream for about 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time. Add egg yolks, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla.
4. Stir together salt, baking powder and flour in a large bowl. Pour half of the mixture into the butter mixture and beat until just combined. Add half of buttermilk, then add the remainder of the flour mixture followed by the remainder of the buttermilk. Do not over mix.
5. Divide the cake batter evenly between the pans.
6. Bake for 33-38 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes up clean.
7. Remove from the oven, place the pans on a wire rack and allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes. Then, turn the cakes out on the cooling rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting:

1. With a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat heavy cream and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl.
2. Put the mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar in the mixing bowl and beat until very smooth.
3. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. Use immediately.

FOR THE SYRUP:

1. Mix the water and jam together in a saucepan over medium heat until it reaches a syrupy texture.

ASSEMBLY:

1. Cool both cakes completely. When they have cooled, make the frosting.
2. Brush about half of the syrup mixture onto the bottom layer of the cake. Be very generous and pay special attention to the edges of the cake.
3. Spread about half the frosting on top of the syrup. Put the assorted berries on top. If the berries you are using are large, make sure you cut them into smaller pieces.
4. Put the top layer on and repeat by brushing on half the syrup, spread the rest of the frosting and top with berries. Chill for an hour in the fridge, or 15-30 minutes in the freezer.

The journey to this recipe

I was inspired to make this when my sister bought a Chantilly cake for her husband for his birthday. I hadn’t made a Chantilly cake and wasn’t sure what it was, and I really wanted to try to make it. When I found out that it had mascarpone cheese in the frosting, I was sold. The frosting is the star of this cake. The cake itself is good, a yummy, moist yellow cake. But the frosting reigns. It is the Queen. It is the Queen Elizabeth II of the frostings. The Beyoncé of frostings. It is everything. I’m not always big on frosting, but I like cream cheese frosting, and this is even better. It’s like, cream cheese frosting on steroids. Besides the wonderful taste of this frosting, it’s also nice to decorate because it’s just super fluffy and flexible to work with and looks beautiful without being perfectly smooth. I didn’t do the sides, because it was 9pm and I had woken up at 4am yesterday (thank you thunderstorms). I think it still looked great without it. Tasted fine. I used blackberries because they were on sale, and raspberries, to go with the preserves (also raspberries are the BEST). You can use any berry though. All berries would be good. This frosting though. Can’t stop thinking about it. Make & enjoy!