Yank Bakes Madera Cake with Summer Fruits

After many failed attempts at summer fruit themed cupcakes I was drowning in excess summer fruit that was moments away from going off. I had found this cake recipe a few weeks ago on The Caked Crusader and new it would be sturdy enough to hold up to all the fruit and a mascarpone crème filling so off I trotted.


Madeira Cake

Ingredients:

180g unsalted butter, at room temperature

175g caster sugar plus an additional 2 tablespoons for sprinkling on top

3 eggs

165g self raising flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract



How to make:- Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan oven 140°C/315°F/Gas mark 2-3.

- Line a 20cm spring form tin with baking paper.

- Start by beating together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

- Beat in the eggs gradually, adding a little of the flour if the mix looks like its curdling.

- Beat in the vanilla.- Fold in the flour.

- Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

- Sprinkle the additional caster sugar over the top.

- Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Mine took 50 minutes.

- Leave to cool for 20 minutes in the tin before turning out and allowing to cool completely on a wire rack.

- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.

- Eat.

Martha Stewart’s Mascarpone Frosting:

1 pound mascarpone cheese (used 8 oz)
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar (used ¼ cup) 1-1/4 cups heavy cream
(I wanted a very creamy very easy to spread filling more than frosting)

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I didn't have this and just used the regular beaters), beat the mascarpone, cream and confectioners' sugar until medium-soft peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. Be careful no to over beat. Use immediately.

Various Summer Fruits

I used:

3 peaches that I had to cut some bad parts out
½ a punnet of strawberries
Almost a whole punnet of blueberries





Assembly:

After the Madera cake had completely cooled I cut off the top ¼ of the cake leaving as much bottom as possible to soak up all the juices. I then put the base back into the spring form pan I had used to bake the cake. I spread the bottom with around 3 TBS of some strawberry puree I had left over. I then started layering cut up fruit on the cake; I layered peaches the strawberries and then threw in the blueberries. In hind sight I would have 1. mixed all the fruit together and then tossed it on top or 2. put the strawberries down first. I think the flatness of the peaches covering the base of the cake did not allow all the juices from the strawberries to soak into the base of the cake but that is just my unfounded humble opinion and since I was making this up as I went along I have no idea. I then put the Mascarpone filling on top and spread towards the edges. Finally I put the top layer of the cake back on and delicately but as hard as I thought the cake could handle smooshed everything down.