Orange Mascarpone Cake

 
Ever follow one of those recipes all the way through and then feel like changing it up a bit last-minute? Like when the recipe calls for a round pan that's 22cm but you decide, "Hey! Why not change it up a bit and go for a 20cm square pan instead? Those few cm won't make THAT much of a difference!" And once you happily implement that brilliant plan of yours, you find out that the cake didn't rise enough and you're stuck with one lonely, not-so-high layer of cake? Yeah, that. 

If there's one thing that I love about baking, it's that I am constantly on a learning curve. No matter how many years I've been involved with the art of trying to get a cake baked just right, there's always something new that I might just pick up along the way. There's always going to be mistakes made, whether you're having an off day or just don't seem to be getting it right. Eventually, with baking, one must learn to be patient and that it's all about trial and error. I won't ramble anymore about that, let's get back to this cake.

"Not to worry!" I optimistically thought to myself. So, I decided to wing it and try out my best shot at fixing this problem without making it too obvious. The simple idea of cutting the cake in half and stacking it on top of each other turned out to be quite a strategic plan. Rather than the 3-layered cake that I had initially hoped for, I ended up with a 2-layered, almost rectangular shaped cake. It seems silly, but it was a teeny proud moment of mine to be able to salvage something without adding anything fancy to it.  

The best part? No one even noticed.

For the cake:

185g butter, softened
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
3 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
⅓ cup (40g) almond meal
½ cup (125ml) orange juice
350g raspberries
1 tablespoon orange-flavored liqueur*

• Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease deep 22cm-round cake pan; line base and side with baking paper.
• Beat butter, rind and caster sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in sifted flour, almond meal and juice, in two batches. Pour mixture into pan.
• Bake cake about 50 minutes. Stand cake in pan for 5 minutes; turn, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.
• Meanwhile, make mascarpone cream.
• Reserve 12 raspberries. Split cake into three layers. Place on layer of cake on serving plate; spread with half of the mascarpone cream, then top with half of the raspberries. Repeat layering process, finishing with layer of cake. Cover; refrigerate 1 hour.
• Serve cake with reserved raspberries and sifted icing sugar, if desired.

For the mascarpone cream

1 cup (250g) mascarpone cheese
⅓ cup (55g) icing sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
1 tablespoon orange-flavored liqueur*
⅔ cup (160ml) thickened cream**

• Combine mascarpone, sifted icing sugar, rind and liqueur in medium bowl. 
• Beat cream until soft peaks form; fold into mascarpone mixture.

*I used natural orange extract instead
**I used whipping cream instead

Happy Baking!