Mascarpone pound cake

A delicious and not-too-sweet treat!

I adore this Italian-style pound cake because it’s not too sweet and it can be dressed up so many different ways, such as with whipped mascarpone cream (see below), fresh berries and cream, a drizzle of amaretto and more. I love the pretty and yummy combination of marmalade and almonds on top, but a simple dusting of icing sugar would work well too. With the absence of butter or oil in the recipe, the cake is dryer in texture which I find provides a good balance for any rich toppings. Note that you can swap in cream cheese instead of mascarpone and if you wish you can double the ingredients below to make a cake in a nine or ten inch (22.5 or 25 cm) springform pan (baking time will be a bit longer). And in case you’re wondering, aside from great flavour, the advantage of whipping together mascarpone and heavy cream is that the fluffy mixture will hold its structure longer.

Ingredients

Cake

• 3/4 cup (170 g) mascarpone cheese at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups (185 g) flour
• 3/4 cup (170 g) granulated sugar
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder
• pinch salt
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) almond or vanilla extract

Topping

• 1/4 cup (80 g) marmalade
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) water
• 1/3 cup (25 g) sliced almonds, toasted

Whipped mascarpone cream

• 1/2 cup (112 g) cold mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 cup (50 g) icing sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) almond or vanilla extract
• 1 cup (250 mL) heavy (35%) cream

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F and line the bottom of a 6 inch (15 cm) cake pan or springform pan with parchment paper. Grease the sides of the pan well and set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand held mixer, beat the mascarpone, sugar, almond or vanilla extract and eggs until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Combine the flour, salt and baking powder and gradually add this mixture to the creamed ingredients while mixing at medium speed. The resulting batter will be very thick.
• Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top as much as possible.
• Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Place cake on a wire rack to cool; remove from pan after 15 minutes.
• While cake finishes cooling, prepare the whipped mascarpone cream. Vigorously whisk or beat the mascarpone until smooth. Add the icing sugar and almond extract and whisk or beat for 1 – 2 minutes, until thick and smooth. Gradually add the heavy cream, whisking or beating at medium-high speed for 2 – 4 minutes, until the mixture forms semi-firm peaks.
• When cake has cooled, heat the marmalade and water until it is just about boiling, then carefully spoon over the top of the cake. Scatter almonds over top of the marmalade, pressing gently so they stick to the top of the cake. Let sit until marmalade cools.
• To serve, cut into slices and top each with a dollop of whipped mascarpone cream or a drizzle of amaretto (or both). Leftover cake can be placed in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 6 months. Leftover whipped mascarpone cream can be refrigerated for 4 days.

Serves 8 – 10.