Categories: cake, dessert

Ingredients

• For cake:
• 2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• For berries:
• 1/2 cup Fino (dry) Sherry
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 cups mixed berries, cut if large
• For cream:
• 8 ounces mascarpone (1 cup)
• 1 cup chilled heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Garnish:
• confectioners sugar

Directions

1. Make cake:

2. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep). Line bottom with a round of parchment paper, then butter parchment.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer at low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing after each addition until just combined.

5. Spread batter in cake pan, smoothing top. Rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles.

6. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Discard paper and reinvert cake onto rack to cool completely.

7. Macerate berries:

8. Bring Sherry and sugar to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Put berries in a bowl and pour hot syrup over them, gently tossing to coat. Let stand 15 minutes.

9. Make cream and assemble cake:

10. Beat mascarpone and cream with sugar in a large bowl using cleaned beaters until mixture just holds stiff peaks.

11. Halve cake horizontally with a long serrated knife. Carefully remove top half and reserve. Put bottom half on a plate, then spread evenly with all of cream and replace top half. Serve with berries.

12. ooks notes: •Cake, without cream, can be baked 1 day ahead. Wrap in plastic wrap once cool and keep at room temperature. •Berries can macerate at room temperature up to 2 hours.

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