Mascarpone-Filled Cake with Sherried Berries

This cake is so easy to make, and so delicious. That's all I have to say about it.


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:

Make cake:
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.

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

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.

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

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.

Macerate berries:
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.

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

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.

Fresh

Since I hate the taste of water (yes, it has a taste), I try to drink as little of it as possible, except when in the ocean, where I always manage to drink enormous quantities of it, enjoying as I do the subtle hints of fresh seaweed and baby pee. This general aversion means that, from time to time, I have sudden and overwhelming cravings for "fresh". "Fresh", being distinctly different from "healthy", can be satisfied with a salad (mandatory 1:25, leaf:more delicious things ratio), sushi, or Otter Pops.

I chose salad yesterday.

I know you can throw just about anything over cold veggies and call it a salad, but I think I've hit upon a pretty excellent one.

Strawberry and Avocado Salad

Ingredients:
8-10 large strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 avocado, diced
3 radishes, diced
2 slices of Canadian bacon, diced
a handful of grape tomatoes
mixed baby greens (or baby spinach)
a dash of lemon juice
a mandarin-based salad dressing (I used Brianna's Ginger Mandarin)

Toss and serve. (For 2. I just eat twice as much.)

Chocolate Tart with Fresh Strawberries

Sweet Tart Dough (Pate Sucree)
from Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan

Makes enough for three 9-inch tart crusts. To be used with sweet dessert tarts.

Ingredients:
2.5 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup ground blanched almonds (I substituted 1 tbsp of almond extract)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Blend the butter in a food processor or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer until creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar blend well. Add in the ground almonds, salt, and vanilla, and continue to process until smooth.

Lightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl and, with the machine running, add them to the work bowl. Once well-blended, add the flour and pulse until the mixture just starts to come together. When the dough begins to look like cornmeal and begins to clump into a ball, stop. The dough will be extremely soft.

Gather the dough into a ball and divide it into 3 pieces. Gently flatten each into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or for up to 2 days, before rolling and baking. It can also be kept for much longer in the freezer.

When making the pie crust, it is easiest to roll it out between sheets of plastic (Freezer size Ziploc bags work really great, or even just plastic wrap). Turn the dough over often while rolling and lift the sheets of plastic occasionally so they don’t crease. If the dough becomes too soft to work with, just slip it with the plastic onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for a few minutes.

Carefully remove one sheet of the plastic and flip the dough over the tart pan, so that the dough is centered with the exposed side facing down. Remove the other sheet of plastic and press the dough firmly against the bottom of the pan and up against the sides. (Be careful not to stretch the dough out). Roll your rolling pin across the rim of the pan to cut off the excess.

Chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

To par-bake the crust, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights.

Bake the crust for 20 to 25 minutes. If the crust needs to be fully baked, remove the parchment and beans and bake the crust for another 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden. Transfer to a rack to cool.


Chocolate Tart Filling

Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature

Fully bake one tart shell, and lower the oven temperature to 325°F.

To make the filling, heat the heavy cream and milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat, until it simmers slightly around the edges. Remove from heat.

Add in the chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Add the sugar and salt and whisk. Beat the eggs in a small bowl and add them to the chocolate mixture. Stir until completely blended.

Pour the filling into the cooled tart shell and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the filling is set and the surface is glossy. If you see any bubbles or cracks forming on the surface, remove the tart immediately (overbaked). Let cool before topping with fresh sliced strawberries.