Berry, lemon curd and mascarpone sponge cake

One of the joys of living where I do is the availability of berries. Especially in late spring, summer and into autumn, they are cheap, plentiful and there are many varieties to choose from. But luckily too, berries are generally available all year round and are not too expensive, no matter the season.



If you live somewhere where berries are not so freely available or expensive, you can also use frozen berries in this recipe. I would defrost and drain them well before use, otherwise your sponge cake will be soggy. You could reserve the juice to drizzle over the cake at serving.

This recipe is something I use when time is short and I need a nice, pretty and tasty cake. A trip to the supermarket will give me all the ingredients I need, apart from the lemon curd, which is a specialty item that I keep in my fridge for emergencies (like 'if I need a spoonful of it' type of emergency). 10 minutes of preparation and you're done.

What you'll need

Serves 6 - 8 generous slices

1 x shop-bought plain sponge cake, in whatever shape you can get.
*I used a rectangular one (40cm x 10cm), but square or circle will work too. You could also use a chocolate sponge cake if you'd like.
200g mascarpone cheese
100g fresh/frozen raspberries
100g fresh/frozen blueberries
1/2 cup lemon curd

What to do

Using a bread knife, cut the sponge cake into two even sections horizontally. (Generally the easiest way to do this is to lay the cake bottom down on a chopping board, then slice gently through the cake. Then separate the two layers. Don't try and put the cake on its side to cut it, as it will probably fall apart.

Lay the bottom part of the sponge cake onto a serving plate. You might need to trim your cake a little to get it to fit the serving plate nicely.

Using a dessert spoon, splodge on about half the mascarpone cheese. Use the back of the spoon to  gently smooth the cheese to the edges of the cake. The cheese doesn't have to be smooth but the cake should be mostly covered. Using a clean spoon, splodge on the lemon curd. Be as neat or rustic as you like. But it's ideal that in each slice of cake you will get some of each flavour/ingredient. And it's Ok if some of the cream and curd drizzles out the side too. Scatter on half the raspberries and blueberries.

Place the next layer of cake on top of the berries, pressing down very gently. Smooth on the remaining mascarpone and top with the remaining berries. Now clean up the serving plate if there were any messy spills. You can eat the cake immediately or refrigerate for a few hours if you want to make it in advance.

This cake will store well in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.