Berry Chantilly Cake

Berry Chantilly cake made with tender layers of vanilla cake, fresh berries, and fluffy whipped mascarpone frosting.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Total Time 45

Servings cups

Calories 544kcal

Author Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

Stand Mixer
Round Piping Tip and Piping Bag

Ingredients

Vanilla Cake Recipe

13 oz bleached cake flour
13 oz granulated sugar
3 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
8 oz butter unsalted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
10 oz whole milk room temperature
3 oz vegetable oil
3 large eggs room temperature

Chantilly Cream Ingredients

16 oz cream cheese softened
8 oz unsalted butter softened
8 oz mascarpone cheese softened
22 oz powdered sugar sifted
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 oz heavy whipping cream

Berry Cake Filling

2 cups fresh or frozen berries
2.5 oz sugar
1 oz water
1 oz cornstarch
2 teaspoon lemon juice

Decoration

2 cups fresh berries for decoration

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Vanilla Cake Instructions

Note: It's VERY important that your cold ingredients are at room temperature or slightly warmed. See video for tips.
Heat oven to 350º F/177º C.
Place 4oz of the milk and oil in a separate bowl or cup and set aside
Combine remaining milk, vanilla extract, almond extract and room temp eggs in a separate measuring cup and set aside
Measure out dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and place them into the stand mixer bowl.
Attach the paddle to the mixer, and turn on the slowest speed (setting 1 on Kitchen Aid mixers). Slowly add chunks of your softened butter until it is all added. Let mix until batter resembles coarse sand.
Add milk/oil mixture into the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed (speed 4 on my KitchenAid) and mix for 2 full minutes. Do not skip this step or your cake will not rise.
Add in ⅓ of your milk/egg mixture. Repeat 2 more times until batter is just combined. Don't forget to scrape your bowl.
Divide your cake batter into your cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes from the center of the cake cleanly.
Prepare your berry filling while the cakes are baking.
Remove the cake pan from the oven and "tap" it lightly on the counter once to remove air from the cake and keep it from shrinking un-evenly.
Place cakes on a cooling rack and let them cool for about 20 minutes. Then flip them out onto a cooling rack.
Place the cakes in the freezer for one hour to cool down before decorating.

Chantilly Cream Instructions

Cream together the softened butter, cream cheese and mascarpone cheese together until smooth.
Add in the powdered sugar and continue creaming until combined
Whip the whipped cream to soft peaks. Add in the vanilla and almond extract. Peaks should be firm but not curdled. This happens quickly so watch your cream closely!
Fold your cream cheese mixture and whipped cream together to make your frosting.

Berry Cake Filling

Place the berries in a medium saucepan with the sugar and bring it to a simmer over medium heat.
Combine the cornstarch with the cold water to make a slurry. Pour the slurry into the bubbling berries. Add in the lemon juice.
Cook a few minutes until the mixture is thick (1-2 minutes). Remove the berries from the heat.
Cool berry filling before using.

Video

Notes

I used two 8"x2" round cake pans for this recipe but you can use the cake batter calculator to adjust the recipe for whatever cake pan you want.

1. Make sure all your ingredients (eggs, cream cheese, milk, butter etc) are room temperature. Check out my blog post on room temperature ingredients hacks

2. Use a scale to weigh your ingredients (including liquids) unless otherwise instructed (Tablespoons, teaspoons, pinch etc). Metric measurements are available in the recipe card. Scaled ingredients are much more accurate than using cups and help ensure the success of your recipe.

3. Practice Mise en Place (everything in it's place). Measure out your ingredients ahead of time and have them ready before you start mixing to reduce the chances of accidentally leaving something out.

4. Chill your cakes before frosting and filling. You can cover a frosted and chilled cake in fondant if you wish. This cake is also great for stacking. I always keep my cakes chilled in the refrigerator before delivery for easy transporting. Learn more about decorating your first cake.

5. If the recipe calls for specific ingredients like cake flour, replacing it with all purpose flour and cornstarch is not recommended unless specified in the recipe that it’s ok. Substituting ingredients may cause this recipe to fail.

All purpose flour is a plain flour with no rising agents. It has a protein level of 10%-12%

Cake flour is a soft, low protein flour of 9% or less.
Cake flour sources: UK - Shipton Mills Cake & Pastry Flour

Nutrition