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Blackberry Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Mascarpone Frosting

If you're a chocolate lover, this cake is for you. The hot coffee brings out the chocolately flavor in a wonderfully moist cake.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Resting Time30 minutes
Servings: 10 people

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (65g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
  • 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

For the blackbery syrup

  • 1 cup fresh blackberries
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup sugar

For the mascarpone frosting

  • 8 oz mascarpone cheese
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar (or to taste)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 15 blackberries

Instructions

Make the cake

  • Prehat oven to 350°F. Grease the bottoms of either two 8 inch pans or 3 6 inch pans and line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper and sides of the pan.
  • In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  • In a large bowl, whisk the vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Add the buttermilk and sour cream.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Gently whisk until combined.
  • Whisk in the hot coffee. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.
  • Bake for about 26 minutes for 8 inch pans, 20 minutes for 6 inch pans, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let sit in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes.

Make the blackberry syrup

  • In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the blackberries, water, and sugar.
  • Once the sugar has dissolved, smash the blackberries with a potato masher.
  • Turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
  • Strain the syrup through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds and berry skins.

Make the mascarpone frosting

  • Using a mixer on medium speed, whip the mascarpone and heavy cream until it has soft peaks.
  • Add the powdered sugar and vanilla.
  • Whip until the mixture has stiff peaks.
  • Smash the blackberries in a small bowl, fold them into the mixture with all their juices.

Assemble

  • Trim the domes off the cooled cake.
  • Using a pastry brush, brush the simple syrup onto each cake layer.
  • Spread some of the frosting between each cake layer. Stack the layers on top of each other.
  • Spread frosting on the whole cake. Top with blackberries.