Mexican Vanilla Cake with Mascarpone-Honey Frosting

I can’t remember the first time I made this cake, but I can tell you that this simple recipe has become a real favourite in my family and it makes an appearance on all kinds of celebrations.

Everyone has a winner recipe that they treasure because it’s so loved and always makes everyone happy, and for me it is this cake.

The beauty of this cake is the buttery-vanilla taste and the pretty specks that you get when you use fresh vanilla. Combined with the creamy mascarpone frosting, sweetened lightly with the lovely honey I get from my local farmers market, a simple decoration of fresh seasonal fruit is all it needs.

You can also make different variations of this cake though. Sometimes I like to fill it with the mascarpone-honey frosting and add a few dollops of homemade fruit compote, or homemade lemon curd. I have also used rosemary finely chopped into the frosting for a lovely herby and scented touch.

It’s all about using the best ingredients and making the most of them, I’m a lover of simple and fresh

However you make it I hope that you love this recipe as much as I do.

Ingredients:

For the cake

250 g of good quality butter, softened.

2 cups of caster sugar.

1 vanilla pod (seeds).

4eggs.

2 cups of plain flour.

1 tbsp self raising flour.

3/4 cup of milk.

For the mascarpone frosting

3 cups of mascarpone cheese.

2-3 tbsp organic honey.

4 Blood oranges, or any seasonal fruit.

2 tsp marigold dried flowers for decoration.

Method

Preheat your oven at 160C.

Prepare an 8 inch round cake tin, grease it with a bit of butter and flour, shake off any excess flour.

In your mixer beat the soft butter, the sugar and vanilla (scrape the sticky seed pulp from the vanilla pod with a pairing knife), mix the ingredients until you get a light and smooth mixture; Add the eggs one at a time and the sifted flours little by little.

Once your cake mixture is ready pour into the prepared cake tin, place it in the middle of the oven and bake for 40 to 45 min, depending on your oven. Insert a skewer in the centre of the cake until it comes out clean it means is ready.

When is ready, take it out of the oven and leave to cool down over your kitchen surface and on a pastry rack.

In the meantime make your quick frosting by mixing the mascarpone and honey, whip in your mixer until the ingredients are combined, be careful not to over mix.

Prepare your fruit, cut the ends and the peel of your oranges with a sharp knife , then slice them into beautiful rounds.

Add 3/4 of the mascarpone-honey frosting on top of the cake, spread a thick layer over the top of the cake, with the remaining mixture do the sides and spread evenly with a straight spatula, no need to make it look perfect that is the beauty of this cake and try to create the naked effect on the sides it looks even prettier.

Lastly arrange carefully the blood orange slices on top of the frosting, make it look bountiful and irresistible, you can decorate with fresh edible flowers, or like I did here I just added a sprinkle of marigold dried flowers that create a golden effect onto the glistening fruit

Tip. This cake tastes even better chilled, keep in your fridge until serving this will keep the fruit fresh too. You can equally just add the fruit before you need to display it.

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