This just might be the easiest cake ever. Just toss everything into a food processor, then pour into pans and bake. It’s soft, full of lemon flavor and sandwiches a sweet mascarpone cream.
I’m a bit of a layer cake snob. 
I really don’t mind if it doesn’t look perfect (rustic rules), but I want it to taste as good as it sounds. And sadly I’ve tried many many cakes that just don’t make the cut.
Which is why I only share cakes that I love; that are really easy to make; that I’ll make time and time again.
Like this really good, really simple chocolate orange cake which is one of the most popular recipes on the blog. Or this peanut butter, banana and chocolate chip cake which hits the spot every time. Because peanut butter and chocolate…. mmmm!
So you guessed it, I really really like and recommend this food processor lemon mascarpone cake. Mr. Scrummy often complains that I only make chocolate cakes, and until now I couldn’t really deny this (oops). But now I can honestly say that there’s another kind of cake on the blog that’s just as scrummy.
Essentially this is Nigella Lawson’s basic vanilla cake (otherwise known as Victoria Sponge) sandwiched together with a mascarpone and lemon curd cream. Just those two delicious ingredients. How easy is that?
This is also a one-bowl cake with one cup each of sugar, butter and flour in it, so it’s insanely simple to make. You just whizz everything up in a food processor. Seriously, that’s it.
I bet you could remember the recipe after making it a couple of times. The resulting cake is light, buttery, and moist. Delicious.
If you don’t have a food processor, no problem – just cream the butter and sugar together with a hand held whisk or stand mixer first, then add the other ingredients, but skip the baking powder. In fact this is how I made it as I’ve already packed my food processor off to Australia – as you do.
If you wanted to you could make this very simple (but no less delicious for it) cake a bit fancier by topping it with strawberries, or even adding blueberries into the batter.
Click here for the Mascarpone filling recipe.
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Lemon Mascarpone Cake
- Total Time: 35 minutes
Description
This just might be the easiest cake ever. Just toss everything into a food processor, then pour into pans and bake. It’s soft, full of lemon flavor and sandwiches a sweet mascarpone cream.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces / 225 grams (2 sticks or 1 cup unsalted butter, soft)
- 8 ounces / 225 grams (1 cup caster/fine sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 4 large eggs
- 7 ounces / 225 grams (1 cup self-raising flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder (don’t use if mixing by hand)
- 3–4 tbsp milk
- icing / confectioner’s sugar (to decorate)
For the cream
- Click the link above
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 355F / 180C. Line (with baking paper) and butter two 7” sandwich cake pans.
- Put all the ingredients except the milk in a food processor and process until you’ve got a smooth batter. Then pulse in the milk gradually until the mixture is a soft dropping consistency.
- Pour the batter equally into the pans and bake for about 25 mins, until a metal skewer or knife comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes for 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
- Meanwhile, make the lemon mascarpone cream. Simply whisk the lemon curd into the mascarpone cheese, then spread thickly to sandwich the cakes together.
- Just before serving, dust with icing / confectioner’s sugar.
Notes
Only slightly adapted from Nigella Lawson’s recipe for Victoria Sponge. Lemon mascarpone cream also adapted from an idea from Nigella!
*This is how much lemon curd I added to the mascarpone, but taste and add more if you like!
If you don’t have a food processor, no problem! Just cream the butter with the sugar with a stand mixer or hand held mixer, then slowly add the other ingredients.
If you like you can make a delicious blueberry and passion fruit version of this cake. Simply add approximately 100 grams / 3.5 ounces blueberries to the batter before baking. Sandwich with whipped cream, then make a passion fruit icing for the top. Scrape out the contents of 2 passion fruit and sieve to get the juice (if you put the flesh, seeds and juice in a blender first and give it a quick whizz before sieving then you release more juice). Mix with 100 grams / 3.5 ounces icing sugar, then drizzle or spread the thick icing over the top of the cake.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Baking, Cake, Dessert
