Lemon-infused Mascarpone & Sponge Cake

Name: Lemon-infused Mascarpone Sponge Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: For a 13 x 20 cake tin: For the sponge (pan di spagna):; 3 eggs; 70g granulated sugar; A pinch of salt; 45g manitoba flour; 45g potato starch or maizena; ½ tsp vanilla bean paste; 1 tsp lemon juice; For the cream:; 500g mascarpone; 1 large egg; Zest of two lemons; Juice from 1 lemon; 50g sugar

by Micaela Harrasser August 28, 2023

August 28, 2023

You may want to call this layered cake a ‘lemon tiramisù’ and I won’t stop you 😉 I recently made a pistacchio tiramisù using a sponge base (pandoro leftovers) instead of the traditional savoiardi cookies and I have to say I loved it! So here I am again – this time I made the soft sponge using my version of a traditional Italian recipe for pan di spagna. For the flavoring of mascarpone, since we are in season, I used on of my all-time favorites for desserts: lemon!

It’s important that, once cooked, you let the pan di spagna cool off completely, so that it’s easy to slice it in half (horizontally) without breaking it. You can prepare the sponge way in advance and let it rest (even overnight). To prepare the mascarpone cream you won’t need much time at all. As for the classical tiramisù recipe, it’s good to let the cake rest in the fridge once ready, to ensure the filling s compact and bursting with flavors!

The best part is that you can use this recipe as base and flavor it as you with if you are not a fan of lemon. For example, you can add cocoa powder to the sponge, and nut butter or a chocolate spread to the mascarpone! Or you could just leave the mascarpone ‘plain’ as you would do with the classic tiramisu. The choice is yours! Let me know if you make it 😊 buon appetito!

Lemon-infused Mascarpone Sponge Cake

Serves: 6 Prep Time: 20 min (+ 6h rest) Cooking Time: 45 min 45 min Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

For a 13 x 20 cake tin: For the sponge (pan di spagna):

3 eggs
70g granulated sugar
A pinch of salt
45g manitoba flour
45g potato starch or maizena
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp lemon juice

For the cream:

500g mascarpone
1 large egg
Zest of two lemons
Juice from 1 lemon
50g sugar

Instructions

Turn the oven to 160C.
First, using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (or an electric egg beater), start whisking the eggs.
Add the pinch of salt, vanilla paste and lemon juice.
Add the sugar slowly.
Keep beating the eggs until they become pale and quite dense: you do not want them too firm, but want to be able to keep the structure (it took me roughly 5-7 minutes on medium-high speed).
Then add the flour+starch, and slowly mix with a spoon to not break the egg structure.
As soon as mixed, gently transfer to the cake tin.
Flatten the top with a spatula.
Place the tin in the lower part of the oven and cook until dry inside (dry skewer teat), about 35-45 min.
Once done, place out of the oven to cool down.
Once it’s completely cooled off (note: to speed things up once it's lukewarm you can place it in the fridge to cool off completely), remove from the cake tin and slice it in half horizontally.
Now prepare the cream.
Separate the yolk from the white.
Combine the sugar with the yolks and mix quickly.
Add the lemon juice and zest and mix.
Add the mascarpone and mix well.
In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until you get stiff peaks.
Gently add the egg whites to the rest of the batter, mixing carefully to not disrupt too much the egg white structure.
Take the upper layer of the sponge and set aside.
Spread a generous layer of the lemon mascarpone.
Add the upper layer of the sponge on top, and cover it as well.
Cover with some extra caster sugar and some lemon slices (here I also added some rose petals, because why not), and serve!