Lemon Cake with Novello, Mascarpone and Raspberries
Since this is the seasons for the best lemons in Italy (think Amalfi lemons, but also Sicily and other parts of Italy) we thought we would share with you a scrumptious lemon cake featuring Novello. If you have run out of Novello you can of course use our Belmorso extra virgin olive oil instead. We have reduced this recipe’s sugar content as much as possible, so this is also a healthier cake to enjoy. Let’s make it, shall we?
This recipe uses our exclusive extra virgin olive oil Novello, that’s available once a year.
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Ingredients
- 100g white sugar (feel free to use brown sugar or coconut sugar to make it even healthier)
- 3 eggs
- 100ml extra virgin olive oil Novello, or Belmorso EVO
- the peel of 1.5 lemons grated the juice of 3 large lemons
- 300 gr flour 00
- 1 sachet lievito vanigliato, either Bertolini or Paneangeli (this is a special baking Italian baking powder flavoured with vanilla and used just for cakes). If you can’t find it, replace it with 2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp vanilla.
- 180 ml milk
For the icing
- 250 gr mascarpone cheese
- 100 gr icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 170 gr fresh raspberries
Preparation
Start by cracking the eggs and placing them into a large bowl; add the white sugar, and beat for 2 minutes with an electric mixer, starting at the lowest speed and moving to the highest.
Next add the extra virgin olive oil and beat. Follow by adding the lemon juice, and continue beating.
Now add the lievito vanigliato (i.e Italian baking powder) and continue beating.
Add the flour 100 gr at a time while beating.
Add your milk and fold gently with a tablespoon. And follow by adding the lemon peel, and then fold again gently with a tablespoon.
Grease the pan for your lemon cake with some extra virgin olive oil, pour the batter, and bake for 45 minutes in a preheated oven at 165 degrees Celsius.
To make the mascarpone frosting simply add the mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl and mix.
Take out your lemon cake and leave to cool completely. Then remove from the pan, and transfer to a cake tray.
Spread the mascarpone on top roughly so as to give it that homemade organic look. To get the design as ours use an icing spatula with a zig zag end and pass it through the spread mascarpone following a movement of a wave.
Top with fresh raspberries; cut yourself a slice, and enjoy with a cup of tea.
Tips
Feel free to scatter some extra raspberries in your cake batter before baking. If you do, you would need to have double the amount of raspberries. You can of course replace the raspberries with strawberries, blueberries, any other berries of your choice, or a mix of berries.
4 responses
Can you please quantify the amount of milk used in the recipe as “half a glass” is very vague.
Hi Liam, you can use 3/4 of a cup.
This sounds really lovely but I really would like to know where can I get the Italian baking powder or can I use another baking powder?
Hi Pauline, you should find it in big supermarkets.