This white cake with blackberry filling is amazing! Cakes are my weakness. They generate a love-hate feeling in me because I love them but they are also my biggest challenge in the kitchen.
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As many of you may know, in this blog we are not known for making beautiful desserts but rather delicious ones, so whenever I make a cake my biggest challenge is to decorate it. That’s why I prefer to go for easy and quick. We like to go for a natural look, meaning beautiful without being too artificial.
Of course, this white cake with blackberry filling was no exception and I had a problem when it came to assembling it, since one of the sponge cakes broke in half and the whole cake started to fall. Since I am not good at decorating, but my background in the kitchen has brought me some learning, I had the good idea of inserting several toothpicks throughout the cake so that the cakes would stay in place. That, plus many hours of refrigeration, solved my problem and I got this beautiful cake as a result.
Now that I have talked a bit about my misfortunes with cakes, it’s my turn to talk about the beautiful part, the part I am good at, because this white cake may not be the prettiest but it is the most delicious I have made in a long time, and I make cakes quite often just for the fun of it.
I put so much time into creating this recipe because I was most interested in baking the best white cake there is. I was afraid it wouldn’t turn out well because I had made a few white cakes before and none of them turned out to my total liking.
A white cake is called so because as its name says, it is very white since it does not call for egg yolks or any dark colored extracts or ingredients. The fact that it has no yolks is already a bit complicated because yolks give a lot of texture and softness to cakes. But that motivated me even more to create the best white cake recipe.
When you taste a bite of this cake you know it: it is the best white cake you have ever tasted and you feel very proud that you succeeded and that love triumphed this time in a cake recipe.
The truth is that the most important thing about this cake is the sponge cake part, as you already noticed. The filling and the frosting add a lot to it and together make a spectacular cake, worthy of a wedding, for real.
If you like this recipe, you should go check out our victoria sponge cake.
White cake with blackberry filling
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3 C (13.75 oz) (390 gr) all purpouse flour
- 3 tsp (0.53 oz) (15 gr) baking powder
- 1/2 tsp (0.09 oz) (2.5 gr) salt
- 1 C (7.94 oz) (225 gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 C (14.10 oz) (400 gr) white sugar
- 6 egg whites, fresh, at room temperature
- 1 C (8.11 fl oz) (240 ml) whole milk, at room temperature
- 1/4 C (2.12 oz) (60 gr) sour cream
- 1/4 C (2.03 fl oz) (60 ml) vegetable oil, soft flavored (canola, sunflower, etc.)
- 1 tsp (0.17 fl oz) (5 ml) almond extract
- 1 tsp (0.17 fl oz) (5 ml) white vinegar
For the filling and the frosting:
- 12 oz (340 gr) blackberry jam or marmalade, bought or homemade
- 2 1/2 C (20.29 fl oz) (600 ml) whipping cream, really cold
- 1 1/2 C (6.52 oz) (185 gr) confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
- 1/2 tsp (0.088 oz) (2.5 gr) salt
- 1 tsp (0.17 fl oz) (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 C (7.93 oz) (225 gr) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 C (7.93 oz) (225 gr) mascarpone cheese at room temperature
- Blackberries, fresh, for decorating
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 180° C. Line three round cake pans of approximately 9 inches (22 cm) in diameter with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder and salt.
- In another medium bowl add the milk, the sour cream, oil, almond extract and white vinegar. Mix very well with a fork and set aside until needed.
- In a large bowl, add the butter with half of the sugar and beat with an electric mixer or hand whisk for 3-4 minutes until the mixture lightens and fluffs up a bit.
- Add the flour mixture in 3 separate additions alternating with the milk mixture, beating after each addition. Beat for 1 more minute until smooth and homogeneous.
- Crack the eggs open and put the whites a large clean bowl and store the yolks in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator as they will not be needed for the recipe.
- With the electric mixer or the hand whisk, beat the egg whites for 1 minute until they begin to form soft peaks. Add the rest of the sugar and continue beating for 2-3 more minutes until stiff peaks form.
- Add the beaten egg whites in three separate additions to the previous mixture. Use a rubber spatula and use folding motions to integrate the two mixtures until everything is smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the three cake pans and bake at 356º F (180° C) for approximately 30-35 minutes until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cakes.
- Once ready, let the cakes rest for 10 minutes, turn them out and place them on a wire rack to completely cool down.
For the frosting:
- The whipping cream must be very cold. It can be placed 15 minutes before whipping in the freezer so that it is just right.
- Once chilled, place the cream in a large bowl with the powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and beat with an electric mixer for 3-4 minutes until stiff peaks form.
- Separately, add the cream cheese with the mascarpone cheese to a medium bowl and beat with the same electric mixer for 1 minute until combined.
- Add one third of the whipped cream to the bowl with the cheese mixture and beat for 30 seconds with the electric mixer until incorporated. Add the rest of the whipped cream but this time mix with a rubber spatula using folding motions until a consistent and homogeneous frosting is obtained.
To assemble:
- Place one of the pieces of sponge cake on a large plate that will be where the cake will be presented. With a piping bag or a rubber spatula add 1/4 part of the frosting, spread it over the entire surface of the cake and then evenly place half of the jam. Repeat this step once more until you end up with a piece of sponge cake.
- Cover the cake with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour to make it easier to cover it completely with the frosting.
- Once out of the refrigerator, gradually add the frosting to the cake and decorate it in any way you prefer until it is completely covered. At the end, decorate with more jam and fresh blackberries if desired.
- Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 more hour before slicing so that it does not fall apart during slicing.
