White chocolate, orange and berry dessert cake

Tamara West

This is a pretty decadent rich cake that reminds me of the frozen ice cream layer dessert cakes you used to be able to buy. I like serving it ever-so-slightly frozen, with vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

2 large	Sponge cakes, use a plain sponge (Main)
200 g	White chocolate, good quality (I used Whittakers) broken into small pieces
250 g	Mascarpone, at room temperature
1	Orange, finely zested
1 ½ cups	Frozen berries, mixed e.g: raspberries, boysenberries, strawberries, plus extra (defrosted) to garnish
¾ cup	Creme de cassis, or other berry fruit liqueur
¾ cup	Freshly squeezed orange juice
6 servings	Vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. Line a loaf tin (I used a 12 x 20cm loaf tin) with plastic wrap, leaving some wrap overhanging on all sides.
2. Cut sponge cakes to fit the base of the loaf tin snugly (i.e. cut them to be the same dimensions of the loaf tin). You may need to use two pieces of sponge to cover the base of the tin. Trim the sponge cakes so they are 2.5-3cm-thick.
3. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in a glass bowl above a saucepan of simmering water. Be careful that the simmering water does not touch the bottom of the bowl (or it will get too hot, resulting in the chocolate becoming grainy). Beat mascarpone and orange zest with a spoon to soften, then add to melted white chocolate and stir together until well combined. Divide mixture in two.
4. Mix half of the white chocolate mascarpone mixture with berries.
5. Place first sponge cake inside loaf tin, fully covering the base (it should fit in snugly). Mix cassis with orange juice and spoon half of this mixture (¾ cup) over sponge cake — it will be quite wet. Spread over berry and mascarpone mixture, going right up to the edges.
6. Place second sponge cake on top and press down gently but firmly to sandwich the two cakes together. Spoon remaining cassis-orange juice mixture over second sponge cake. Cover with the overhanging plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 45-60 minutes. Allow the remaining mascarpone mixture to cool in the fridge to a spreadable consistency.
7. When ready to assemble, lift cling film gently to loosen cakes. Put a serving plate on top of loaf tin and invert cake out on plate. Remove cling film. Use a butter knife, palette knife or spatula to spread remaining white chocolate-mascarpone mixture over cake, fully covering the top and sides. The cake can be refrigerated and left at this stage, for up to an hour, or frozen until ready to serve (just defrost on bench for 15-20 minutes). Garnish with berries just before serving.
8. To serve, cut slices of cake and serve with ice cream.