Spice Cake with Maple Mascarpone Icing and Sugared Pecans
By franny-2
Instead of a traditional cream cheese icing, sweeten mascarpone cheese with maple syrup, then lighten it with whipped cream. To make things easier, the nuts crowning the spice cake can be made in advance and frozen. But if you do make them in advance, be careful as they are addictive and you’ll need to save some for the cake.
- 8
Ingredients
- Cake
- One 515 g pkg golden yellow cake mix
- 1 ¼ to 1⅓ cups (300 to 325 mL) milk, depending on mix
- 2 tbsp (25 mL) fancy molasses
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) ground ginger
- 2 tsp (10 mL) cinnamon
- ½ tsp (2 mL) each nutmeg and allspice
- Sugared Pecans
- About ½ an egg white
- 2 tbsp (25 mL) granulated sugar
- ½ tsp (2 mL) each cinnamon and salt
- ¼ tsp (1 mL) each ground ginger, nutmeg and cardamom
- 1 cup (250 mL) chopped pecans
- Icing
- 1 cup (250 mL) whipping cream
- One 500 g container mascarpone cheese
- ⅔ cup (150 mL) brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 mL) pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla
Preparation
Step 1
1. Preheat oven according to package.
2. Prepare two 8-inch (20-cm) square baking pans according to package.
3. Bake cake according to package, substituting milk for water, then adding molasses and spices. Once cake is baked, reduce oven temperature to 300°F (150°C) and cool cake as per package directions.
4. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk egg white with sugar and spices until well mixed. Add nuts and stir to coat. Spread on baking sheet in a single layer. Bake in preheated oven, stirring 3 to 4 times and spreading into a single layer, until nuts are dry and toasted, 25 to 30 minutes. Individual nuts should be dry but may stick a little to each other until they dry completely on cooling.
5. Beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form. In a large bowl, beat mascarpone with brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla. Stir in about a third of the whipping cream until evenly blended. Then fold in remaining cream.
6. To assemble cake, place 1 cake layer on a cake plate. Top with about 1 cup (250 mL) mascarpone icing and spread to edges. Sprinkle with ½ the nuts. Top with second cake layer. Then ice entire cake. Sprinkle remaining nuts on top of cake. For easier slicing, refrigerate at least 1 hour or until ready to serve.