Maple Walnut Cake with Mascarpone

A good old-fashioned sponge cake always goes down a treat. In the bad old days of hydrogenated vegetable fats, my easy ‘all-in-one’ method of making a sponge cake was converted to using very soft room-temperature butter. Now, however, Stork soft whipped margarine containing buttermilk does not have any of these ‘nasties’ in it, and it has to be said that it does make a much lighter and airier all-in-one cake than butter. But I will leave the choice to you.

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  Serves 8

Ingredients
2 oz (50 g) walnuts (after shelling)
4 oz (110g) Stork soft margarine
4 oz (110 g) golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
4 oz (110 g) self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
1 level tablespoon maple syrup (Waitrose number two amber is best)
For the filling and topping:
2 oz (50 g) walnuts
1 x 250 g tub of mascarpone
4 tablespoons maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 170C (325F), gas mark 3.

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Equipment
You also need two 7-inch (18 cm) sponge cake tins (1½ -inches, 4 cm, deep) lightly greased and the bases lined with silicone paper.

Method

Begin by whizzing the first 2 oz (50 g) of walnuts in a processor (I used my mini-chopper) until they are very finely chopped. Now take a large mixing bowl and place the margarine, sugar and eggs in it. Sift the flour and baking powder in to join them, holding the sieve high above the bowl to give the flour an airing.

Whisk the whole lot together, using an electric hand whisk, for about a minute and after that add the finely chopped walnuts and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. Give it another brief whisk then divide the mixture between the two prepared tins: spread it out evenly, giving both tins a sharp tap. Bake the cakes on the centre shelf of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the centres spring back when lightly pressed with a little finger. Then remove them from the oven, leaving them in the tins for a few moments before turning out on to a wire cooling tray. Carefully peel off the base paper and leave till they get quite cold.

Meanwhile chop the other 2 oz (50 g) walnuts by hand, as they need to be more chunky. Then in a small bowl whip the mascarpone with a fork to soften it, then add the maple syrup, mixing till it’s all thoroughly combined. When the cakes are cold, carefully remove them from the cooling tray – the cakes are so very light that if they’re sticking you may need to ease them off with the help of a palette knife (mine actually failed to come away cleanly, but no matter as you can see from the picture the surfaces are hidden beneath the filling and topping!).

Spread half the filling over one cake, which should now be sitting on a serving plate, then sprinkle over half the chopped nuts. Place the other cake on top, spread the surface with the rest of the filling, sprinkle on the rest of the chopped nuts and finally drizzle over another tablespoon of maple syrup. Any cake left over (not much chance!) should be stored in a polythene box in the fridge.

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