Black and White Cake with Caramel Buttercream

Black and White Cake with Mascarpone & Caramel Buttercream, vanilla and chocolate cake layers, silky smooth frosting and fresh strawberries.

Lets start Monday with Black and White Cake with mascarpone cream and caramel buttercream. A cake that has layers of chocolate and vanilla, topped with a sweet and fluffy vanilla mascarpone buttercream and fresh strawberries.  To make it even more decadent, I covered it in a blanket of caramel buttercream. Just typing all this made my Monday morning instantly better.

While this sounds like a high maintenance cake, it actually isn’t. This Black and White Cake is easy to pull together, while you may have a few bowls to clean because of all the great flavors going on here, it’s totally worth it.

As much as I like to make everything from scratch, sometimes I just don’t have time, that is when kitchen shortcuts like cake mixes are a blessing.

To cut out preparation time, I used:

1. French Vanilla Cake Mix from Duncan Hines

2. Decadent Triple Chocolate Cake Mix from Duncan Hines

To reduce the cleaning process, I baked the cake layers in round foil cake pans. Voila, great time saving tips!

This Black and White Cake was a big hit with my family. The texture can only be described as dreamy, very soft, but not crumbly. The mascarpone buttercream is silky smooth and with a pronounced vanilla flavor from the vanilla beans, so much better than regular whipped cream. The strawberries add some freshness, a change of texture and some nice pop of color along with the tiny black specs from the vanilla beans. The layer of caramel buttercream is very subtle, and not overly sweet, its definitely a surprise to someone trying the cake, as the pairing isn’t expected. I recommend using high quality caramel, if you have time, and are brave enough to make your own, go for it, I personally used Trader Joe’s Caramel.

Too bad I can’t share this Black and White Cake virtually with everyone, or go back in time and have a slice with my tea now!

Black and White Cake with Mascarpone & Caramel Buttercream

 

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Prep time

2 hours

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

2 hours 30 mins

 

A dreamy Black and White Cake with Mascarpone & Caramel Buttercream, vanilla and chocolate cake layers, silky smooth frosting and fresh strawberries.

Author: Katalina Kastravet

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• For Cake Layers:
• 1 Duncan Hines Signature French Vanilla Cake Mix
• 1 Duncan Hines Decadent Triple Chocolate Cake Mix
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups water
• ⅔ cups vegetable oil
• 4 tbsp butter, melted (to grease the pans)
• For Vanilla Mascarpone Buttercream
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 4 oz chilled mascarpone cheese
• 2 vanilla beans
• 2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 2 tbsp. heavy cream
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, washed and sliced
• For Caramel Buttercream
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• ½ cup caramel sauce

Instructions

1. For Cake Layers:
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Grease sides and bottom of 4 8inch foil pans with butter. Flour lightly.
4. Open the vanilla mix, and empty the box mix into a medium bowl. Add 3 eggs, 1 cup water and ⅓ cup of vegetable oil. Stir using a spatula until well incorporated. Divide the mixture equally into 2 pans. Set aside.
5. Open the chocolate mix, and empty the box mix into a medium bowl. Add 3 eggs, 1 cup water and ⅓ cup of vegetable oil. Stir using a spatula until well incorporated. Divide the mixture equally into 2 pans. I did NOT use the chocolate filling.
6. Bake for 25-30min or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs attached to it, the cake is done.
7. Let the cakes completely cool, when cooled using a sharp kitchen knife level the surface of the cakes.
8. For Vanilla Mascarpone Buttercream:
9. Place softened butter into the bowl of a stand mixer that has been fitted with the wire attachment. Turn the mixer on a medium setting and cream the butter until it is smooth and has lightened in color, about 2 minutes.
10. Add the mascarpone cheese, specs from vanilla beans and sugar ½ cup at a time, beating 15 sec on medium after each addition.
11. Add heavy cream one tbsp. at a time, beating on medium until desired consistency is achieved.
12. Set the bowl aside and let the frosting chill for 30 minutes.
13. For the Caramel Buttercream:
14. Place softened butter into the bowl of a stand mixer that has been fitted with the wire attachment. Turn the mixer on a medium setting and cream the butter until it is smooth and has lightened in color, about 2 minutes.
15. Add sugar ½ cup at a time, and mix on medium until well incorporated.
16. Add caramel, and mix until desired consistency is achieved.
17. Assemble the Cake
18. On a cake stand, start with a leveled vanilla layer, top with vanilla mascarpone buttercream and fresh strawberries, followed by a chocolate layer topped with caramel buttercream, another vanilla layer topped with vanilla mascarpone buttercream and fresh strawberries. Finish with a top layer of chocolate cake, cover the entire cake in caramel buttercream. Decorate with vanilla mascarpone buttercream and sprinkles.

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