Lemon and Almond Olive Oil Slice with Blackberry Mascarpone Frosting

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This delicious lemony sponge, loaded with ground almonds, is topped with a luscious, light and creamy blackberry mascarpone frosting. The olive oil in the cake pairs wonderfully with the lemon, and they, in turn, are balanced with the mellow, sweet almonds. Together they ensure that the cake is bursting with natural, harmonious flavours and the crumb is soft and moist. The silky frosting elevates this simple slice to a luxurious treat, as well as bringing complementary flavours, textures and a beautiful colour to boot.

This slice works as well for afternoon tea as it does for dessert. It is incredibly quick to make and the sponge uses mostly store cupboard ingredients. Should you not have any ground almonds, or you would prefer a nut-free cake, simply replace the almonds with flour. I love it this way too!

Unlike many layers cakes, this slice is relatively easy to transport and slices well for sharing. I made this particular version for Charlotte to take to work to celebrate her 26th birthday.

Scatter over some roast slivered almonds before you serve it

When I use nuts in a cake, I also like to add some to the decoration. Whilst the nuts here look pretty and bring a wonderful flavour and texture to the cake, they also act as a reminder for anyone with allergies, that the cake includes nuts.

How to make Lemon and Almond Olive Oil Slice with Blackberry Mascarpone Frosting

This sponge cake is based on my Butter and Oil Cakes – Core Recipe – a recipe I developed to be able to bake at altitude. Our house in Switzerland is at over 1600m altitude and this makes baking difficult. Some traditional bakes will not rise but cakes made with oil and yoghurt fare better. I just love the light and airy texture and the fact it can be whipped up so quickly.

The changes I have made include:

• using just olive oil rather than oil and butter
• using additional yoghurt to replace the liquid
• replacing some of the flour with ground almonds. Please not that because you are replacing half of the flour with almonds, the sponge will not rise as much as one made with just flour. This is normal.

Line the baking tin:

In order to guarantee soft and fluffy cakes, it is important to use the correct size tin – in this case it is a 20cm/8inch square tin. If your tin is larger, the depth of your cake batter will be less and the cake will cook more quickly. Equally if the tin is smaller, your cake batter will be deeper and cook more slowly.

1. Sit the tin on greaseproof paper making sure the paper is large enough to line the tin, come up the sides and have a little overhang.
2. Cut out the corners of the paper so it will fit easily into the tin
3. Fold the paper from corner to corner so the size of the centre of the paper matches the base of the tin. Slot inside the tin.

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Collect all the ingredients together:

Dry ingredients –

• plain/all-purpose flour
• ground almonds
• baking powder
• bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
• fine salt
• caster sugar

Wet ingredients –

• olive oil (mild flavoured)
• eggs
• natural yoghurt
• almond extract
• vanilla extract 
• lemon zest and juice

Frosting –

• blackberry jam/jelly, sieved
• lemon juice
• unsalted butter, at room temperature
• fine salt
• icing sugar
• mascarpone cheese, at room temperature (or use cream cheese)

Topping –

• roasted slivered/flaked almonds (optional)
• blackberry jam, sieved (from above)

How to make this delicious slice:

1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 (fan 160°C) and grease and line a 20cm/8in square cake tin.
3. Scatter the slivered/flaked almonds for the topping into a baking tray and roast in the oven for 5 – 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Tip into a bowl to cool and set aside.

Make the cake –

1. Measure all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl large enough to contain all of the ingredients. Stir with a balloon whisk to mix.
2. Next, add the wet ingredients and beat with a balloon until incorporated – be careful not to over-mix. It should take only 30 seconds to a minute and you may need to stop half way to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
3. Pour the cake batter into a greased and lined cake tin and cook in the centre of a  preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes or until cooked. It is cooked when:
   • the centre feels springy when lightly touched with your finger and no imprint remains.
   • a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
   • when the cake is beginning to come away from the sides of the tin.
4. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes, remove and then transfer the cake to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

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Make the frosting –

1. Using an electric whisk: push the blackberry jam through a sieve, remove a quarter and set aside for the decorating the cake. Mix the lemon juice with the remaining three quarters.
2. Put the butter and salt into the bowl of your electric whisk and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the icing sugar, whisking well in between each addition. (NB You may wish to first fold the icing sugar in with a spoon before whisking – this will help to stop the icing sugar clouding up and making a mess of your kitchen!)
4. Add the mascarpone (or cream cheese) and beat again until mixed in. Do not over-beat at this stage.
5. Finally, mix in the blackberry jam with the lemon juice.
6. Using a food processor: put the room temperature butter, icing sugar and salt into the bowl of your food processor and beat until mixed.
7. Add the mascarpone (or cream cheese) and blitz again until mixed in. Pour in the blackberry jam with the lemon juice and pulse until thoroughly mixed. Do not over-beat at this stage.

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Frost the cake –

1. Transfer the cooled cake to a serving plate and spread over the mascarpone frosting.
2. Drizzle the remaining blackberry jam over the top of the cake and swirl into the frosting to make a decorative pattern.
3. Scatter with toasted almonds.

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.