Tuesday on Cake Thursday: July 18th

Wanting to bake something a little unusual for this past Cake Thursday, I was certain it was time to try the long-bookmarked recipe for Whole Orange Poppy Seed Cake in The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. But, as many of my CT cakes thus far have been fairly unadorned, I also really wanted to present a woosh-your-finger-across-the-side-and-steal-a-taste frosted cake.

Mulling over bitter and orange and creamy and not too sweet and tang, I initially thought of cream cheese frosting. But, "unusual" kept flashing in my brain and, as wonderful as it is, unusual and cream cheese don't go together in my world.

Which is how I ended up with mascarpone.

I'd never used mascarpone before, be it in a savory or a sweet, so it fit my goal. I'd had it in Tiramisu and I'm sure in a few other dishes, but it was something I'd never thought to use in my cooking or baking before. Why it came into my mind that day, I can't say. How often I'll use it now? As often as I can.

Bitter/Sweet Whole Orange Poppy Seed Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

The cake:
From The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

The recipe I used was from the book. Interestingly enough, Melissa demonstrates the cake on via video podcast but gives a slightly different recipe at the end. From other comments I have read on this cake, I'd go with the podcast recipe.

Joy the Baker also presents very clear instructions with a slightly altered recipe.

The frosting:
From a lot of recipe reading and playing around

Whip 1 lb. softened Mascarpone cheese with 1/2 cup cold heavy cream for 30 seconds. Sift in a few tbsp. of powdered sugar and continue to whip another minute or so until it's luscious and creamy and spreadable. Taste often throughout and adjust the sugar to your liking.



The slight tang of the frosting (reminding me of one of life's great tastes: clotted cream) was so wonderful and complimented the cake very well if I do say so myself. Speaking of, I love bitter so the cake worked for me—and a few others—but it's definitely not for everyone.

The flavor components came through orange tang then sweet then a bitter bite, and the poppy seeds were a nice compliment to the texture and look.




But the frosting...oh my. I could (and did) eat it up with a spoon. I've already thought of many other cakes it would work beautifully with. I imagine it will soon join the bundt cake and Dorrie Greenspan on the list of my tried-and-true standbys. You've been warned.