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Miniature almond cake with rose mascarpone frosting

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Mascarpone frosting adapted from Call Me Cupcake.

Ingredients

Scale
  • for the cake:
  • 55 g (about 7 tbsp) all-purpose flour (if you don’t have a kitchen scale, I would use 6 tbsp, fluffed, lightly scooped, and leveled; see Notes)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp white, apple cider, or rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp neutral-tasting oil
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 1 tbsp Greek or plain yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • for the rose mascarpone frosting:
  • 4 oz (1/2 cup) heavy cream
  • 1 tbsp organic dried rose petals, plus more for garnish* (see Notes)
  • 4 oz (1/2 cup) Vermont Creamery mascarpone cheese
  • 1–2 tbsp confectioners’ sugar (or more, to taste)

Instructions

  1. Do ahead: Combine heavy cream and rose petals in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring continuously, just until hot — do not let it come to a boil. Remove from heat and chill the mixture in the refrigerator until completely cold or overnight. (*Note*: If you don’t have time to do this beforehand, substitute 1 tsp rosewater for the rose petals, and use petals only for garnish.)
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line three 4-ounce or two 6-ounce porcelain ramekins with parchment paper.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda, and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, milk, yogurt, and almond extract. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just incorporated.
  4. Divide batter evenly between the ramekins and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until domes have set and bounce back when touched, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  5. When ready to make the frosting, whisk the mascarpone and confectioners’ sugar together in a large bowl until smooth. Strain out the rose petals from the cream and add the cream to the mascarpone. (Alternatively, add 1 tsp rosewater instead of infusing the cream.) Using an electric mixer, beat the cream and mascarpone mixture together until it forms stiff peaks. Be careful not to overbeat — the mixture will continue to set after you stop whipping. If the frosting turns grainy, just add a bit more cream, a tablespoon at a time, and whisk by hand to smooth it out.
  6. Frost the cake as desired. If frosting it “naked,” like above, serve immediately. Enjoy!

Notes

The weight of the flour is more important here than usual because the scale of the cake is so small, and measuring flour by tablespoons can be a bit finicky weight-wise. When scooping by tablespoons instead of scooping into a cup and leveling, 6 tablespoons can add up to 1/2 cup of flour by weight (63 g) fairly easily, and will result in a denser cake, more like pound cake in texture, that stays pale even when fully baked. The amount above (55g) should be golden brown on top once baked, and is light and more delicate. Happily, both are delicious, just in different ways.

As noted in the instructions, if you don’t have the time to infuse the cream with the rose petals beforehand, simply add 1 tsp rosewater to the cream and mascarpone before whipping and proceed as normal.

Find it online: https://tworedbowls.com/2015/04/07/almond-cake-rose-mascarpone-frosting/