Almond Praline Cake with Mascarpone Frosting and Chocolate Bark

From the kitchen of Carly

Nutty almond paste cake layered with silky mascarpone frosting and topped with shards of bittersweet chocolate. Three tender layers packed with marzipan flavor, balanced by rich chocolate and creamy sweetness. An elegant dessert that feels fancy but bakes up straightforward.

Almond Praline Cake with Mascarpone Frosting and Chocolate Bark

Three-layer almond cake built on the best ingredient trick: using almond paste in the batter itself, which gives you nutty depth and a tender crumb without fussing with ground almonds. The payoff is real. Mascarpone frosting keeps things light and slightly tangy, while the praline (candied almonds you make yourself) delivers the textural slam and the reason people go back for seconds.

Prep
n/a
Cook
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Total
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Servings
4
Difficulty
medium

Ingredients

4 servings

  • 1 1/4 cupheavy whipping cream
  • 3 tbspdark brown sugar
  • 10 ozbittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cupcake flour
  • 2 1/4 tspbaking powder
  • 3/4 tspsalt
  • 1 cupdark brown sugar
  • 3/4 cupunsalted butter, room temperature
  • 37-ounce packages almond paste,* crumbled into 1-inch pieces
  • 7 largeeggs
  • 1 tbspvanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 tspalmond extract
  • 1 cupsugar
  • 2 cupwhole almonds, toasted
  • 1 1/28-ounce containers mascarpone cheese**
  • 1 1/2 cupchilled heavy whipping cream
  • 3 tbspsugar
  • 1 tbspvanilla extract
  • 4 ozbittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1*Available in the baking section of most supermarkets and at specialty foods stores.
  • 1**Italian cream cheese; available at many supermarkets and Italian markets.

Instructions

  1. Pour the cream and 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar fully dissolves. Drop in the 10 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate and whisk until completely smooth. Transfer to the fridge and chill until just spreadable, about 6 hours.

  2. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 350°F. Butter three 9-inch cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides, line the bottoms with parchment, and dust the pans with flour. In a bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl with a heavy-duty mixer, beat the brown sugar and butter together until blended, then add the crumbled almond paste one piece at a time, beating until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then mix in the vanilla and almond extracts. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter until just combined. Divide evenly among the three prepared pans, smooth the tops, and bake until a tester inserted into the centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack.

  3. Line a baking sheet with foil and set it nearby. Combine the sugar and 1/4 cup water in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Crank the heat up and let the syrup boil without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally and brushing down the sides with a wet pastry brush, until it turns a deep amber. Stir in the toasted almonds, then pour the mixture onto the foil and let it cool completely. Peel the foil away from the hardened praline and chop it coarsely.

  4. Combine the mascarpone, 1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 1 tablespoon vanilla in a large bowl. Beat just until soft peaks form, stopping before the mixture has any chance to curdle.

  5. Slide a knife around the inside edges of each pan to loosen the cakes, then turn them out and peel off the parchment. Set the first cake layer on a platter and spread half the ganache over the top, then scatter 1/4 cup of praline over it. Lay the second layer on top and spread the remaining ganache over it, followed by another 1/4 cup of praline. Set the third layer in place, then cover the top and sides of the entire cake with the mascarpone frosting.

  6. Line a baking sheet with foil. Melt the 4 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate in a small bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth, then lift the bowl off the heat. Drizzle all but 1 tablespoon of the melted chocolate over the foil in thick zigzag lines, about 1 inch wide, letting it pool in spots. Scatter 3 tablespoons of praline over the top, then refrigerate until the bark is firm, about 1 hour.

  7. Press praline around the bottom 2 inches of the cake and sprinkle more across the top. Peel the foil from the bark, break it into irregular pieces, and press the edges into the frosting on top of the cake. Set the reserved 1 tablespoon of chocolate back over the simmering water and stir until remelted, then use a spoon to drizzle it over the finished cake. Chill for up to 4 hours and serve cold or at room temperature.

Tips from the kitchen

  • Almond paste goes in crumbled and piece by piece, beating well as you go. This takes patience but breaks it down into the batter smoothly instead of leaving gritty chunks.
  • For the praline, don't stir the sugar once it hits the boil. Swirl the pan and brush down the sides with a wet pastry brush to keep crystals from forming. Deep amber is where the flavor lives, not light brown.
  • Mascarpone frosting can split if overbeaten. Stop at soft peaks, even if it looks loose. It firms as it sets and spreads like a dream when it's been chilled for an hour.

Variations

  • Skip the chocolate bark entirely and dust the frosting with powdered sugar and a shower of chopped praline for a lighter finish.
  • Swap mascarpone for a tangy sour cream frosting (1 1/2 cups sour cream, 1/2 cup butter, powdered sugar to taste) if you want more edge and less richness.
  • Layer in espresso buttercream instead of mascarpone ganache, and add a drizzle of coffee syrup between layers for a mocha-almond twist.
  • Make it a naked cake by skipping most of the frosting and just piping small dollops between layers, then pile praline all over the exposed crumb.

Make ahead and storage

Store assembled cake, covered, in the fridge up to 2 days. The ganache and praline are stable, but mascarpone is best eaten sooner rather than later. Freezes well unassembled (wrap cooled cake layers individually, freeze praline in an airtight container), though the frosting doesn't refreeze nicely after assembly.