Summer Fruit Chiffon Cake

Waking up Saturday morning to find your freezer door wide open is a wonderful thing...

Oh, all those berries we picked for hours, now completely thawed. Some did not survive the drastic temperature change and became a yellow mash which found itself in the garbage (they were the prettiest yellow raspberries you can think of).
This, and the fact that I had a batch of sad and wrinkly cherries in the fridge inspired me to make this cake. The anything-that's-not-rotten-but-too-soft-to-be-fun-to-eat CAKE.

They don't look wrinkly from here =)

Pitting a cherry with only a knife at hand: slide the knife around the cherry, cutting it in half around the seed. Twist each of the halves in a different direction to expose the seed. Cut the part with the seed in half again and twist to separate the flesh of the cherry. Now the seed is exposed enough so that it's easy to grab it with your finger tips and release it.

I refroze the decorative raspberries for a while so that they won't turn into a mash when I place them on the cake.

You can use any fruit you can think of !! Except for bananas, I hate bananas.

Summer Fruit Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
500g fruit of your choice (I used cherries, raspberries and blackberries)
4 eggs (L), at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp flavorless oil (Canola, peanut, etc.)
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

100g mascarpone cheese
40g greek yogurt or white cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
1 tbsp confectioner's sugar
Some more fruit for decoration

Oil to grease the cake pan
Some confectioner's sugar to cover the inside of the pan

Method:
Ready the fruit - wash, dry, peel and remove seeds as needed. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Oil a kugelhopf pan thoroughly and dust it completely with confectioner's sugar.

Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Whisk the egg whites with a mixer till they turn foamy, then start adding the sugar and whisk until lightly stiff peaks form. Break the egg yolks and together with the oil and lemon zest, lightly fold them into the whisked egg whites, 3-4 folds should due. Now sift in the flour and baking powder in 2 turns, folding them in as little as possible (just until almost combined).

Put half the mixture into the (ready) kugelhopf cake pan and spread about a third of the fruit on top of it. Add the remaining cake mixture and spread the rest of the fruit on it.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the parts of the cake that are visible in between the fruit are golden brown (if the cake comes out too dry you over baked it). Let it cool for 15 minutes and then release it from the pan and let it cool completely.

Mix the mascarpone cheese with the yogurt, vanilla and sugar to a smooth paste and spread it on top of the cake. Decorate with the prettiest fruit you have. Keep the cake in the fridge.