Tiramisu Cake

It’s been a a quite a while since i made a cake, so I thought now would be the perfect time to share this recipe for my take on a tiramisu cake.

Okay, its not a traditional tiramisu but I’ve taken the idea of one and turned it into a celebration cake – this is ideal for those who are looking for an alternative to a buttercream cake.

The cake is straightforward to make, it starts with two coffee flavoured sponge cakes, which are filled and decorated with a sweetened whipped cream, then finished with a dusting of cocoa powder. It’s got most of the elements of a traditional tiramisu, well enough for you to know what the cake and flavours are anyway.

There is one thing I want to say before I get into the recipe, this cake was made back at the start of February, so getting ingredients was easier to achieve.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

 

Coffee Cake:

380g Butter.

500g Granulated sugar.

8 Eggs.

566g Plain flour.

4 tsp Baking powder.

115ml Cold coffee

 

Cold Coffee:

30g Instant coffee.

90ml Boiling water.

 

Coffee Simple Syrup:

250ml Water.

250g Granulated sugar.

25g Instant coffee.

 

Decoration:

900ml Double cream.

125g Icing sugar.

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Cocoa powder (to dust).

 

Methods:

Before you get into making any part of this cake, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients up, lining and/or preparing your 2 x 10 inch cake tins with some parchment paper and butter, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and getting any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer and mixing bowls.

Cold Coffee & Coffee Simple Syrup:

To make the coffee mixture, simply boil the kettle and add the 90ml of boiling water to the 30g of instant coffee and mix until they are fully combined, allowing it to cool fully before you intend on using it. This can be made the day before you intend on making it, just ensure its at room temperature when you intend on using it.

For the coffee simple syrup, grab a saucepan and place the water, sugar and instant coffee. Place on the hob over a high heat and leave it to come to a boil and simmer briefly, then you can take it off the hob and allow to cool. The mixture should have a thicker consistency than plain water.

Coffee Cake:

Into a mixing bowl, place the butter and granulated sugar. Beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this may take some time but is important to achieving the perfect sponge cake.

Once the butter and sugar are combined, you can go ahead and add your eggs. One at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Try not to add the eggs too quickly, otherwise the mixture may split/curdle and thats not what you’re looking for, if it does happen, add a small amount of your weighed out flour.

Give the bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Now you can add in the plain flour and baking powder, passing them through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the mix. Once all of the dry mix is in the bowl, mix over a slow speed to start with, working your way up to medium-high speed.

Just mix until almost all the flour has been incorporated, then start to add the coffee mixture, a tablespoon at a time, until there is no more of the coffee mixture left.

Give the bowl another good scraping down, again just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated.

Take the cake batter and divide it between the two prepared 10 inch cake tins, you can eyeball this or weigh the cake batter and divide more equally using a pair of scales – either method works well.

Smooth and level off the batter in the tins, then place them in he preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until they are fully baked (a tester when inserted, should come out clean). Allow the cakes to cool in the tins until you can handle the tin, then turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool fully.

Once the cakes are cooled, you’ll want to trim away the sides and level off the tops, so the end result is more consistent.

Whipped Cream:

Into a clean mixing bowl, place the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisk them together over a medium-high speed, just until it reaches stiff peaks. It should easily hold its shape but still be smooth and the perfect piping consistency.

You will visually see the cream getting thicker as it whisks, so take extra care to ensure it doesn’t become over whisked – otherwise it will have a grainy mouthfeel and that’s not what you’re looking for.

Decoration & Finishing:

Take your layers of cake and give them a generous brushing of the coffee simple syrup (I like to do this as it adds flavour and helps to keep the cake fresh).

Grab yourself a 12 inch cake board or stand (whichever you’d prefer) and add a small blob of cream in the centre, then place the first layer of cake on-top, pressing down a little just to secure it in place.

Add a good amount of the whipped cream on top and level it off as best you possibly can, then add your second layer of cake. With the remaining whipped cream, give the cake a generous coating of the whipped cream, smoothing it out and getting it as consistent as possible. It may take a few attempts but you’ll get there.

You’ll want to keep some whipped cream back, simply place the cream into a piping bag fitted with a plain piping tip. I recommend placing it in the fridge until its needed.

Once you have the cake as smooth as you’d like, you can take the piping bag of cream and just pipe blobs on top of the cake, so the entire top of the cake is covered, you can pipe whatever size blobs you like, I went with a medium-ish size.

If you’re serving the cake straight away, you’ll want to dust the top of the cake with a liberal amount of cocoa powder. I would personally recommend dusting the cocoa powder on top before you serve the cake, it looks better but you can add it whenever you want to.

 

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.