Well, it's been 15 years since I made Tiramisu Cake, so I figured it was time for an update. My decorating skills haven't improved much, but I have a camera and a little more time so here's a new photo of this excellent dessert composed of yellow cake, a mascarpone cream filling and a coffee flavored whipped cream frosting.
This cake comes together surprisingly quickly if you have a stand mixer and two work bowls. For the longest time I only had one bowl and I'm not so sure why it took so long to buy a second. But most of the work here is whipping cream, folding it into a cream cheese mixture and decorating, which is something I need to practice. But this cake came out better than the last one.
Doctored Box Yellow Cake
Since I wanted to devote more time to decorating, I used a doctored cake mix recipe for the yellow cake base. It needed to be firm enough to soak up the coffee syrup, and I feel like this one did a good job with that. The original scratch yellow cake is in the recipe card, but if you want to try this doctored firmer, tight crumbed Betty Crocker yellow cake version, here's how I did it.
Modified Cake Recipe for Tiramisu Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 box Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix (13.25 oz box)
- 4 large eggs (adds richness and structure)
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted (instead of oil, for flavor and density)
- ½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt (adds moisture and makes it tender but firm)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 325°F (lower temp helps a more even, dense bake).
- Grease and flour two 8x2 inch deep cake pans.
- In a large bowl, beat all ingredients on low speed until combined, then on medium for 2 minutes.
- Divide batter evenly between pans.
- Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cakes cool completely before brushing with espresso syrup and layering with mascarpone filling.
Mascarpone Cheese Substitute
If you need to use cream cheese instead of mascarpone, you can use this: 6 ounces of cream cheese combined with 3 tablespoons heavy cream and a tablespoon of sour cream or whole milk Greek yogurt. It should work perfectly. Just be sure to really soften it, especially if you use a brand other than Philadelphia. The cream cheese is
So I did make some pretty big substitutions this time around, but everything worked out well in the end. Below is the original Dorie Greenspan adapted version from Baking From My Home to Yours.
Recipe
Tiramisu Cake
Ingredients
Cake Layers:
- 2 cups cake flour (230 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (140 grams)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (196 grams)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup buttermilk (180 grams)
Espresso Extract:
- 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
Espresso Syrup:
- ½ cup water
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon Kahlua or Amaretto
Filling and Frosting:
- 8 ounce container mascarpone
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon amaretto Kahlua, or brandy (I used Kahlua)
- 1 cup cold heavy cream
- 2 ½ ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate finely chopped, or about ½ cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
Garnish
- 1 tablespoon Cocoa powder for dusting
- 1 cup sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9×2 inch round cake pans and set them on a baking sheet. You can also use 8x2 inch round cake pans, but the bake time will change.
- Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Beat the butter on medium speed of an electric mixer until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
- Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point, until golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them, and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right-side up.
Espresso Extract Mixture
- To make the extract, stir the espresso powder and boiling water together in a small cup until blended. Set aside.
Espresso Syrup Mixture
- To make the syrup, stir the water and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the syrup into a small heatproof bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of the espresso extract and the liqueur; set aside.
Filling and Frosting
- To make the filling and frosting, put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk just until blended and smooth.
- In another mixing bowl using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer or a handheld mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone. With a rubber scraper, fold in the rest of the whipped cream.
Assemble Cake
- If the tops of the cake layers have crowned, use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to even them. Place one layer right-side up on a cardboard round or a cake plate protected with strips of wax or parchment paper. Using a pastry brush or a small spoon, soak the layer with about one third of the espresso syrup. You can do this by spooning it over and gently brushing.
- Smooth some of the mascarpone cream over the layer - user about 1 ¼ cups - and gently press the chopped chocolate into the mascarpone mixture. Turn the second layer of the cake upside down and soak with more espresso syrup by spooning it over. You can use all or less if desired. Stack over first layer.
- For the frosting, whisk 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons of the remaining espresso extract into the remaining mascarpone filling. Taste the frosting as you go to decide how much extract you want to add. If the frosting looks as if it might be a little too soft to spread over the cake, press a piece of plastic wrap against its surface and refrigerate it for 15 minutes or so. Refrigerate the cake too.
- With a long metal icing spatula, smooth the frosting around the sides of the cake and over the top.
- To garnish, you can sprinkle the cake with cocoa powder and garnish with chocolate espresso beans or pipe or spoon dollops of whipped cream (or just use whipped topping) over the top and then sprinkle with more cocoa powder.
- Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours (or for up to 1 day) before serving - the elements need time to meld.
- Just before serving, dust the top of the cake with cocoa.
DessertObsessed says
You're right, you can never go wrong with tiramisu! i love this recipe!
Kim says
Great looking cake! I've made this before and it is a lot of work but well worth it.
snookydoodle says
LOOKS DELICIOUS ! I LOVE TIRAMISU'
Sue says
I think I saw Katrina's version of this cake and thought it was a great idea. It's hard to get good store bought lady fingers here, and I have no intention of ever making them myself, so I think this cake is a good alternative for me. Here is what's really odd about Tiramisu and me. I don't like coffee, I rarely like anything liqueur flavored and I like Tiramisu. If it gets too heavy on the coffee or the liqueur I'll pass on it, but usually I like it. Weird. It must be all of that whipped cream and the bit of chocolate.
Cookie says
I wish you would've made this a couple of weeks earlier! I had to make a Tiramisu cake for my cousin's birthday and searched forever for a good recipe! Yours would've been perfect! Oh well, there's always MY birthday next month! Would it be weird making a cake for my own birthday?
katie says
Hi, Anna! I am a long time reader. We have corresponded a couple of times about things. I wanted to let you know I FINALLY got a food blog up and running (with my sister). Feel free to check it out!
Katrina says
It looks good to me, but taste is more important. Glad you (and Todd) liked it!