Tiramisu cake: jump to recipe here.
Tiramisu has been very of the moment over the last few years (or I’m just very late to the party). The standard iterations at Italian restaurants have paved the way for Embla’s chocolate ripple-misu, the restaurant drawer option, gelato messina’s many twists (matcha-misu, for example) and the very viral pistachio-misu versions. I have been equally guilty of asking my local café for 12 shots of espresso for my own (the best make-ahead crowd pleasing dinner party dessert, if you need convincing). This is it in cake form. The layers are a moist almond coffee cake, studded with tiny shards of chopped dark chocolate and soaked in a mix of espresso and kahlua. A very simple vanilla mascarpone cream and a dusting of cocoa finishes it off. Hopefully a welcome addition to the tiramisu repertoire.
A few tips:
- I find it easiest to make the cake layers the evening before serving, although you could do the morning of if need be. The important thing is that they are completely cold before you layer with mascarpone.
- In these photos I have used 2 x 20cm cake tins, though I have also made it with 2 x 22cm cake tins which works equally well for a slightly flatter cake and a greater cake-cream ratio. Just watch the baking time as they cook especially quickly in the larger tins.
- For the coffee soak: straight up espresso is best for flavour, whether from your own coffee machine or the cafe down the road. Filter coffee and even plunger is a bit too watery.
- The cake will soak up more espresso-kahlua than you think. I find it works best if the cakes are warm and the coffee is cold, or the coffee is still hot and the cakes are cold – if both are hot it can get too wet, and if both are cold it doesn’t soak in as well.
- Be really careful when beating the mascarpone cream together, as it can go from perfect to grainy really quickly. I would actually take it to less whipped/slightly runnier than you think as it will even continue to thicken when you spread it on the cake. It just needs to be able to dollop. You can always put the cake in the fridge for a bit before serving too.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 200 g caster sugar
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste/essence
- 120 g almond meal/ground almonds
- 150 g plain flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup greek yogurt (full fat)
- 2 ½ tablespoons instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water
- 120 g dark chocolate finely chopped
- 4 shots espresso coffee (~1/2 cup)
- 3 tablespoons kahlua or similar coffee liquor
- 250 g mascarpone
- 250 g whipping cream
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence/paste
- 1 tablespoon cocoa to dust
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Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line 2 x 20cm cake tins with baking paper. You can also use 22cm cake tins for a flatter cake, they will just take less time to bake.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, caster sugar and vanilla until light and creamy, about 5 minutes.
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Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition to fully combine.
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In a small bowl, dissolve the instant coffee in 1 tablespoon boiling water then stir in the yogurt. Add this to the batter and mix to fully combine.
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In a separate bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and salt.
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Fold this gently into the batter to just combine. Fold in the finely chopped dark chocolate.
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Divide evenly between the cake tins (I alternate big scoops using a cup measure into each one).
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Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top just bounces back to touch in the centre and a skewer inserted has a few crumbs- don’t overbake, they will continue to cook as they cool.
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Leave to mostly cool then remove from the tins.
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Mix together the espresso coffee and kahlua, then brush this over the cakes. They will soak up more liquid than you think. I find it works best if the cakes are warm and the coffee is cold, or the coffee is still hot and the cakes are cold – if both are hot it can get too wet.
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Place in the fridge for 10 minutes or so before frosting them if it's a hot day.
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Assemble just prior to serving:
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Beat together the mascarpone, cream, sugar and vanilla until just thick enough to dollop – be careful here as it’s a really fine line and if overbeaten the cream will be grainy and difficult to salvage. If this does happen, try adding more liquid whipping cream and stirring very gently until smooth.
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Place one cake on your serving plate. Dollop with half the mascarpone cream and spread to the edges with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Carefully top with the second cake, and finish with the remaining cream. Use a sieve to dust with cocoa just before serving.
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Leftovers are best kept in the fridge in an airtight container.
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