I have been CRAVING tiramisu for months. I made it for my sister-in-law Melanie's, and my birthday. We are just a day apart. I wanted to combine the flavor of the quintessential tiramisu with the look of a cake. So here is a compilation of recipes you need to make my tiramisu cake. The awesome thing about this cake is there is no heavy-super-sweet frosting. It is frosted with the light and fluffy tiramisu filling and it is AMAZING.
There are three components to this cake, tiramisu filling which doubles as frosting, coffee simple syrup and ladyfingers.
I apologize, I don't have pictures for the filling, but it's pretty basic anyway. You aren't missing much.
I also am going to try just adding the recipe first, and you can choose to look at pictures if you want but it's not necessary.
Tiramisu filling (no change for high altitude)
1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee (Starbucks Via works well)
1/4 cup hot water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place the instant coffee in the hot water and stir. Let cool for 5 minutes.
Beat heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside in fridge until needed.
Mix powdered sugar and mascarpone until smooth. Mix in vanilla extract and coffee mix. Fold whipped cream into cheese/coffee mixture and refrigerate until cake is ready to be assembled.
Yellow cake - regular, look below for high-altitude
4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 4 large eggs, room temperature 2 cups buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray two 8-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper. (or just use spray, I find that the parchment never fails me.)
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined. Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, or check if the center bounces back when you touch it. Start checking at 35 minutes up to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack.
Ladyfingers - no change high altitude
6 eggs, separated
11 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Draw lines on parchment paper, 4 inches long and separate line about 2 inches. This will make it easier to pipe even ladyfingers. Prepare a large pastry bag with a 1/2-inch tip, and set aside.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk yolks, 10 tablespoons granulated sugar, and vanilla using high speed on an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, until mixture is thick and pale, 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add flour, folding in gently; set aside. Using electric mixer, whisk egg whites until frothy. While whisking, gradually add remaining 1 tablespoon sugar; beat until stiff, 1 to 2 minutes. Fold 1/3 of whites into reserved yolk mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites until just incorporated.
Fill pastry bag with batter, and pipe ladyfingers, 1/2 inch thick, between the short lines drawn on parchment paper. Using a fine mesh sieve, generously dust ladyfingers with confectioners' sugar, and allow the sugar to soak in, about 3 minutes. Place in oven and bake, rotating trays once, until light golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool and dry out slightly, at least 2 hours. Remove from parchment paper.
Simple Syrup - no high altitude change
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 instant coffee packet
Heat sugar and water until dissolved. Add instant coffee, and let cool for 30 minutes. pour into squeeze bottle. If you would rather use a brush, just keep it in a bowl. Refrigerate when not in use.
Assembly (pictured below)
You need two 8-inch layers of yellow cake, tiramisu filling, coffee simple syrup, ladyfingers, and cocoa powder.
Trim top off of cakes so it is flat.
Put first layer on the cake plate you will be using.
Soak first layer with coffee simple syrup.
Add layer of tiramisu filling.
Dip 10-12 ladyfingers in coffee syrup.
Add layer of soaked ladyfingers (put your ugly ones in the middle of the cake, save the nice ones for the outside).
Add another layer of tiramisu filling.
Soak the cut side of the top cake layer, and invert onto the cake, so that your soaked side is on the inside.
Soak top off cake.
Frost cake with tiramisu filling.
Dust with cocoa powder.
line up ladyfingers around the outside of the cake.
Pipe dots around edge if you'd like.
Write with melted chocolate.
High altitude yellow cake
4 cups plus 6 tablespoons cake flour 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 1 1/2 cups + 6 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 5 large eggs, at room temperature 2 cups buttermilk
Preheat oven to 365°F. Spray two 8-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper. (or just use spray, I find that the parchment never fails me.)
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined. Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, or check if the center bounces back when you touch it. Start checking at 27 minutes up to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack.
Ladyfinger process
I just separate the eggs using the shells.
Whisking whites to soft peaks
folding the mixture
Cake Assembly
