Tiramisu Cake
Layers of coffee-flavored sponge cake and mascarpone cream make this Tiramisu cake an absolutely delightful afternoon treat.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter.
- Sugar. White granulated sugar or caster sugar will both work.
- Flour. All purpose flour.
- Baking powder.
- Salt.
- Eggs.
- Vanilla extract.
- Warm milk.
- Instant coffee.
- Mascarpone.
- Heavy cream/whipping cream.
- Powdered sugar/icing sugar.
- Cocoa powder.
How to make Tiramisu Cake
This cake has three components that ensure it’s perfectly flavored with coffee (without it being overpowering). Each element is super easy to make and they are all essential to this cake’s great texture and delicious flavor.
- The sponge cake: I made a simple coffee-flavored sponge cake batter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Simply cream together the butter and sugar then add the eggs and vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients and finally stir in the hot milk and coffee. I just dissolve instant coffee granules into the hot milk. Pour the batter into three 7-8inch/20cm cake pans that you’ve greased and lined with parchment paper then bake in a preheated oven until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack until room temperature.
- The coffee soak: While the cake is baking, I make a coffee soak to infuse even more coffee flavor and keep the cake layers moist, but you could use a few shots of espresso instead and just use less water. Simply simmer together water, sugar and instant coffee together in a small saucepan set over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. You can add alcohol to the soak too for an authentic tiramisu flavor. Marsala wine, brandy, dark rum, Kahlua (coffee liqueur) will all work.
- The mascarpone frosting: This is a simple stabalized whipped cream frosting. You’ll whip the mascarpone and powdered sugar together (I do this in the bowl of my stand mixer with the whisk attachment but you can use electric beaters or a whisk and a large bowl too). Whip the cream until stiff peaks form then fold into the mascarpone mixture. From here it’s just an assembly job where you’ll layer the cakes (that you’ve brushed with the coffee soak) with the creamy mascarpone frosting and finally give it a generous dusting of cocoa powder to finish.
Can I make this ahead?
This cake can be made the day in advance and kept covered in the fridge. The layers can be made up to a week in advance, wrapped well and frozen. Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Tiramisu Recipes
Tiramisu Cake
Layers of coffee-flavored sponge cake and mascarpone cream make this Tiramisu cake an absolutely delightful afternoon treat.
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Calories: 640kcal
Servings: 12
Ingredients
For the sponge cakes
- 250 g (2 sticks) butter room temperature
- 300 g (1½ cups) caster sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 extra-large eggs I use free-range
- 300 g (2½ cups) cake flour all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 250 ml (1 cup) milk heated
- 1 tbsp instant coffee
For the coffee soak
- 125 ml (½ cup) water
- 100 g (½ cup) sugar
- 2 tbsp instant coffee
For the mascarpone frosting
- 500 g (1lb) mascarpone
- 250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream / whipping cream
- 250 g (2 cups) powdered sugar / icing sugar sifted
- cocoa powder for dusting
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F/180°c and grease three 7-8inch/20cm cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- In a different bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
- Add the ground coffee/instant coffee to the warm milk and mix until dissolved.
- Add the flour mixture and the milk/coffee alternating to the the butter, sugar and eggs mixture. Make sure to mix well after each addition.
- Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans and place in the pre-heated oven.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the cakes comes out clean.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack and allowing to cool completely.
- In the meantime, get started on the mascarpone filling and the coffee syrup.
- For the syrup, combine the sugar, water and coffee in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- For the mascarpone frosting, beat the mascarpone and powdered sugar together until thick. Whip the cream to stiff peak stage then fold into the mascarpone.
- When the cakes are cool, brush with the coffee syrup until most of it has been absorbed.
- Layer the cakes with the frosting and finish with a generous dusting of cocoa powder then serve.
Nutrition
Calories: 640kcal | Carbohydrates: 79g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 101mg | Sodium: 578mg | Potassium: 327mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 58g | Vitamin A: 1407IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 154mg | Iron: 1mg
Could I make this in one cake tin and slice it through the centre?
Yes, of course! You just need to adjust the cooking time.
does this cake need to be refrigerated?
Toni, I would refrigerate it if you’re not serving it on the day you make it. In that case, remove it from the fridge 1 hour before you plan on serving it so that it gets time to come to room temperature.
Could tou make cupcakes instead of a big cake?
Of course, just adjust the cooking time. When a skewer inserted comes out clean, they’re done!
Tiramisu is my favourite Dessert so when I found this recipe I decided to prepare it for my 6th wedding anniversary, in a mini version, it was really easy to prepare, I couldn’t resist the temptation to try it before sharing it with my husband, the cake is absolutely Delicious, love it. My husband was very surprised with the results. Thank you for sharing this recipe
So glad you liked it Jasmine. It is a firm favourite in our household as well.
Hi, was your milk hot when you alternately mixed it into the cake?
Not boiling hot but warm to the touch.
Very good, Ill try that. I was afriad I would have to call up one of my Canadian friends or British friends to send me a special package of dairy products.
Any chance you can tell me what could be used to replace double thick cream ? I cant recall ever seeing anything like this here in Florida.
Jesyca, you could also use Mascarpone cheese. Double thick cream is really just very thick cream, it doesn’t have a runny consistency.
hi,wanna try..is this salted butter to be used or an unsalted one,can u pls tell me if i can use dream whip as heavy cream n how can i measure thick cream into liquid state,as u have mentioned in mls..
Samima, you can use either but with baking I most often use unsalted butter.
In step 14, “Whilst mixing, slowly pour in the strong coffee and continue mixing until all the coffee has been incorporated.”, what coffee is this because the coffee syrup is brushed over the cake. Do we need to make the syrup and add one lot to the mascarpone and one lot to the cake? Please clarify as I would love to make this ……Tiramisu is also our favourite dessert. Thanks
Yvonne, you’ll see at the ingredients list for the Mascarpone layer/filling it states you need 2 Tbsp strong coffee. This is what you need to pour in slowly whilst continuously whisking. I hope you enjoy the cake when you’ve baked it. 🙂
Sorry I didn’t notice that. Tks for the reply. Absolutely love your blog and the recipes.
I love the addition of the coffee cake. I will definately be trying this recipe out soon 😉
Tami, it gives it such amazing flavour! Let me know what you think once you’ve tried it!
Looks very yum! But I need to know what double thick cream is? And what can I replace the liqeuer with? No alcohol for me please. 🙂 Thank you for posting!
Zina, Double thick cream is simply thick cream. I’m not sure what it would be called in other countries. I think in the US it is called Heavy cream?
Oh, and you can just leave the alcohol out. Makes no difference other than taste.
Oh yes heavy cream! I was thinking it might be that. Thank you! And I will def leave the alcohol out!. 🙂
can you please also give measurements in mls for the sugar and flour?
Lindy, it’s very hard for me to give you ml measurements as I only ever weigh my dry ingredients but 350g flour is approximately 650ml and 300g sugar is approximately 350ml. I can’t be sure that these measurements are 100% correct though and I would suggest you rather weight the ingredients to ensure a successful end result.
This looks delumptious as my mum would say.. “Misu” was also one of my mum’s favorites, but we did a little Amarula twist instead of the Tia maria… Good memories… Thanks mills 🙂
My moms fav dessert is also tiramisu 🙂 Will definitely be making this for her soon
I hope she likes it as much as I did Nos!