When someone asks if you’d like cake or pie, why not say you want cake and pie? — Lisa Loeb (cake and pie quote)
You know what is great about Tiramisu? It usually comes at the end of a decadent Italian dinner! Tiramisu Cake is an equally delicious sort of cheater version of traditional Tiramisu.
With Tiramisu cake, you can skip dealing with soaking lady fingers by using cake instead. Further, if you want to really cheat, you can use boxed cake mix instead of making this from scratch, although all cakes are better when the box is avoided. There is a trade off between taste and convenience. With that said though, something like this, where the cake gets buried in delicious coffee syrup and fluffy frosting, works pretty darn well with Betty Crocker from a box.
To make tiramisu cake, either bake it up from scratch or from the box in two round cake pans.
Each half gets soaked with an espresso coffee syrup and frosted. When it is all layered together, it is quite the tasty treat. You can use any left over frosting from this to make Tiramisu Pudding Cups by stirring a bit of espresso syrup into vanilla (or chocolate!) pudding and layering with filling, drizzles of the syrup, and crushed chocolate or crushed Oreo cookies.
- 1 box of yellow cake mix
- 2 cups (255 grams) cake flour
- 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1¼ sticks (10 tablespoons or 140 grams)) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 grams) sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1½ teaspoons (8 ml) pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (175 ml) buttermilk
- ¾ cup hot brewed espresso or extremely strong coffee
- 2 Tablespoons cognac,amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy
- 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 8-ounce (225 grams) container mascarpone
- ½ cup (60 grams) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1½ teaspoons (8 ml) pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy (Deb note: I used brandy)
- 1 cup (235 ml) cold heavy cream
- 3 Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
- Dark chocolate for decoration
- If using a box mix, prepare according to instructions otherwise use the following steps.
- Preheat oven to 350
- Butter two round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Using a mixer on medium to high, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.
- Add the sugar and beat for another 2-3 minutes.
- Slowly beat in the eggs
- Beat in the vanilla
- Slowly mix in the the dry ingredients and buttermilk on low, alternating between the two and scraping the bowl as you go
- Divide the batter between two round cake pans
- Bake for 28 to 30 minutes. Rotating the pans half way through
- Cake is done when a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake for about 5 minutes, loosen the sides with a knife, depan them, peel off the parchment paper, and turn them right-side up.
- Fully cool the cakes
- While waiting for the cake to cool, mix the syrup ingredients, and set aside
- In a large bowl, mix the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur until smooth
- Whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks.
- Stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mix and lightly fold in the rest
- Place 1 cake layer on a plate
- Moisten the top very generously with coffee syrup and spread about 1 cup of the filling on top
- Moisten the second layer, then carefully place it soaked side down on top of the filling.
- Moisten the top of the second layer and spread the remaining filling over top and sides of the cake.
- Sprinkle cocoa over the cake
- Arrange dark chocolate garnish as desired
- Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving. Cake is best if refrigerated overnight.
I have a doubt.. is the cake flour means the all purpose flour?!!
Cake flour is different than all purpose. You can usually find it in a box in the baking aisle. You can also dilute all purpose flour with cornstarch to get close to the same effect. Here are instructions: http://www.food.com/recipe/how-to-make-cake-flour-424532
I just got done making the Tiramisu cake and it was delicious the flavors were spot on. The only problem I ran into was that for some reason the Mascarpone cheese seemed to curdle. No matter how long I beat it it would not get light and fluffy. It did not seem to curdle until I added the vanilla and the Kahlua. Any advice or idea what I could have done wrong would be great.
I didn’t have that problem. I started with them all in the bowl, I didn’t add them after beating the cheese a bit. Maybe that makes a difference? I also (unintentionally) let my cheese sit out to room temperature first. So that could have an effect maybe? I admit that I’m totally theorizing here though!
I just wondered what size cake pan you used? It doesn’t specify so I was going to wing it. Thanks.
Two standard size round cake pans.
I was wondering if the temp of the oven was 350 Fahrenheit or degree Celsius?
Fahrenheit.
Waiting for my layers to cool & will be assembling shortly. I found my cheese didn’t get creamy either. Mine looked separated and curdled out of the carton. I’ll not use this brand again since it was chosen based solely on price point. But I’m pretty sure this type of cheese should be creamy to start with.
Yes, the cheese definitely should be smooth out of the carton. Sometimes if it isn’t you can try blending it to make it smooth. It will sometimes separate a bit.
can you freeze left overs
I have not tried freezing this, but I don’t see why you could not.