I am a huge tiramisu fan, and so is my husband. So much, that he requests it for his birthday every year. This cake is made with a delicious homemade sponge cake that is soaked with strong sweetened coffee, filled (and frosted) with a mascarpone cream that melts in your mouth, and dusted with unsweetened cocoa powder….Yummmm!!! I’m fortunate to have delicious cocoa powder from my amazing niece who lives in Italy…Thank you so much, Colleen!
Let’s get started by making the sponge cakes. I like to make 2-9 inch cakes that I cut in half giving you four layers.
Ingredients for Sponge Cake:
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (130 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- *2 cups strong black coffee (I sweetened mine with 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. You can omit the sugar if you want, it’s just a preference)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (28 grams) for dusting on cake
*The coffee isn’t in the cake recipe. It is used for soaking the layers, and 3 tablespoons is in the mascarpone cream filling.
Instructions for Sponge Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottoms of two 8″ round pans with parchment paper. Do not grease pans!
Ingredients for Mascarpone Cream Filling:
- 4 cups BelGioioso mascarpone cheese (906 grams)
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar (240 grams)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons sweetened coffee
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream (360 grams)
Instructions for Mascarpone Cream Filling:
Place mascarpone in a large mixing bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. It will be so smooth and creamy.
Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and sweetened coffee in the bowl with the mascarpone cheese. Beat on medium/high for a minute. Set aside.
Mix heavy whipping cream to soft peaks. Add to the mascarpone mixture and mix until fully incorporated and very smooth!
- Set filling aside while you slice cake layers and soak them with the sweetened coffee mixture.
- Place about a cup and a half of the cream filling on the coffee soaked layer and spread evenly.
- Continue filling, soaking, and layering the cakes. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining filling (frosting).
- The top can be decorated any way you would like. I put whipped cream in a bag with a large tip with a 1/2″ circle, then I dusted it with unsweetened cocoa.
- I cut pieces of parchment paper and placed it around the bottom of the cake to catch most of the cocoa. This was just a preference for me, but it isn’t necessary. I think one of the charms of a tiramisu cake is how rustic it is :).
- I hope you make this yummy cake, and if you do, please tag me on Instagram @goodeatsbymimi. I would love to hear from you and see your photos!!