Sandhya's Kitchen

Celebrations with Tiramisu Cake

 

A  Very Happy New Year to all !!! May all the wishes cum true .Lets travel an extra mile to fulfill our resolutions… Lets try hard to live upto our resolutions this year and feel satisfied!! 2010 has been quite an eventful year with 2 recognitions for Sandhya’s Kitchen.. Have baked like never before in 2010.. 2 proper cakes with frostings in 1 week… between Christmas and New year Voila !!! One of them is this Tiramisu Cake .. the other one was an Eggless Chocolate Cake with Tofu .Sooper delicious.. Sorry but no clicks sadly!
Final hour of 2010 and the first hour of this year was being spent baking a lovely eggless cake.. Does tat mean I will be baking all through the year ..even more than last year ?? Lets see and will surely discuss .. about this!!!

 

This lovely Italian dessert was made just for the occasion of New Year get together .. My second successful attempt and this time it comes straight from a very popular author Dorie Greenspan.. I knew my choice cannot go wrong here. Verdict right in front of you 🙂

 

 

Tiramisu Cake

Recipe Adapted from :Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

For the Cake Layers:
Cake Flour 2 Cups
I made my own by mixing
2 Cups plain flour
– 4 Tblspn Plain flour + 4 Tblspn Corn flour
Baking Powder 2 Tsp
Baking Soda 1/8th Tsp
Salt 1/4th Tsp

( I have omitted it )
Unsalted Butter 10 Tblspn
Granulated Sugar 1 Cup
Large Eggs 3
Large Egg Yolk 1
Vanilla Extract 1.5 Tsp
Butter Milk 3/4th Cup
I made mine by combining 1/2 Cup low fat + 1/4th Cup Water
For the espresso extract:
Instant Espresso Powder 2Tblspn
I have used Dogwe Egbert
Boiling Water 2 Tblspn

 

For the espresso syrup:
Water 1/2 Cup
Sugar 1/3 Cup
Liquer ( Amaretto, Kahlua or Brandy) 1 Tblspn
Shh… I have used Brandy. But its optional.. Have made them without brandy too earlier.. and it rocked.
For the filling and frosting:
Mascarapone 18 ounce Container
Icing Sugar 1/2 Cup
Vanilla Extract 1.5 Tsp
Brandy 1 Tblspn ( Optional)
Cold Heavy Cream 1 Cup
Mini Dark Chocolate Chips 1/2 Cup

 

DIRECTIONS:
To make the Cake:
  • Butter two 9×2 inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess, and line the bottoms of the pans with baking paper.
  • Bring together all the dry ingredients – Cake Flour , Baking powder and baking soda.
  • Using a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.
  •  Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter.
  • Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
  • Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be golden and springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centers will come out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them, and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right-side up.

 

To make the extract:
  • Stir the espresso powder and boiling water together in a small cup until blended. Set aside.

 

To make the syrup:
  • Stir the water and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the syrup into a small heatproof bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of the espresso extract and the liqueur or brandy; set aside.
To make the filling and frosting:
  • Put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk just until blended and smooth.
  • Working  with the whisk attachment in a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream with a light touch.

 

Assembling the Cake:
  • If the tops of the cake layers have crowned, use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to even them. Place one layer right-side up on a cardboard round or a cake plate protected with strips of wax or parchment paper. Using a pastry brush, soak the layer with about one third of the espresso syrup. Smooth some of the mascarpone cream over the layer – user about 1 1/4 cups – and gently press the chopped chocolate into the filling.
  • Put the second cake layer on the counter and soak the top of it with half the remaining espresso syrup, then turn the layer over and position it, soaked side down, over the filling. Soak the top of the cake with the remaining syrup.
  • For the frosting, whisk 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of the remaining espresso extract into the remaining mascarpone filling. Taste the frosting as you go to decide how much extract you want to add.
  • With a cake shaver , smooth the frosting around the sides of the cake and over the top. Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours (or for up to 1 day) before serving – the elements need time to meld.
  • Decorate the top of the cake either with Coco powder or with Chocolate shavings like I did.. Made a stencil by cutting a heart shape onto the wax paper and filled it with Lindt dark chocolate shavings.
  • Remember to put the cake out atleast 3-4 hours before serving.

 

KITCHEN NOTES:

I have made this cake earlier just by using the plain flour . The sponge was soft and well received..
Ommitting the liquer in the cake preparation gives the cake its own flavour and its still yumm…Both the times Tiramisu cake was a celebration cake . First time I baked it for my own birthday 6 Months ago.. and this time for the New Year.

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Comments

  14. Vasavi Suresh says

    That cake looks so tempting.. Just two days back I had a piece of tiramasu which my friend made and couldn't forget the flavors yet.. Now I'm seeing urs. Feel like I should bake one too.

    Reply

  31. Bharathy says

    Tiramisu is one romantic cake ;)..and you have a Lovely looking one here!!!

    I see amazing cakes in your space and cute cookies all around the blogosphere so apt for the season!

    Look at me lazy to bake, sitting and stirring tongue burning pickles instead 🙁 sigh!

    Reply

  32. Bharathy says

    …and again I chanced upon your much helpful space of 'help me blogging' just now …wanted to create a printable version in my space too..
    Wonderful attempt, sandhya!

    Reply

  33. Bharathy says

    LOL! I used to do that too… pickles disapperaing from my mom's and hubby's granma's fridges were usual scenes..ppl are getting older Sandy :(..wish they were always young!..
    when it comes to cutting veggies it's all "tharu maru" with me too..blame my impatience me!

    Reply

  47. Anonymous says

    Hi Sandhya,

    I tried your recipe for Tiramisu cake today, following the instructions exactly as mentioned. I baked my cake at 350F for 27 minutes.

    But unfortunately my cake didn't rise at all! 🙁 I was extremely disappointed as I was planning to make this cake for a special occasion 🙁

    After searching the web, I found that one of the reasons could be the baking powder/baking soda being old and ineffective. I tested for both of these and they are fine.

    I am totally clueless about the exact reason for my cake not rising enough. Could it be because of mixing the batter too much? But then again, I don't even know if I have mixed my batter too much! 🙁 Exactly how long should you mix the cake batter?

    Please help!

    – Shubha

    Reply

  48. Sandhya Hariharan says

    Hi Shubha,

    Thank you for writing back to me . Ooopsie.. Feeling really bad that your cake did not rise..
    This recipe is quite a popular one in the blogosphere…

    Anyways.. coming straight to the cake batter , Hope your measurements were perfectly right.
    First you need to beat the butter well until creamy and fluffy n then the sugar. Once well incorporated , you do the eggs one by one and then the dry ingredients.
    Over beating could also result in not rising.
    One more thing you cud do is just use plain flour instead of trying to make a cake flour.I have made earlier with plain flour. This will make the cake a lil extra spongy. ThisTiramisu is slightly firm ( its sure becoz of the cake flour) .I feel sometimes while making cake flour , measurements could go wrong too…

    For your reference , you could visit Smitten Kitchen. This is a lovely blog too and talks about the same recipe.
    http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/11/tiramisu-cake/

    Hope this bit helps .. Pls do free to mail me – sandhyaskitchen@yahoo.com

    Cheers
    Sandhya

    Reply

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