Tiramisu Layer Cake

Giulia Doyle — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:03:48 +0000

My husband celebrated his birthday this past weekend. Originally I had all kinds of big plans, but it turned out that it was the same day as our daughter’s first communion and the same weekend we had three guests bunking with us. Let me tell you – seven people and one full bath is not my favourite thing!

Unfortunately for him, his birthday was reduced to a smoked fish and bagel lunch and this cake. A cake that’s been floating in my mind for quite some time. I seem to be drawn to making layer cakes out of things that normally aren’t – like this banana bread layer cake. And if you are a long-time reader, you’ll know why I chose to make a tiramisu cake – just as I tweaked a classic tiramisu a couple of years back into a tropical version.

So here it is – the non-boozy version of a tiramisu cake – fit for a birthday. I used this yellow cake recipe, but reduced the cooking time to 22 minutes because of the 3 layers. Then I assembled the pieces as described in the recipe below.

Feel free to add some booze to the ladyfingers for a little something extra and if you want it to taste more of coffee, drizzle the yellow cake layers with coffee as well!

Oh and I think he still had a great day, despite it not being all about him.

Mascarpone Frosting and Chocolate Ganache and Ladyfinger Layer

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 1 nine inch 3 layer cake

Bake yellow cake layers (3) and let cool completely. Add first layer of cake to cake stand or plate. Frost with mascarpone frosting, layer with soaked ladyfingers, add some more frosting. Add second layer of cake and repeat frosting and ladyfinger layer. Top with final layer of cake. Add a thin layer of frosting all over the cake. Put in fridge for 30 minutes so frosting can stiffen. Once cold, add more frosting all over the cake and smooth as best as you can. Cool a little more while you make the chocolate ganache. Take the cake out of the fridge, pour ganache on centre of cake and let it gently drip over the edges. Let ganache get solid before serving cake. *Drizzle cake layers with extra coffee if you want a stronger flavour.

Ingredients

1 tub of mascarpone
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 cups of whipping cream
1 1/2 packs of ladyfingers
1 cup of espresso (or more if you want to drizzle some on the cake layers)
1 100g bar of good quality chocolate, broken into pieces
2/3 cup of whipping cream

Instructions

For frosting:
Combine mascarpone and sugar with a mixer until smooth and creamy. Add whipping cream and whip at medium-high speed until the cream turns to a whipped cream consistency. Don't over-whip the mixture. Adjust sweetness to your liking.
For Ladyfinger layer:
Soak each ladyfinger in espresso before adding it to frosted cake layer
Chocolate Ganache:
Heat cream in small saucepan until piping hot but not boiling. Take off heat and stir in chocolate pieces. Stir until fully melted. Wait until slightly thickened for perfect pouring texture.

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Coconut Pineapple Tiramisu

Giulia Doyle — Mon, 06 May 2013 10:03:59 +0000

My husband will turn down dessert on a regular basis. At our children’s birthday parties, he’s the one that won’t have a piece of the three-tier chocolate cake. I really don’t comprehend this. He claims he doesn’t like cake much, especially the layered and iced ones. Now, how does one celebrate a birthday without a cake or cupcakes? Would I bake a cake anyway, so he could blow out the candles? No. I decided to look for desserts he does like – Crème caramel and Tiramisu came to mind.

I had recently come across a different version of Tiramsu in the Tibits cookbook. Adding Coconut and Pineapple, seemed like an interesting take on a classic Italian desert. Normally, Tiramisu is prepared in a shallow dish, allowing you to get cut pieces out easily, even with all the creamy mascarpone. But, because it was his birthday, I wanted the non-cake to look more like a cake, or something equally celebratory – so I doubled the recipe and assembled it in my trifle dish. Beautiful to look at, but not very easy to serve. That didn’t stop my dear husband though to successfully blow out his candles and dig into his birthday dessert. He had a second helping and had more the next day. I call that a success.

Coconut Pineapple Tiramisu - adapted from Tibits Cookbook

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Ingredients

100 g ladyfinger cookies (about one pack, or as many as fit at the bottom of your dish)
100 ml Coconut Milk (about 1/4 can)
160 g fresh Pineapple (roughly 2 cups)
3 tablespoons of light brown sugar
250 g of Mascarpone (a little more than one container)
50 ml of whole cream (1/4 cup)
1 vanilla pod
5 tablespoon of light brown sugar
Sweetened Cocoa

Instructions

Layer the bottom of a rectangular baking dish with ladyfinger cookies until bottom is covered. Cover with coconut milk.
Cut pineapple into 1/2 inch pieces and mix with the 3 tablespoons of sugar. Spread over cookies.
Mix mascarpone with cream, sugar and scrapped vanilla seeds until you have a smooth mixture. Spread mixture over pineapple layer.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but it's best if you prepare it the night before so the cookies have a chance to soak up all the liquid.
Sprinkle with sweetened cocoa right before serving.

Notes

This is a rough translation from a metric German recipe - this recipe is pretty forgiving, so feel free to adapt to your liking. I doubled the recipe and added more coconut milk than the recipe calls for. Next time I would chop my pineapple very fine to create a nice smooth layer, rather than large chunks of fruit - it would look nicer and probably serve prettier.

/2013/05/06/coconut-pineapple-tiramisu/

If you are looking for a creamy dessert that is very easy to make and can be made ahead of time, try this. It’s different than anything I’ve had. What do you think – as good as a cake?

tiramisu – Audrey's 74

Tiramisu Layer Cake

Coconut Pineapple Tiramisu