Tiramisu Cake - First Sweet Punch Challenge

Hello friends,

You all must be wondering, Priya baking Tiramisu. Is she faking or something. No guys, I dared to take the challenge of not just baking a cake but Tiramisu. And I would like to thanks Divya Kudua, Ria & Maria for such a nice and sweet challenge and not only that but explaining everything so well that even a layman like could dare to take the challenge. This is my very first Sweet Punch Challenge :)

As I used the cake recipe as it is with the exception of adding alochol in it, please check it out below.

Tiramisu Cake

Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

 

For the cake layers:

2 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

 

For the espresso extract:

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

2 tablespoons boiling water

 

For the espresso syrup:

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy

 

For the filling and frosting:

1 8-ounce container mascarpone (store-bought or homemade)

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy

1 cup cold heavy cream

2 1/2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, or about 1/2 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Chocolate-covered espresso beans, for decoration (optional)

Cocoa powder, for dusting

 

Getting ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 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 parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

 

To make the cake:

• Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with 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; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer 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 thin knife 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 stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with 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.

 

To assemble 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 or a small spoon, 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. If the frosting looks as if it might be a little too soft to spread over the cake, press a piece of plastic wrap against its surface and refrigerate it for 15 minutes or so. Refrigerate the cake too.

With a long metal icing spatula, smooth the frosting around the sides of the cake and over the top. If you want to decorate the cake with chocolate-covered espresso beans, press them into the filling, making concentric circles of beans or just putting some beans in the center of the cake.

 

Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours (or for up to 1 day) before serving – the elements need time to meld.

Just before serving, dust the top of the cake with cocoa.

My Experience with this baking and some after notes

It was amazing. Wonderful !!! I have to mention that I baked this cake in partnership with my husband. He did actually little over 50% of the tasks as I was trying to supervise and make sure we are not missing anything. This challenge has given me enough guts to try to make a layer cake next time :)

We baked 2 cakes instead of baking one cake and then dividing it in 2, which per me was a good thing to do for a new baker as I heard that dividing the cake in the middle can be a bit tricky sometimes even for a professional. My base cake came out beautifully. The one thing I regret is that I did not make Mascarpone Cheese at home as I was so not sure whether or not I can do, but will surely try it out next time. I also felt that I could have made little more frosting (by upping the measurements by at least 1.5 times), but see that is what is a learning experience, right?

Overall, the pics may not do that much justice to the taste of the cake. As we were kind of laymans, we used our own tricks and so could not take really step by step pics. But, I have tried posting final pics :)

Hope you all like it and may dare to try it as well.

That's all for now. Till next post, take care :)