This is the OG Tiramisu Cake with perfectly fluffy ombre sponge cake layers and wrapped in a beautiful ombre mascarpone frosting. It's the ultimate way to impress your loved ones for their special celebrations.
THIS CAKE. This is the OG Tiramisu Cake with ombre mascarpone frosting, it went viral back in 2016 when it first got posted and has been made by many, many people since.
Our tiramisu cake is super special and perfect for birthdays, or any special occasion! Made up of four 6-inch layers individually flavoured with chocolate, coffee and vanilla, soaked with coffee syrup and all sandwiched together with an insanely delicious mascarpone frosting, it literally is TO DIE FOR. It's that good!
You may see many copies out there, but this is the ORIGINAL ombre style multi layered tiramisu cake. We promise you light and airy sponge packed with serious flavour! Even Molly Yeh raved about it back in the day and created her own version. Be sure to check out our Passionfruit Layer Cake or Strawberry and Elderflower Cake if you're in the mood for more layer cakes.
Trust us, everyone needs this Italian tiramisu cake in their lives. We love hearing from you, so why not drop us a comment and rating in the recipe card below! This is a straight forward recipe but can seem overwhelming as it contains several steps, use the links below to get to exactly where you want in this post. We've got all the tips and tricks you need!
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Why this recipe works
These are the reasons you need this tiramisu cake recipe in your life:
True, tried and tested - this tiramisu cake has recently been tested thoroughly to ensure you will get the results you see. Check out the pinch points and expert tips below to help you.
Ombre frosting - the frosting for this tiramisu cake is insane, it's what brings this whole cake together and makes it taste of tiramisu without any doubt! The creamy mascarpone is literally the perfect finish and looks stunning too.
Easier than you think - this Italian tiramisu cake looks impressive, which can seem overwhelming, but with all the step by step photos we have for you, this is actually a very simple cake to make.
Celebratory centrepiece - you will be everyone's favourite when you show up with this Italian tiramisu cake to your loved ones' birthday or any celebration!
Modern twist - this cake is a lovely modern twist on the traditional Italian tiramisu using sponge cake rather than ladyfingers/savoiardi. Impress with your new found baking skills.
Ingredients
You only need simple ingredients for this Tiramisu Cake, all should be readily available at most supermarkets, this is what you'll need:
Baking essentials - you'll need standard baking essentials; all purpose flour, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla bean/extract and salt.
Espresso powder - Tiramisu is famously flavoured with coffee, you'll need the fine espresso coffee powder, NOT large granules. If you don't drink or consume coffee, you can definitely use a coffee alternative powder. Both work extremely well, but it HAS to be fine powder.
Cocoa powder - we recommend using dutch processed cocoa powder for the chocolate layer, it is washed with an alkaline solution which neutralises the acid in the powder giving it a deep rich colour. It also has a milder earthy flavour.
Raising agent - we use baking powder in this tiramisu cake, in the UK the standard supermarket baking powder is double action baking powder, meaning it will work in two phases, one with addition of liquid and then secondly with application of heat.
Mascarpone - the tiramisu cake frosting is made with mascarpone, a soft Italian cheese spread. This is not the same as standard cream cheese, it's light and creamy and super smooth. It is the classic ingredient and flavour profile in Tiramisu. Get the highest quality mascarpone you can find. It's also important for it to be room temperature for this recipe.
Customisations
We all love to make twists in our recipes to meet different needs, here are some customisation suggestions for this tiramisu cake:
Gluten free - if you have a dietary requirement for this cake to be gluten free, you can directly substitute the all purpose flour for gluten free all purpose flour. You may need to add a little extra liquid (milk) to get the right batter consistency. We have not tested this option but if you give it a go, let us know how it goes in the comments.
Simplify - this tiramisu cake recipe can be simplified further by making all the layers either vanilla, coffee or chocolate, instead of multicoloured layers. Simply omit the coffee powder or cocoa powder for vanilla, or add 3 tablespoons espresso powder or ⅓ cup of cocoa powder to the whole cake batter mix for just coffee or just chocolate respectively.
Alcohol - we don't use alcohol in this recipe. If you wish to use alcohol you can make this cake with the coffee liqueur kahlua. Make a 50/50 mix of espresso and kahlua to make a final volume of 1 cup/240ml.
Without coffee - for those who can't or don't want coffee in their cake, you can substitute for a coffee alternative powder instead of normal coffee powder. We tested it with this and it works perfectly.
How to make Tiramisu Cake
Follow this step by step cake to make your new favourite Italian tiramisu cake:
Cake batter - food processor method
- Place the room temperature butter, sugar, all purpose flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl of the food processor.
- Pulse a few times to combine the ingredients into a fine crumb. Add the eggs one-by one and pulse 2-4 times after each one.
- It should create a sticky batter then add the milk and vanilla extract or seeds.
- Process until just combined. Be careful not to over blend it and introduce too many air bubbles to your tiramisu cake batter.
Cake batter - food mixer method
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together the room temperature butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes until smooth and light in colour.
- Beat in the eggs one-by-one with a spoon of flour after each egg.
- Beat in the milk and vanilla.
- Slowly mix in the flour, baking powder and salt mixture until smooth, beat for no longer than 30 seconds.
Making the coloured layers
- Weigh the entire batter mix. Separate it into three portions: half into one bowl and two quarters in smaller bowls. Add the espresso powder into the large portion and cocoa powder into one of the smaller portions.
- Fold the powders into each of those portions to create the chocolate and coffee layers, this provides you with one vanilla, one chocolate and two coffee cakes.
Baking the cakes
- Split the coffee cake batter between two lightly greased and parchment lined (bottom only) 6-inch cake tins and the chocolate and vanilla layers into another 2 tins.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/350F for 25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean from each cake and they have a slight bounce to the touch. Leave in the cake tins for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack until cold.
Make the coffee syrup
- Whilst the cakes are baking, place the the espresso powder, sugar and water into a small saucepan.
- Bring to the boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved and take off the heat and leave to cool.
Make the mascarpone frosting
- Place the mascarpone into a large bowl with the sifted icing sugar, 1 tablespoon of milk and vanilla seeds.
- Gently fold the ingredients together (don't beat or overmix) until smooth, adding another tablespoon of milk if needed.
- Measure two portions of 125 grams into smaller bowls and leave the rest in the large bowl. Add the melted chocolate and espresso powder into the smaller portions to make the chocolate and coffee frosting.
- Gently fold the coffee and chocolate portions together until smooth and uniform in colour.
Assembling the Tiramisu Cake
- Level the tops of the cakes using a bread knife to ensure the cake is easy to assemble.
- Pour the coffee syrup evenly between all four layers and allow the syrup to absorb into each layer, there should be about a quarter cup for each layer.
- Place the chocolate layer onto a cake board or plate. Using ⅓ cup of the vanilla frosting, spread it onto the chocolate cake layer.
- Place one coffee layer onto the frosting and repeat with ⅓ cup of frosting. Repeat with the second coffee layer and finally with the vanilla layer to create your tiramisu cake stack.
How to decorate
Follow these simple steps for decorating this tiramisu cake or simply roughly apply the frosting and enjoy the rustic look.
- Finish the tiramisu cake stack with a thin crumb layer of the vanilla frosting and smooth with a spatula. Place in the fridge to set for 15 minutes.
- Starting with the chocolate frosting, pipe or roughly spread it onto the bottom third of the cake, follow with the coffee frosting on the next third and then the remaining third with vanilla frosting.
- Start to spread with a spatula to create the ombre layers
- Smooth the whole cake over. Using a cake turntable is a great way to do this. Finally top the tiramisu cake with a classic thick dusting of cocoa powder.
Expert Tips
Here are some expert tips to ensure complete success in making this tiramisu cake:
Tempering the eggs - if you are using the food/hand mixer method to make the tiramisu cake batter, adding a spoon of the flour mix after each egg tempers the eggs and keeps the mixture whole, otherwise it will start to split and maybe curdle. It will come back together on addition of flour regardless but this will avoid that all together.
Mascarpone - it is VERY important that the mascarpone is at room temperature. This is in order to create the chocolate frosting portion. If you add warm melted chocolate to fridge cold mascarpone it will become grainy or even create a stracciatella effect (bits of chocolate throughout) and won't be smooth. If your frosting becomes too soft, simply return it to the fridge to firm up for a bit.
Baking - if you only have two cake tins, the remaining two portions of tiramisu cake batter will be fine sitting on the side whilst you wait for the others to bake and be removed from the tin. Just clean and prepare the tins again for the next batch.
Quality chocolate - for the chocolate frosting, make sure you use quality dark chocolate at least 74% cocoa or above. Cheap chocolate will likely have additives that will affect the texture of the frosting. Also, once the chocolate has melted, leave to cool for only 1 minute before adding to the frosting and stirring in.
Raising agents - make sure to use baking powder and not baking soda. Ensure that it is fresh and hasn't been sitting in your cupboard for months or years on end.
Storage and Freezing
Follow these steps for storing your tiramisu cake to enjoy it at it's best:
Refrigerator - store your tiramisu cake in the fridge for up to 3 days. We recommend carefully wrapping the cake without disturbing the frosting with clingfilm to protect it whilst in the fridge. The cake is best consumed freshly made but will keep well in the fridge. It will however start to dry out if the sponge is open to the air.
How to freeze it
Sliced assembled cake - if you have sliced the tiramisu cake, lay the slices on a parchment lined baking sheet and place into the freezer until the slices are solid, this will take about 1-2 hours depending on how thick you slice it. Take these slices and wrap them in a clingfilm and then place them into a freezer bag and store for up to 3 months. Defrost before consuming. The longer you leave it in the freezer the more likely the frosting texture may suffer.
Cake layers pre-assembly - If you wish to create this tiramisu cake ahead of time, bake the layers and allow to cool. Double wrap with cling film and then freeze. These layers will store in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can then defrost the layers, drizzle with coffee syrup and assemble with the mascarpone frosting. As above, the longer they are in the freezer, the more likely the texture may suffer.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, absolutely! To make a two layer 8-inch cake you will just need to split the mixture between two prepared 8-inch cake tins. They will likely need to be baked for 25-30 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. If you wish to make a 4-layer 8-inch cake, you will need to double the whole cake batter and coffee syrup recipe and will likely need to 1.5x the frosting.
If your tiramisu cake layers sink, there are a couple of reasons. You've used too much raising agent. OR you've opened the oven mid baking and the cake structure has been disturbed before it was able to set, this can often lead to a sunken cake. The final reason is underbaking the cake - make sure a cake tester or tooth pick comes out clean or with just a couple of crumbs.
In this recipe you've been instructed to lightly grease and line your cake tins. If you use too much oil or fat (preferably use butter) your cake can turn out greasy. You only need a very light coating of grease to aid rise and help you remove the cake from the tin after baking.
Traditional tiramisu mascarpone layers include raw egg yolks, this cake does not. It does however contain coffee and caffeine or alcohol if you so choose to use in making this cake. However, you can recreate this cake with a caffeine free coffee alternative and not use alcohol at all as the original recipe is written. We do this as we don't drink alcohol or coffee.
Our cake does not contain alcohol as we don't drink. This makes it perfect for younger people to enjoy too. However, if you wish you can use alcohol in the coffee syrup to soak the sponge cake layers as shown in the customisations section of the post.
More Cake Recipes
Love this tiramisu cake? Well, if you want to bake up a storm check out our baking recipes. Here are some extra cakes for you to whet your appetite:
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📖 Recipe
Tiramisu Cake
Ingredients
- 280 g unsalted butter, room temperature, 1 ¼ cups, 2 ½ sticks
- 280 g golden caster sugar, 1 ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons, superfine sugar
- 280 g all purpose flour, 2 ¼ cups + 1 tablespoon
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 5 eggs, US large, UK medium
- 60 ml milk, ¼ cup
- ½ vanilla pod, seeds scraped or 2 teaspoons extract
- 1 ½ tablespoon espresso powder
- 1 ½ tablespoon cocoa powder
For the coffee syrup
- 2 tablespoons espresso powder
- 100 g golden caster sugar, ½ cup
- 120 ml water, ½ cup
For the mascarpone frosting
- 750 g mascarpone, 26 ounces
- 125 g icing sugar, 1 cup, sifted
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- ½ vanilla pod, seeds scraped or 1 teaspoon extract
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 25 g 70% dark chocolate, 1 ounce
To finish
- cocoa powder, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/350°F. Lightly grease and line 2 (or 4 if you have them and the oven space!) 6" loose bottomed cake tins.
Cake batter - Food Processor Method
- To prepare the cake mixture in the food processor: place the room temperature butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl of the food processor. Pulse a few times until the ingredients are combined. Add the eggs one by one, and pulse 1-3 times after each egg. Finish by adding the milk and vanilla seeds and process until just combined. Take care not to overmix the batter.280 g unsalted butter, 280 g golden caster sugar, 280 g all purpose flour, 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder, 5 eggs, 60 ml milk, ½ vanilla pod, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Cake batter - Hand/Stand Mixer Method
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together the room temperature butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes until smooth and light in colour. Beat in the eggs one by one, with a spoon of the flour mix after each egg. Beat in the milk and vanilla and then slowly mix in the remaining flour mixture until smooth. Beat it for no longer than 30 seconds.280 g unsalted butter, 280 g golden caster sugar, 280 g all purpose flour, 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder, 5 eggs, 60 ml milk, ½ vanilla pod, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Making the Coloured Layers
- Weigh the entire batter mix. Then separate the batter into 3 portions - half and two quarters. Our full batter measured as follows - 1150g. Half = 575g, Quarter = 287g. Roughly measured is just fine.
- Into the largest portion, carefully fold in the espresso powder. Into one of the smaller portions, fold in the cocoa powder. Leave the remaining smaller portion as it is. Omit this step if you aren’t going to do coloured layers and just split the mixture between four 6 inch cake tins.1 ½ tablespoon espresso powder, 1 ½ tablespoon cocoa powder
Baking the Cakes
- Split the coffee mixture between the two tins and level the tops. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before removing and transferring to a cooling rack. Clean the tins, grease and line again and pour the vanilla and chocolate portions of the batter into each one. Bake as above.
For the Coffee Syrup
- Place the espresso powder, sugar and water into a saucepan. Bring to the boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved, Remove from the heat and cool.2 tablespoons espresso powder, 100 g golden caster sugar, 120 ml water
For the Mascarpone Frosting
- Place the mascarpone into a large bowl. Add the icing sugar, 1 tablespoon milk and the vanilla seeds. Using a spatula, gently stir together until the mixture is smooth, adding up to another tablespoon of milk if needed. Separate off two portions of 125g of frosting into two smaller bowls, leave the rest in the original mixing bowl.750 g mascarpone, 125 g icing sugar, 1-2 tablespoons milk, ½ vanilla pod
- Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave in 30 second bursts. Leave to cool for one minute. After this time, stir the chocolate into one of the smaller portions of mascarpone frosting. Stir the espresso powder into the other smaller portion of mascarpone. Leave the biggest portion as it is.1 teaspoon espresso powder, 25 g 70% dark chocolate
Assembling the Tiramisu Cake
- Level the tops of the cakes using a bread knife if necessary. Pour the coffee syrup evenly over the tops of the cakes and allow to soak in. The cake will be easiest to assemble if you have a cake turntable in order to achieve a smooth frosting. If not, don't worry, you can go for a more rustic look!
- Place the chocolate cake onto a cake board/stand or plate (use a turntable if you have one). Evenly spread ⅓ cup of vanilla frosting on top, place a coffee cake on top followed by ⅓ cup of frosting, then the next coffee cake layer and ⅓ cup frosting and finally the vanilla cake layer. Using ⅓ cup of vanilla frosting lightly coat the outside of the cake all over (crumb coat). Place in the fridge to set for 15 minutes.
Creating the Ombre Frosting
- Starting with the chocolate frosting, pipe or roughly apply the frosting to the bottom quarter of the cake. Follow by applying the coffee frosting to the next quarter of the cake. If the two layers overlap, that's good! It adds to the ombre effect. Cover the rest of the cake roughly with vanilla frosting. You will have leftover frosting which is helpful if you need to do any touch ups!
- Smooth out the frosting to achieve a clean finish as in the photos above, or roughly spread the frosting for a more rustic look if you prefer! Finish with a thick dusting of cocoa powder on top.cocoa powder
myflavourstories says
This is a treat ! I was scrolling through Pinterest fro Tiramisu inspirations and found this amazing cake on search result. Definitely going to try. Loving the frosting
Sasha says
Amazing, I hope you love the cake!
Jen says
When you say plain flour do you mean all purpose or cake flour? My all purpose is about 11% protein and cake flour is 9%.
Thanks!
Sasha says
All purpose! Sorry about that- I'll update the recipe 🙂 enjoy!
Nani J. says
i LOVE your recipe. I have done it three times and have received the best compliments. I went ahead and bought the book that served for inspiration and hope to continue refining my technique this new year.
Sasha says
SO happy to hear this! I love that book (and the bakery in London!) so I hope you love it too!
Karen says
This looks incredible and I am planning on making it for a 50th birthday party. I am a little nervous about 4 layers and wondered if the cake will need dowels or supports? Your photo of your slice looks perfect and the layers did not appear to slide around, but my experience with frosted layers has been a bit traumatic. I was also thinking of making three batches, instead of making one and splitting it, so that I could use extra batter for chocolate and vanilla cupcakes (I am serving 40 people). What made you decide to have two layers of the coffee flavored cake? Sorry for so many questions, I won't get a chance to do a test run, but I will make a the cakes a day or two ahead and will assemble the day of the party.
Sasha says
Hi! The cake shouldn't need dowels, it should hold up just fine as long as your frosting isn't sloppy. Make sure you chill the cake after frosting and it'll be more sturdy too. 3 batches sounds like a plan! I went for 2 coffee layers as I wanted to make 4 layers and thought why not emphasise the coffee as it's tiramisu! Completely arbitrary really. Hope you get on well with the cake, I'm sure you will! Let me know! 🙂
Anna says
This cake looks so good!! Do you think it would be stable enough for either the middle or top tier for a wedding cake?
Sasha says
Hi Anna! Apologies for the delayed reply. I would recommend storing this cake in the fridge as it has a mascarpone frosting, but if its going to be cool for your wedding, you might get away with it! Alternatively, you could make a buttercream frosting instead?
Laura says
Hi, do you think i can use freshly brewed espresso with some marsala instead of the the espresso syrup?
Sasha says
Absolutely! Just replace with the same volume of espresso/marsala. It won't be as sweet of course!
Sherri S says
Hi,
The cake looks amazing. Quick question, do you weigh your ingredients by grams or cups? I ask because I'm concerned by the conversion of the flour - 225 g flour would be more like 1.8 cups not 1.5. Also, for the caster sugar the top says 225 g is 1 cup, but in the coffee syrup, it says 80 g is .5 cups (ie, 160 g to a cup). If you use the gram measures for the cake, then that is how I will follow (my preferred way anyway :))
Sherri
Sasha says
Hi Sherri! I work in grams primarily as they are always far more accurate than cups. As you can see, there can be such a discrepancy depending on how you measure in cups! So you can confidently use the grams - that's always what I would recommend when baking 🙂 hope you love the cake!
Sherrri says
Wonderful! Thank you - I'm actually happy to read that you work in grams :). As soon as I try this, I will let you know how it turns out.
Sasha says
Can't wait! 🙂
Kimberly Pete says
Was the butter supposed to be cold? I used softened butter and it coagulated.
Thanks
Sasha says
It should be room temperature- you should be able to depress the butter with your finger but it shouldn't be near molten. It can be helpful to add a little flour if it's starting to curdle. Did the cake turn out okay?
Renée says
Hello Sasha. I'm 17 years old and still an inexperienced baker. I have an Christmas dinner around the corner and want to impress the family with this gorgeous cake. I am a bit nervous about using a food processor, so will I have the exact same result if using the old-fashioned hand mixer by mixing the wet ingredients first and then adding the dry ingredients?
Sasha says
Hi Renee! I'm so happy you're making this for Christmas! There's no need to use a food processor if you don't want to! Just do it the old fashioned way as you would make any cake - beat butter and sugar, then eggs and then fold the rest of the ingredients in. Good luck and I hope it turns out amazingly for you! Have a lovely Christmas 🙂
maybell says
HI I would like to make this cake but have to make it in advance, will the cake keep for over a day? in fridge or no fridge. Im worried about the frosting becoming watery and lose its volume. Any help would be great Thanks!
Sasha says
Hi! Yes the cake will keep for a couple of days or so in the fridge 🙂
Eley says
I tried this recipe last night and, even though I haven't cut into it yet to see the final result, I know something (if not someTHINGS) went terribly wrong... I just can't figure out what or why. The consistency of the cake batter, and the cake itself, ended up a bit thick. I'm not sure if that was the point, so that soaking it wouldn't destroy it, but I feel like it might end up a bit dry. However, the worst part was the mascarpone.
Although I tried getting everything to room temperature, it curdled. Or at least I THINK that's what happened. It was hard enough to mix as is but, after the additions of cocoa and espresso powder, everything turned into a kind of mush. And there wasn't nearly enough frosting/filling to go around even though I put very little in between the cake layers and used very small/shallow 5" cake pans.
When I made my second batch of mascarpone frosting, it came out better. However, the SECOND I started putting it on the cake over the original frosting (after chilling in the fridge) it immediately changed consistencies again. Now I'm not sure what went wrong but the frosting was nothing at all like it should have been. I'm incredibly discouraged from using mascarpone as a frosting ever again...
Would you have any idea at all about what could have happened? I think the frosting still came out tasting fine, but now I'm nervous about the final product. (Will post an update if I decide to bring the cake as planned!)
Xiao Ming says
I love this cake. I made it a few weeks ago and it came out aaaaaaaamaaaaaaazzzing. I made an 8 inch with three big layers instead of four and my cake was very tall. The cream was everrrrrrrryyyythinnnnnng! SO DIVINE! I'm not a cake person but this was to die for!
i decided to have a second attempt today and I don't know what I've done wrong for my cake to sink right to the bottom! I didn't even open the oven door. Do you have any idea?
Thank you so much for sharing awesome recipe!
Sasha says
I'm so happy that you love the cake!! I'm unfortunately not sure why that might have happened this time as it's hard to tell without being in the kitchen with you. Did you remember to add the raising agent? I hope you manage to enjoy this cake again soon! 🙂
Alexa says
This cake looks so good! Do you think it would still be good if the cakes and frosting were made a day before and left in the fridge (or counter?) then assembled the next day?
Sasha says
Yes absolutely! I'd keep the cakes at room temp and the frosting in the fridge. Once assembled, keep in the fridge! And enjoy! 🙂
Kaitlin says
This cake came out amazing! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Sasha says
So happy you like it Kaitlin! 🙂
Claire says
Hi! What are the measurement of the cake pan which you used?
Thanks!
Sasha says
Hi Claire, it's a 6 inch/15cm pan 🙂
Rachel says
I'm looking to try this cake for my mums birthday as it looks amazing and she loves tiramisu so what better way to celebrate! I was just wondering if you put the coffee syrup on all the layers of cake, as I wanted to check if that would take away some of the vanilla/chocolate flavours from those two layers?
Sasha says
Hi Rachel! I did put the syrup on all the layers, yes. I found that I could still taste all the flavours - altogether it tasted like tiramisu which is what I was aiming for! If you wanted to leave it off you absolutely could do though 🙂 but it's delicious with! Hope you love the cake!
Kuro says
I've just finished frosting this cake and it's in the fridge for my boyfriend's birthday, to be consumed tomorrow or the day after. I forwent the chocolate-coffee ombre and kept my mascarpone vanilla, but tinted it with Wilton's gel color. I noticed that my mascarpone began to curdle actually after that - it seems to dislike the gel color, so I'm hoping it'll stay the way I left it and not begin to weep or anything. 🙁 (The leftover cake scraps were quite tasty!)
Sasha says
I haven't tested the frosting with gel colour so can't advise how that would turn out - only how it is written in the recipe. I hope you enjoyed eating it!
Tiem Banh Dolce Vita says
This cake is absolutely amazing, what a showstopper! I can’t stop looking at these pictures and wishing I had a big slice right now just for myself.
xo
Emily says
Hi I really like the idea of this recipe and it looks beautiful. I stumbled across it when looking for a coffee layer cake for my bf bday. But I have a question regarding the expresso powder. I was wondering what exactly you used. I live in Spain so might not be able to get it but normal.coffee tends to be stronger here. Are you talking about the grounds that go in a cafetiere? Surely they wouldn't dissolve properly? Or like instant granules? I can't figure out exactly what you could use that wouldn't need hot water first
Sasha says
Hi Emily! The espresso powder I use here in the UK is like an instant coffee powder, but stronger and with finer granules so you don't need to dissolve it. You could use any instant coffee powder, especially if your coffee is stronger, but you would need to dissolve it first in boiling water - just make sure you replace the volume of liquid of coffee you use for the milk in the cake and frosting. For the syrup, just use some strong coffee, brewed however you like. Alternatively, search for 'instant espresso' on Amazon and you'll find something I'm sure! (I've used this one before https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Beverages-Coffee-Tea/Nescaf%C3%A9-37926-Nescafe-Collection-Espresso-Instant-100/B0151ID3LS/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1501704497&sr=8-1&keywords=instant+espresso )
Hope you love the cake!!
Eley says
Can you explain a little further what you mean by 'replace the volume of liquid of coffee you use for the milk in the cake and frosting'? If I need to dissolve the instant coffee ( as I don't have espresso powder ) do I need to reduce the amount of milk in the entire recipe? I'm a bit confused.
Thank you!
Sasha says
Ah right - sorry! I see that the way I've worded this could be a little confusing. So to clarify, I mean that if you were to dissolve the instant coffee in 1 tbsp of hot water, you would need to reduce the volume of milk added to 2 tbsp. Or you could dissolve the instant coffee in 3 tbsp hot water and then don't use any milk at all. Basically, you need to make sure you're only adding 3 tbsp of liquid, total.
Does that make sense now? Let me know if not! 🙂
Eley says
Thank you for the clarification! 🙂 I appreciate it.
I'm planning on making the cake in advance, would you happen to know the best way to store it in the meantime? Say... for 3 days? Does it need to be kept covered in the fridge or should it be kept room temperature? I'm a little worried about leaving it out for a few days in the summer heat...but I also don't want the cake to toughen up in the fridge. Any advice?
Mahdiyah says
Hi. Is it possible to substitute the mascerpone with cream cheese?
Sasha says
Hi Mahdiyah, you could definitely give it a go! I think cream cheese would taste more tangy than mascarpone but as long as you're ok with that, then fine! The consistency will probably be different though so I can't guarantee that the frosting would turn out correctly. Let me know how it goes if you try it!