Recipe: Tiramisu Cake/Cupcakes

Tiramisu is my absolute, all time, hands down, favorite dessert! I just love everything about it. The flavors, the textures, the caffeine... (I'm a coffee junkie, by the way).

On Saturday nights, we have "dessert night" at the place I work. The lucky baker this week made tiramisu cupcakes. They were so delicious that you couldn't eat just one. The cake was very light and fluffy which complimented the rich filling and frosting.

I was dying to get my hands on the recipe. I wondered if my coworker had some fancy cupcake book that I would begin to obsess over. NOPE! The recipe was printed in Wednesday's newspaper.

I very happily found it on my local newspaper's site. It so happens that the recipe is from "The Cake Mix Doctor Returns" by Anne Byrn. Because I am never content, I googled this Anne Byrn and saw that her books have a ton of reviews on Amazon.com. I need these books!!! Although I recently enjoyed making cupcakes from scratch on St. Paddy's day, sometimes tweaking a cake mix would be so much more convenient.




Also, I do not yet have my highly coveted Kitchen Aid Mixer which would make "from scratch" baking much more palatable.



So here is the recipe. My coworker only modified by making cupcakes inside of a round cake. I can't wait to make these myself! Also, these lovely confections caught me off guard this evening, so I did not have my handy dandy purple camera at the ready, so I will be sure to post pictures of the finished product when I make these on my own.

Recipe: Tiramisu Cake

For the cake:
Vegetable oil spray, for misting the pans
Flour, for dusting the pans
1 cup water
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain chocolate cake mix
2/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3 large eggs

For the frosting:
2 cups heavy (whipping) cream (divided use)
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1/4 cup granulated sugar

For the filling
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup marsala wine or cream sherry
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Make the cake: Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist two 9-inch round cake pans with vegetable oil spray, then dust them with flour. Shake out the excess flour and set the pans aside.

Bring the water to a boil and stir in the 2 tablespoons of instant coffee until it dissolves. Set the coffee water aside to cool for 5 minutes.

Place the cake mix, sour cream, eggs, and cooled coffee water in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the batter is thick and combined, 1-1/2 minutes longer. Divide the cake batter evenly between the 2 prepared cake pans, smoothing the tops with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.

Bake the cake layers until the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger, 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the frosting: Place a large mixing bowl and a clean set of electric mixer beaters in the refrigerator to chill. Measure 1/4 cup of the cream into a glass measuring cup and place it in a microwave oven on high power until hot, 30 seconds. Stir in the 1 tablespoon of instant coffee until the coffee dissolves. Place the coffee and cream mixture in the refrigerator to cool.

Transfer the cake pans to wire racks and let the cake layers cool for 5 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each cake layer and give the pans a good shake to loosen the cakes. Invert each layer onto a wire rack, then invert it again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Let the layers cool completely, 20 minutes longer.

Remove the chilled bowl and beaters from the refrigerator. Pour the remaining 1 3/4 cups of cream into the bowl and add the 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, and the cooled coffee and cream mixture and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, 2 minutes. Measure out 1-1/2 cups of this coffee whipped cream, place it in a medium-size bowl, and set it aside. Refrigerate the remaining whipped cream mixture for the frosting.

Make the filling: Add the mascarpone cheese, marsala or cream sherry, and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar to the bowl with the reserved 1-1/2 cups of coffee whipped cream mixture. Mix well with a wire whisk until smooth.

To assemble the cake, using a long, serrated knife, carefully slice each cake layer in half horizontally to make 4 layers. Or, don’t slice the layers in half and make a 2-layer cake. Suit yourself (see note). Place the bottom half of one layer cut side up on a cake plate and spoon 3/4 to 1 cup of the filling on top, spreading it evenly to the edge. Place the top half of this layer, right side up over the filling. Add another 3/4 to 1 cup of filling and spread it to the edge. Place the bottom of the remaining cake layer on top and spread it with the remaining 3/4 to 1 cup of filling. Place the top half of the second layer, right side up, on top of the filling. Remove the frosting from the refrigerator and spread it on the top and around the side of the cake.

Keep It Fresh! Store this cake, in a cake saver, in the refrigerator for up to four days. Freeze only the layers, wrapped in aluminum foil, for up to six months. Let the layers thaw overnight on the counter before making the frosting and filling and assembling the cake.

How to garnish tiramisu
The traditional topping for tiramisu is unsweetened cocoa powder. Along with a dusting of cocoa either unsweetened or sweetened-you can also garnish this cake with a little cinnamon or shavings of dark chocolate. Any way you garnish it, it is delicious.

Note: If you decide to make this a 2-layer cake, you’ll need less filling. Just divide the measurements in half.

From Anne Byrn’s “The Cake Mix Doctor Returns”

Enjoy...