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Slice pulled away from a tiramisu cake.

The Best Tiramisu Cake With Mascarpone Cream

This tiramisu cake is made with genoise cake soaked with espresso filled with mascarpone cream, and topped with cocoa powder.
5 from 25 votes
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Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
chill time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 5 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Servings 12 slices
Calories 619 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

Sponge cake

  • 6 Eggs room temp, large
  • 1 cup Granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
  • ⅓ teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1 cup Flour
  • ½ teaspoon Baking powder

Mascarpone cream

  • 25.39 oz Mascarpone cheese room temp for 30 minutes, full fat!
  • 3 cups Heavy cream cold!
  • 2 cups Powdered sugar
  • ½ teaspoon Kosher salt

Assembly

  • ¾ cup Espresso
  • 2 tablespoon Cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoon Coffee liquor Amaretto, Kahlua, etc. Optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 180c (350f) and prep a parchment paper-lined 8-inch cake pan.
  • Into a large mixing bowl, add the eggs (room temp), granulated sugar, kosher salt, and vanilla extract. Mix with an electric hand mixer or use a stand mixer with the balloon attachment.
  • Mix for about 10 minutes on high speed (be patient) until you get a fluffy and light mixture.
  • Sift the flour and baking powder into the whipped mixture and gently fold with a spatula until there are no streaks of flour visible.
  • Pour the cake batter into a parchment paper-lined 8-inch baking pan and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
  • If you can, bake the cake in 3 separate 8-inch cake pans for about 18 minutes.
  • Let the cake cool completely before frosting so the frosting won't melt off the cake. If you made the cake in one pan, cut it with a serrated knife into 3 even layers.
  • Make the espresso coffee and let it cool for a few minutes. Set aside while you are making the mascarpone cream.

Make the mascarpone cream

  • Into a big mixing bowl, add the heavy cream, kosher salt, vanilla extract, and sugar and mix with an electric hand mixer until stiff peaks form. (don't overbeat the mixture so you don't create butter)
  • Add the mascarpone cheese (which is at room temperature) and mix it lightly into the whipped cream using a spatula until a creamy mixture forms.

Assemble the cake

  • Pipe a small dollop of the cream on the surface that you will frost on. Lay the first cake layer over the frosting dot. Brush the cake with espresso.
  • Top the first cake layer with about ⅓ of the cream and spread an even layer of the cream with a spatula.
  • Top the cake with the second cake layer. Repeat brushing the cake with the coffee and smoothing out the cream and topping with the third cake layer. Brush the third cake layer with espresso and frost the cake.
  • I like scraping some of the remaining cream to reveal the beautiful layers of the cake for a seminaked cake look, but it's not a must.
  • Fill a pastry bag with the remaining cream and pipe dollops of the cream on top of the cake as shown. Store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge and let it sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
  • When you are ready to serve, sprinkle a generous amount of cocoa powder on top and serve!

Notes

  • Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and milk. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
  • Use high-fat mascarpone cheese. Using full-fat cream mascarpone ensures that your dessert will be stable.
  • Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cake and not dense and dry cake.
  • Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
  • Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to frost this cake as it is pulled out of the oven, but let the cake cool for at least 1 hour so it will be firmer and won’t crumble up, and prevent the frosting from melting.
  • Scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to ensure that you have a homogeneous mixture that has no cheese lumps.
  • Let your dessert chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours. We know it’s very hard to resist eating this delicious dessert right away, but you have to let it chill and soak up the flavors. We like to let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Nutrition

Calories: 619kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 10gFat: 51gSaturated Fat: 31gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 209mgSodium: 262mgPotassium: 129mgFiber: 1gSugar: 20gVitamin A: 1833IUVitamin C: 0.4mgCalcium: 149mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Tiramisu Cake, tiramisu layer cake
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