Tiramisu Ombré Cake

A decadent mélange of dark chocolate, espresso and vanilla layers brought together with a creamy ombré mascarpone frosting, everything you love about a classic Tiramisu in one cake! Speckled with vanilla, soaked in coffee and generously dusted with cocoa this four-layer cake is perfect for anyone who loves their coffee.

PREPARATION TIME: Approx. 2 hours

INGREDIENTS

For the cakes

• 225 g unsalted butter
• 225 g caster sugar
• 225 g plain flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 vanilla pod
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

For the coffee syrup

• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 80 g caster sugar
• 120 ml water

For the mascarpone frosting

• 750 g mascarpone, softened
• 115 g icing sugar
• 1/2 vanilla pod
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder
• 30 g 70% dark chocolate, melted
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, for dusting

(Recipe from EatLoveEats )

METHOD

For the cakes

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line 2 round 6″ baking tins.

Note: It speeds up the process if you have 4 baking tins, but re-using two works just fine!

In a large bowl, start by creaming the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy in texture. Add in the eggs, one at a time whisking in each time until well combined. Scrape off the vanilla seeds of half a pod and add to the batter. Pour in the milk and gently whisk. Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl, plain flour, baking powder and baking soda and fold through with a spatula.

Divide the batter into four equal parts. You could do this by weighing it out which yields more precise and even layers or simply eyeball it as best you can!

Set one portion of the batter aside for the vanilla layer.

Add in unsweetened cocoa powder to another portion and stir through for the chocolate layer of the cake. Next add in the espresso powder to the remaining two halves and transfer the batter into the prepared baking tins. Level out the tops as best you can.

Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted through the centre comes out clean. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack and repeat the process to bake the remaining two chocolate and vanilla cakes.

For the coffee syrup

Place the caster sugar, espresso powder and water into a saucepan and bring to a simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set aside to cool down.

For the mascarpone frosting

In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone, icing sugar, vanilla seeds and stir through with a spatula. Divide the batter into three bowls- roughly into half and two quarters.

Set the larger half aside. Stir in espresso powder into one of the smaller portions and set aside. Next, stir in the cooled, melted dark chocolate into the other smaller portion.

Assembling the cake

Start by levelling off all the sponge cakes using a cake leveller or a serrated knife. You can additionally take off the crusty sides as well, but I’ve chosen not to this time.

Note: Layer cakes are easiest to assemble and ice using a cake turn table!

Place the chocolate layer onto the surface. Using a pastry brush, generously soak the tops of each cake with the coffee syrup as you go along. Spread a dollop of the vanilla mascarpone frosting onto the first layer.

To start layering the cakes, place the coffee cake on top of the first layer and top with another layer of vanilla frosting. Repeat the process with the second coffee cake and the vanilla.

Next, roughly crumb coat the entire cake with a thin layer of vanilla frosting to seal in the loose crumbs and set in the fridge fro about 15-20 minutes.

Once the cake is out the fridge, brace yourself for the best part: the ombré frosting!

Start with the dark chocolate frosting at the bottom third of the cake, followed by the espresso frosting in the middle and the vanilla towards the top (as in the photos).Use a cranked palette knife to smooth out and merge the three layers of frosting.

To finish the top of the cake you could simply spread a thick layer of the vanilla frosting and dust with cocoa powder. I chose to embrace a rather classic tiramisu trait with small blobs of frosting using a large round tip nozzle (no.5) followed by a generous dusting of cocoa powder.

 

That’s all there is to it and you’ll have yourself a simple yet elegant looking cake that’s sure to impress!

PRESSURE POINTS

Remember, mascarpone and high temperatures don’t go so well together! Keeping the mascarpone at room temperature makes working with it a lot easier. If it’s too soft return it back to the fridge so that it firms up.

When assembling the cake, remember to brush the coffee syrup over the tops, that gives it an extra kick of caffeine. Also, avoid going over the sides too many times or the ombré frosting gets messy.

If you love Tiramisu as much as I do, but you’re short on time to make this elaborate layered cake, check out these quick and easy Chocolate tiramisu truffles !

You can also find this cake featured on TheFeedFeed on their Layer Cakes Feed .If you’re looking to make any crazy delicious layer cakes soon, definitely look this feed up for some amazing recipes!

If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to see how it turned out. Leave a comment below and share your pictures on Instagram using the tag #thecookbooklife!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Nikita xx

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