I am gravitating more and more towards no-bake cakes these days and why not? They are quick, easy and every bit as delicious as their more complicated counterparts. They are a God-send when you have a special occasion coming up and the kids are running around, you are in the middle of a move, kitchen is a chaos, there are boxes all around but you being you, still want to make a statement and do something nice. 🙂 Hey, nothing wrong with wanting to make a statement, right? If you are making the effort, might as well get appreciated for it.
I love coffee-flavored desserts. I find ways to have coffee any which way, possible. I like it that much. And therefore, it comes as no surprise that Tiramisu is my absolute favorite dessert. I can have it when I am awake or in my sleep, in sickness and in health and in this life and the next. It might seem dramatic to you but it really isn’t. Now that being said, I can’t claim this Tiramisu to be authentic. An authentic recipe includes raw eggs being added to the filling which scares me. And cooking the eggs to make a custard isn’t the same thing. So I have skipped on that part and tweaked the recipe just a little. Also the filling tends to be a little runnier than I made because it is assembled in a baking dish as a dessert and not as a cake. I wanted the cake to hold its shape and not fall apart on me when I unmold it. But it tastes just as fantastic as the authentic one.
This Tiramisu cake has the delicate ladyfingers (savoiardi) soaked in rum-flavored-coffee and layered alternatively with a cheese-cream mixture and cocoa powder to be finally topped with chocolate shavings. Yum. It is incredibly light and moist and definitely makes a statement among your guests. I mean, it has to, right? You don’t call a dessert ‘pick-me-up’ for no reason. Oh and just to clarify, it was picked up very lovingly by kids and adults alike so much so that the late-arriving guests missed out on it. Total Rock star of any occasion, if you ask me. Go ahead, pick it up!
Ingredients
- 45 Ladyfingers or Savoiardi (not the soft cake-like ones)
- 24 oz. Mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
- 2 and 1/4 cup Heavy Cream, chilled
- 2/3 cup granulated Sugar
- 1 tbsp. Vanilla Extract
- 2 and 1/4 cups hot Water
- 2 tbsp. instant Expresso powder
- 2 tsp dark Rum
- 1 tbsp. unsweetened Cocoa powder
- 4-5 tbsp. unsweetened Cocoa powder
- Chocolate shavings (white and brown)
- 1 Cherry (Optional)
Instructions
- Using a mixer, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Chill it in the refrigerator for later.
- Grind the sugar into fine powder. This makes the cheese filling smooth.
- Prepare the coffee solution by adding expresso powder to the hot water. Mix well and let it cool down a little bit. Then add cocoa powder and rum to it.
- Using a wire whip, mix the mascarpone cheese and sugar until it is smooth. Add vanilla extract to it and mix well.
- Add 1/4 of the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture and mix well to make it light and airy. Then fold in the rest of the cream gently.
- In a piping bag attached with extra-large round tip, fill the cheese mixture as needed to frost the top. I used 1/4 of the total amount. Keep it in the freezer until you have assembled the cake. (about 20 min)
- Dip each ladyfinger into the coffee solution for just a second (On one side only. That is enough to soak the entire lady finger. Else they will fall apart and also wet your cake.) and layer it in a 9 inch spring foam pan. Cover the entire surface area of the bottom of the pan with 1/3 of the ladyfingers.
- Using a spatula, spread 1/3 of the cream mixture on the lady fingers.
- Add 1 tbsp. cocoa powder to a sieve and sprinkle it all over the cheese filling. Then add some chocolate shavings on it.
- Repeat the ladyfinger-cream-cocoa powder-chocolate routine one more time.
- For the last layer, layer the coffee soaked ladyfingers as above and spread the remaining cream mixture on top. Then using the piping bag, make two rounds of dome shapes all over the edge of cake. Sprinkle the remaining cocoa powder all over the top of the cake.
- Sprinkle the chocolate shavings (more in the center)and put a cherry in the center or decorate as you please.
- Refrigerate the cake for at least 12-15 hours before unmolding and digging in.
Notes
Reduce or add the amount of coffee or sugar as per your liking.
I would highly recommend not skipping out on Rum.
I was comfortably able to put together 3 layers of ladyfingers in this cake. If you can't, adjust the amount of filling accordingly.
I have not lined the spring foam pan with any parchment paper. I find it to be the best way when I cut the cake.
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This looks like meant for me, can i have please 😀
Well, because we already ate these, you can make one urself using the recipe 🙂
This looks so mouth-watering, Nidhi. No bake cakes rock!
Thank you Shantala 🙂