How to Make the Best Homemade Tiramisu Cake Recipe

Jul 11

Traditional tiramisu is a beloved classic for a reason. It’s creamy, (sometimes) a little boozy, rich, a bit cakey, and slightly chocolatey from the dusting of cocoa powder on top. It’s the perfect ending to a special occasion, but you can make it even more celebratory with this tiramisu cake recipe. A reinvention of the classic Italian dessert, involves layers of brown butter sugar cake, espresso pastry cream, and whipped mascarpone frosting.

Whether you’re hosting a fancy dinner party, celebrating a birthday, or looking for a cake that’ll deliver that wow factor you’re looking for, this decadent cake is it.

We Love This Tiramisu Cake Recipe

This cake couldn’t be more special. Packed with all of the flavors you love from the original version, it’s the ideal cake for any celebration.

Rich brown butter flavor: Browned butter is so good. With a rich, nutty, slightly caramelized flavor, it adds such a depth of flavor to any baked goods or other dishes you add it to.
Silky smooth espresso pastry cream: A smooth, indulgent pastry cream with a bold coffee kick.
Light as air whipped mascarpone frosting: Fluffy and creamy with a hint of a tang, this frosting is subtly sweet and the perfect match for the other bold flavors of this cake.
Super luxe: With soft layers of cake, creamy filling and frosting, and tons of drama, this cake feels incredibly luxurious.

Ingredients

Brown Butter Sugar Cake:

516g cake flour
18g baking powder
8g salt
300g brown sugar
300g granulated sugar
168g brown butter
177g oil
84g eggs
180g vanilla
45g sour cream
339g milk

Espresso Pastry Cream Filling:

464g heavy cream
74g sugar
50g eggs
39g egg yolks
34g cornstarch
74g sugar
10g vanilla
11g espresso powder or instant coffee
5g salt
20g butter
A bit of amaretto, dark rum, coffee liqueur, or Marsala wine, to taste

Whipped Mascarpone Frosting:

452g cold mascarpone
200g powdered sugar
450g cold heavy cream
5g salt
10g vanilla

Optional: Cocoa powder to dust on top

Instructions

Make the cake: Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans. Place the dry ingredients (the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugars) in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix to combine. Add the brown butter and mix well. With the mixer running on low speed, stream in the oil. Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. Slowly add the sour cream mixture to the batter in the stand mixer and mix until just combined. Add half of the milk, mix, then add the rest of the milk. Mix again until just combined. Transfer the cake batter to the prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, turning the pans once they’ve baked for 20 minutes. Once the cake is golden brown, the edges pull away from the sides, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool completely on a cooling rack.
Make the espresso pastry cream: In a large saucepan, simmer the heavy cream with 74g of sugar over low heat. Add the eggs, egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar, vanilla, espresso powder, salt to a large bowl and whisk until smooth and well combined. Slowly add some of the hot cream mixture to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. You don’t want to scramble the eggs. Add the rest of the cream to the egg mixture, then add the entire mixture back to the saucepan. Stir constantly and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for 45 seconds, then remove from the heat. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, then blend it with an immersion blender. Add the butter and liquor, if using, and stir to combine. Place the pastry cream in a bowl and cover with a piece of plastic wrap that touches the top of the cream. Chill the pastry cream overnight.
Make the creamy mascarpone frosting: Whip the mascarpone until smooth in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Add the salt, vanilla, and sugar and beat until smooth. Slowly add the heavy cream to the mascarpone mixture and whip until stiff peaks form. Don’t overmix.

How to Assemble a Tiramisu Cake

Once you’re ready to assemble your cake, here’s what you need to know:

Look at your cake layers and make sure the tops are flat. If they’re domed, you’ll want to trim off the top with a long serrated knife so that the layers are even. If you want thinner cake layers, you’ll also want to slice each cake layer in half horizontally.
Place a small dollop of whipped mascarpone frosting on a cake board or large plate or platter. Add a cake layer—the frosting will help hold the cake in place.
Add a layer of espresso pastry cream and smooth with an offset spatula.
Repeat until you’ve stacked all of the layers.
Place a large dollop of whipped mascarpone frosting on top of the cake. Evenly coat the whole thing with frosting.
Dust the top with cocoa powder.
Slice and serve. Enjoy!

FAQs

Yes. The pastry cream must be made at least the day before you’re planning to assemble the cake so that it’s the right texture and consistency. You can also make the cake layers and mascarpone frosting in advance. Store the frosting in an airtight container in the fridge and wrap the completely cooled cake layers tightly in plastic wrap, then store in the fridge or at room temperature. When you’re ready to assemble, pull out the components and put it all together.
If you don’t have mascarpone, it’s really worth trying to track some down. You can find it in the cheese section of nearly any grocery store. If you can’t find mascarpone cheese, you can use cream cheese or crème fraîche instead, but it will be a little bit different. Crème fraîche will be most similar to mascarpone. If you’re using cream cheese, add a little heavy cream to mellow out the tangy flavor a little bit.
Custards and pastry creams can be a little tricky, so if your cream looks broken, separated, or curdled, you should know that you’re not the only one who’s had trouble! If this happens, first, take a deep breath. It could be that the cream overheated. Try blitzing it with an immersion blender while it’s still warm. You’re also going to strain it, but if it’s really separated, straining isn’t going to help fix the problem. If the immersion blender doesn’t help, you unfortunately may need to start your pastry cream from scratch.
If you’re not sure if your cake layers are quite done yet, there are a few things you can do to test it. If you lightly touch it with your (clean, of course) finger, a fully baked cake should feel springy and bouncy to the touch. Don’t press too hard or you’ll make a hole in your cake. You can also tell by looking at the cake. You want the color to be golden brown and the sides of the cake to pull away from the sides of the cake pans. Finally, the most foolproof way to tell if your cake is baked through is to use a cake tester. Insert the tester into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done!
If you don’t want to make the mascarpone frosting (or the espresso pastry cream just isn’t working for you), you can make a coffee buttercream instead. This cake is a great blank slate, so you could also pair it with caramel buttercream, chocolate ganache or American buttercream, a burnt sugar frosting, marshmallow buttercream, and more. If you deviate from the espresso and mascarpone flavors, however, it won’t be a tiramisu cake anymore (but it’ll still be delicious).
Once you’re done putting the whole cake together and decorating it however you’d like, it’s time to store your cake. Because of the pastry cream filling and whipped mascarpone frosting, you’ll need to store your tiramisu cake in the refrigerator. Transfer the assembled cake to the fridge for several hours and loosely cover it to protect it while it’s in there. When you’re ready to serve the cake, make sure you pull the cake out of the fridge and let it come to temp for at least 30 minutes for the best texture and flavor (the cold will dull the flavors a little bit - you want it to warm up!).
If espresso pastry cream just isn’t enough rich, bold coffee flavor for you, you can make a quick coffee syrup and brush that over each cake layer (use a pastry brush and gently brush the syrup directly on the cake) before adding your pastry cream filling. Mix together sugar, water, and instant coffee. Heat the mixture in a small saucepan until the coffee and sugar dissolve, then remove it from the heat and let the coffee simple syrup cool. If needed, strain the syrup.
This tiramisu cake is a cake to remember. It might feel like a lot of work, but if you break up the components and tackle them one by one, it’ll all come together in no time at all. Rich, decadent, and full of bold flavors, this show-stopping cake will wow guests no matter what you’re celebrating

Ready to get started? Shop Erin’s favorite baking tools here to set you up for success. Need more guidance? Brush up on your skills with our cake decorating classes. We offer virtual classes and in-person classes held at our Chicago bakeshop.

Prefer to leave the baking to the trained professionals? We get it! Place an order from the Cake Shop (may we suggest the espresso version of The Tini?) or reach out to us to inquire about custom cakes. We’re not a retail bakery and bake all cakes to order, so we require at least 5 days’ notice for Cake Shop orders and at least 2 weeks’ notice for custom orders.

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