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Clearly tiramisu is an Italian dessert. I’d call this the Russian adaptation. What makes it so? Instead of ladyfingers, I’m using a basic biskvit cake recipe (you may know it as biscuit). Biskvit is an excellent European sponge cake and it doesn’t get mushy or soggy.
The ingredients are so easy and practical (a non-mascarpone version) and it turns out delicious. The frosting is light and fabulous. This version actually tastes good for a couple of days after it’s made. Hope you enjoy it, my family loves it!
Ingredients for Biskvit Tiramisu Cake:
6 large eggs, room temp
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted *measured correctly
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Ingredients for Tiramisu Frosting:
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream, very cold
1 (8oz) stick cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Ingredients for Tiramisu Coffee Syrup & Topping:
1 1/2 cups Strong coffee, room temperature or cold
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp rum
1 Tbsp unsweetened Cocoa Powder for dusting the finished cake
Watch How to Make Tiramisu Cake:
Here’s what the previous tiramisu looked like before I updated pictures:
And now, the new and improved:
If you bake this cake, please do tag me on Facebook or Instagram so I can see your beautiful creations! Happy Baking and I hope you enjoyed the video!
Russian Tiramisu Recipe

Ingredients
Ingredients for Biskvit Cake:
- 6 large eggs, room temp
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Ingredients for Tiramisu Frosting:
- 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream, very cold
- 1 8oz stick cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Ingredients for Tiramisu Coffee Syrup & Topping:
- 1 1/2 cups Strong coffee, room temperature or cold
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp rum
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened Cocoa Powder for dusting the finished cake
Instructions
How to Make the Biskvit Cake:
- Preheat the Oven to 350˚F. Butter the bottom of a 9" springform mold and line the bottom with parchment paper (note: you can use two 9" cake pans, but keep in mind 2 pans will take less time to bake). Sift your flour.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add 6 eggs and beat on high speed with the whisk attachment for 1 min. With the mixer on, add the sugar in a steady stream and continue to beat on the highest speed for 8 min. The egg mixture should be thick, pale yellow and tripled in volume.
- Add 1 tsp vanilla and sift the flour into your batter. Fold the flour in with a spatula just until all of the flour is incorporated. Scrape from the bottom of the bowl to make sure you don't have pockets of flour trapped on the bottom. Be careful not to over-mix since you are relying on the fluffiness of the eggs for volume. Transfer the batter to your prepared pans.
- Bake 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool down 10 minutes, then remove cake from the pan and let cool on a wire rack. Once the cake is at room temperature, you can cut it in half to make two cake layers then remove the parchment paper. It should peel back easily.
How to Make Tiramisu Frosting:
- Beat 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream on high speed until stiff (mine took about 2 minutes with the whisk attachment). Don't over-beat it or it will be buttery. Transfer whipped cream to a medium bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
- In the same bowl (no need to do the dishes yet), beat softened cream cheese and sugar on medium/high speed until smooth and creamy, scraping down the bowl as necessary to prevent rebel clumps of cream cheese.
- Use a spatula to fold whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until well blended and refrigerate the frosting until ready to use. Fold until you no longer see streaks of cream cheese.
How to Make Coffee Syrup:
- Mix 1 1/2 cups strong coffee with 2 Tbsp sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Stir in the rum.
Assembling the Tiramisu Cake:
- Place one of the cakes on a cake platter (note: use the prettiest, flattest side for the top of the cake)
- Brush half of the coffee syrup over the bottom layer (a brush provides for the most even distribution of syrup).
- Spread 1/3 of the frosting over the first cake layer. At this point, you can sift 1 Tbsp cocoa powder over the frosting
- Center the second cake layer over the frosting and brush the remaining half of the syrup over the second cake layer and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake.
Decorating Your Cake:
- Decorate to your hearts delight. I used the Wilton Open Star 1M frosting tip for the remaining forsting and piped little designs all over the top then dusted generously with a good quality unsweetened cocoa. You could just dust the top with cocoa powder and add chocolate shavings. Chocolate coffee beans would be amazing as well.
Notes
I haven’t tried thus yet…was wondering if I can bake in 3 8 inch pans? I would like 3 layers with thick cream filling
Hi Lorie! I don’t think there would be enough batter to make 3 layers in 8” pans. You may need to increase the serving size of the recipe for more batter. Keep in mind, the syrup softens the cake layers and this frosting is soft, not very stable or suitable for tall cakes. I think it could work with 3 layers but there may be some sliding around and hard-to-serve the soft and tall slices of cake. Let us know how it turns out if you experiment.
I made this for my husband’s birthday, it was such a hit I wish I had made two to have leftovers 🙂 I used icing sugar for the granulated sugar in the frosting and added a pouch of Dr Oetker’s Whip It to stabilize the whipped cream. For the coffee syrup I used 3/4 c of espresso, 3/4 c Kaluha and 1 tbsp sugar. I used 2 nine inch pans, 25 minutes was perfect. I will definitely make this again, thank you for another winner!
Excellent information! Thank you so much for sharing with us. I’m glad it was a hit!
Hi Natasha beautiful cake and fantastic web site. I just discovered it. I am from Australia and it would help me greatly if would it be possible for the ingredients be posted in metric tia
I’m so happy you discovered our blog. Welcome, Ana! 🙂 If you scroll down to our printable recipe card, most of our recipes have a metric conversion option on the printable recipe card. We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes, but it is taking some time to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help.
I’m making this right now for Valentine’s Day. This is the second time that I’ve made it because it was a huge hit the first time.
I used gluten free flour and even after brushing the cake with the coffee, it held together beautifully and was even better the 2nd day. This time I added 1 tbl espresso powder to the brewed strong coffee to really emphasize the coffee flavor and doubled the rum because why not…
This is an delicious recipe and I especially like it because it’s simple and I didn’t need to buy any special ingredients.
This recipe is a classic and I’m so glad you enjoyed it using gluten-free flour!
Hi Natasha, I’m making this cake for my aunty’s 80th birthday. Everything went well but it fell and pulled away from the sides (which I also lined with parchment paper) badly. Why did this happen. I am thinking of redoing it so your urgent response would be appreciated. (The only deviation from the recipe was I used caster sugar instead of granulated).
Hi Donna, this cake works best if you don’t line or grease the sides – it clings to the sides to climb and hold its shape. Also, be sure to beat the eggs and sugar sufficiently since the cake relies on the volume of the beaten eggs to rise.
Thanks for the guidance. I’ll definitely be doing it again as, sunken as it was, you couldn’t tell once it was mounted up. My aunt’s comment was “This cake is nice, it is for queens and royalty”. It was a big hit with everyone!!
Aww, that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m glad she loved it!
Hi Natasha, looks amazing, can i use gluten free flour? would it give me the same result.
Hi Amal, I haven’t tried that yet to advise but I saw someone else posted this in the comments “I tried this with gluten-free flour (since the bulk of the volume is from the eggs here) and it came out perfect.” I hope that helps!
This sounds so scrumptious, I can’t wait to try it.
Note: When using whipping cream it helps to either add Knox unflavored gelatin to your whipping cream (exact proportions can easily be found online recipes) or use sifted powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar; how much? I usually go by taste so I can’t even tell you but it can also be found online. Either way, your whipped cream frosting will be more stable and hold up better so you don’t have to worry about your cake “melting” in hot weather.
Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Cynthia!
I like to use Dr Oetker’s Whip It instead of gelatin to stabilize the whipping cream, and I agree I use icing sugar instead of granulated sugar, as I find it blends better
If I want to divide the batter into 2 baking pans. How long is the baking time?
Hi Lily, you sure can. Please see the note in step #2. “(note: you can use two 9″ cake pans, but keep in mind 2 pans will take less time to bake)” I hope that helps.
Can I freeze this cake and assemble later?
Hi Nh, they freeze very well. Just put parchment or wax paper between the layers then wrap loosely in plastic wrap. They can thaw in about 45 min – 1 hr at room temp.
Hi Natasha,
Can I make it a 4 tier cake? I will slice the cake in 2 so I will have 4 cakes 1 sponge cake recipe. I would like to use your mascarpone filling . Do you think the cake can stand it?
Thanks,
Mye
Hi Mye, I can’t say that this cake is strong enough for 4 tiers to advise. If you happen to experiment, I would love to know how it works out.
Natasha,
I live at 5,300 foot altitude and my cakes fall. I have tried your recipe for the Russian Tiramisu and other sponge cakes and the same thing happens. Does the recipe need adjusting at this altitude and can you please provide those adjustments?
Hi Mary, if that happens often or every time you bake that means you have to try some adjustments. This guide on High Altitude baking can be useful.
hi natasha, why you didn’t use baking powder? pls clear my doubt.
Hi, it isn’t necessary in a classic European sponge cake. Lately we have been adding a little to our sponge cake recipe because it did create a slightly more even rise.
Hi! How much and how long to bake when using 6in pans?
Hi Luie, I haven’t tested that so I can’t say for sure, but I think you would need three 6-inch pans for this recipe or it would overwhelm the pans.
Fantastic recipe! My wife made this today, and it’s to die for. Thank you for all of your hard work. You are amazing!
I love it! Thank you so much for your awesome feedback, we appreciate it.
Hi Natasha,
I have made this sponge before and love it. I want to try out this variation. Do you think I could use Marscapone in place of cream cheese?
Hi Mary, I haven’t tried that yet but one of my readers make this with mascarpone instead and reported great results. Mascarpone is a more expensive cheese and it’s not required in this recipe but I think it would work.
Thank you Natasha , baked the Russian Tiramisu cake it was yumm and your recipes are so easy / fresh and easy to bake.
Thank you so much for your great feedback.
I made this recipe 3 times. Amazing!!! I wanted to try making a batch of 12 tiramisu cupcakes, will this recipe be too much for a dozen cupcakes? Also, thank you so much for answering questions and responding to comments every time someone comments on your recipes!
Hi, I’m so glad you love the cake! I haven’t tried these as cupcakes because this batter would likely stick badly to cupcake wrappers.
Thank you!
You’re most welcome!
Hi Natasha, my 5 year old boy is a big fan of yours. He calls you his favorite chef. We want to try this cake, but may I know the metric measurement of the ingredients pls???
That is so sweet Sharon! I’m so glad you both are enjoying our recipes! We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes but it is taking some time as we have to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help
Hi, Can this recipe be used for cupcakes?
The sponge cake recipe does not work well for cupcakes because there is no fat in the cake so it would get stuck to the cupcake wrapper.
Hi- I tried this recipe and it’s delicious, however, I live at 9200 feet. Do you have any suggestions for adapting the recipe to this altitude? The cake just sank, which does happen in high altitudes. Thank you!!
Hi Trisha, I don’t have any experience baking in high altitudes. I found a good reference on high altitude which may help.