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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
Is this cake best served warm or cold?
Cold, definitely cold 🙂
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!
I made this cake for my mothers birthday , made it as you said just added lady fingers around the cake. Wow is all I gave to say yummy!!!!
Oh I just saw it on Facebook! Beautiful! I’m so glad you loved it 🙂
Am I missing something? Do I put in the rum at the same time I add the sugar to the coffee? Thanks for the recipe…have been looking for a cream cheese version as they don’t carry mascarpone where I live now.
Fixed! Thanks so much Natalya for bringing that to my attention. Yes, stir the rum in with the sugar and coffee. 🙂 I hope you love it!
Thanks for the great recipe Natasha. Made it for Christmas and it was great hit, particularly with me because I’m the biggest critic of my cakes. Even my mother in law who does not like coffee didn’t notice that in the cake because all the flavors and textures went so well with one another. The best part of all, it was so simple to make.
I’m so happy you had great results!! Thanks so much for an awesome review 🙂
Love this cake every time i make it for my family its gone at one sitting! thanks so much for the recipe!!!!!!!!!
Thanks so much for the great report 😉
Can you please tell me exactly how strong you made your coffee?? it says on all the recipes very strong coffee, but its different for all people! whats strong for me might not be strong at all for someone else, u kno what im saying 🙂 i dont wan ruin the cake!
It won’t ruin the cake even if there is a difference in how strong it is. I’ve brewed strong coffee in the coffee maker and I’ve also used espresso shots in a little bit of water and both times it was great. Do what you consider to be strong coffee 🙂
So a 1.5 cups of heavy cream, after whipped or 1.5 of liquid form?
1.5 cups liquid form 😉
On the 1.5 cup whipping cream, is that the amount after its whipped or before? I only have one cup of heavy whip cream in liquid form at this moment, will that be enough after I beat it. I truly don’t want to go to the store right now.
Also I used 2 teaspoons of Rum and hardly tasted a difference, Would 3 make it worse? I want to make this cake again, Its one of my favorites, Make it like every 2-3 weeks, since I crave it all the time lol.
It might be a little light on frosting but it should be enough if you don’t frost the sides. 3 would not make it worse. You’d just taste it more 🙂
Can I make it a day in advance?
Yes. It will look prettier if you dust with cocoa on top the day you are serving it.
I am a big fan of tiramisu cakes! I made this one twice and we loved it. I don’t add the rum because my girls won’t eat it, but it’s still yummy without it and I love how easy this cake is to make. I mean very very easy!!! Natasha all of your cakes are easy and supper yummy! Thank you!
Also I love your coca powder. So dark! Mine for some reason is light brown. I purchase mine at trader joes. (P.S. Once I add it to the ziplist it adds it with the old picture. Wish it was the new one, its so pretty!)
It must be cached in their system with the old picture. I’ll see if there’s anything I can do.. This cocoa was from France. Look for dark chocolate cocoa or Dutch processed cocoa.
If you love this one, you should try the pomegranate cake I just posted. The cake layers are the same; so good! I’m really glad you enjoy my recipes. Thank you for your sweet comment 🙂
Natasha, to have the best taste of this cake. Do you perfer making this cake on the day of serving it, serving in evening, making it in the morning. OR the day before and let it sit in fridge all the way to the next evening?
It could be either way. The cocoa powder will stay nicer if you dust the day you are serving. This isn’t one of those cakes that gets better with time, but it can be made a day ahead if you are going to be super busy tomorrow. You could also bake the layers today, cover with plastic wrap with wax paper or parchment between layers (once they cool) and keep them in the fridge, then assemble everything tomorrow. You can really do it either way, today or tomorrow.
Natasha what size springform you use on you tiramusu cake video? I want to buy one. Bpught some rum too! Made hubby go into liquor store.
It’s a 9″ springform pan. 🙂
Thanks so much for the recipe. I want to try it today! Any substitutes for rum? Will the cake not be the same without it? I have everything at home except the rum… :/
You can totally skip the rum. Just leave it out. 🙂
Thanks for getting back so quick! Should I do double coffee instead then or no?
No. I’ve made it with the same amount of coffee and just omitted the rum and it tastes great!
Easy recipe! very beautiful! and yummy cake.
thank you so much for your hard work with this website Natasha, God bless:)
Thank you Vera! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 😉
This cake is AMAZING! I made four layers instead of two, and I was so glad I did. It was gone in no time. Everyone loved it. I love coffee in cakes, and this one is absolutely delicious.
mmmm I love this one! Did you double the recipe or just cut the layers in half?
I doubled the recipe. It came out tall and fluffy. Thanks again. Its amazing how you find time for this. God Bless you!
Hi i tried this today! will be digging in tomorrow. i tasted things as i went along and have no doubt that the cake will be amazing. =] the only thing i have a question about is the cofffee/rum syrup part. did you keep on soaking it over and over again with the brush until ALL of the syrup was gone? i found that by the time i finished the cake i still had so much of it left (pretty much most of it)… so i was thinking maybe i just should have put more. I guess my question is: did you use half of the syrup for the bottom half of the cake and the other half for the top half? (too many “half”s in that sentence… sorry). hopefully i make sense. will definitely make it again sometime. =] thank you!
i just read the comment above where someone else asked the same question. looks like you did use all of it.
I did use all of it. If you use less, it just won’t be as moist. This spongecake does a really good job of soaking in the syrup and does not turn soggy. I hope you love it!
I made the cake today and it is just amazing!! Love your recipes! You are a fantastic cook and baker!
Yes!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Hey the recipe states 1 cup coffee in recipe but at the top its 1.5 cups? I did 1.5 which is the original correct amount? Love this.I use vanilla not rum and I think its perfect.
Oh goodness it’s 1.5. Sorry about that blunder. It’s fixed. Thanks for letting me know!! 🙂
This cake is so good! I made some a few days ago and want to make another one, but I’m missing one ingrident. Are we suppouse to use up most of the coffee into the cake? I didn’t and cake wasn’t moist in certain areas. But it was still so good! Mmm
I used up all of the coffee mix and it was pretty moist. Did you brush it on with a pastry brush? I think that really helps to prevent dry spots, or better yet you could get a food grade spray bottle.
Could this recipe be doubled for a larger cake?
Yes, you could double this cake. Are you planning to use larger rectangular pans?
What do you think would work better? I was thinking 9.5 inch springform…..
Do you have two 9.5 inch springforms? I don’t think you could double it and fit it into 1.
🙂 I just had to laugh when I read that. Yes I have 2, I really don’t think it would fit into 1 either. But would I still cut each cake in half so it would be 4 layers? Or would it end up being too soggy?
I was just making sure. lol I think 4 layers would work and it would be pretty 🙂