*This Tiramisu Crunch Cake recipe is SPONSORED content
Lancewood has just launched a hunt for South Africa’s No.1 cake and guys, I don’t need to tell you that we need to win this one. Not me, but YOU! I want to see one of you win the all-expenses-paid trip to New York worth R150 000! I know you can do it!
So, what to bake that will WOW the judges?
First, it needs to be a cake (obvs) – but it can be a sweet or savoury cake! Think cheesecakes, sponge cakes, fridge cake – as long as it’s called a cake and looks like a cake, it counts!
Secondly, make something you LOVE. If you get excited about lemon meringue, then do a twist on that. I am crazy about tiramisu. This is evident in the many ways I’ve twisted it over the years. I’ve stuffed it into éclairs, frozen it, and if I was entering, I thought I’d make it into a cake! This is my Tiramisu Crunch Cake which is a naked cake (inspired by Christina Tosi’s famous Momofuku Milk Bar cake) to prove that even if you’re not great at cake decorating, you can still make a beautiful, drop-dead-delicious cake that’s bang on-trend. It has layers of espresso soaked sponge, a lusciously velvety mascarpone frosting made with Lancewood’s decadent mascarpone. The real surprise factor lies in the crunchy cocoa rubble that is sprinkled in between the layers to add crunch. It’s seriously goooooood!
Thirdly, you need to use a Lancewood product (they have so many to choose from here) and submit a picture of your cake with the product you use in the picture – like this:
The judges (Zola Nene, J’Something and Lorna Maseko) might not be judging you on your photography skills, but I do think a good photo will help set you apart from the crowd (and help you get more public votes). So, here are some tips to take a great photo:
- Set your cake next to a window or door where there’s natural daylight coming from one direction (avoid shooting at night/under fluorescent lights)
- Put it on a pretty plate or cake stand (or a stack of plates) and shoot straight from the side so you can show off those layers!
- Sometimes a cake looks better sliced so you can see what’s inside! Tip to getting the perfect slice? Chill your cake, then place your sharpest knife in a jug filled with just-boiled water to heat up, then wipe the knife with paper towel and slice, cleaning and dipping the knife in between each cut.
- If it needs a wow factor, add a sparkler or drizzle it with melted chocolate (it always works!).
- Use Instagram’s new ‘focus’ feature to blur out the background and make your cake the hero of the shot.
- Edit the photo on your phone by increasing the contrast which makes the colours pop.
Lastly, upload your picture to the Lancewood Cake-Off website here
Good luck, bakers! And let me know what you’ll be baking in the comments below!
TIRAMISU CRUNCH CAKE
Makes 1 large 4-layer 20cm cake that serves 10-12 people
ONE-BOWL VANILLA SPONGE
160g salted butter, softened
560g caster sugar
480g cake flour
30ml (2 tbsp) baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
480ml full cream milk, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
COFFEE SYRUP
120ml hot espresso
80g caster sugar
30ml grappa or your favourite liqueur (optional)
COCOA CRUMBLE
80g soft brown sugar
60g salted butter, at room temperature
160g cake flour
40g The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder, sifted
30ml whole coffee beans
MASCARPONE FROSTING
140g salted butter, room temperature
1kg icing sugar, sifted
230g Lancewood Medium-Fat Cream cheese, room temperature
230g Lancewood Mascarpone, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
To make the sponge, preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius (170 if you’re using a fan-forced oven). Grease and line 4 x 20cm cake tins with baking paper. If like me, you don’t have 4 (who does), you’ll have to reline and bake the cakes in batches (which is perfectly okay).
Using an electric handheld or stand mixer (with the paddle attachment), place the butter, sugar, flour and baking powder in the bowl and mix on low speed until it resembles a sandy breadcrumb texture. Whisk together the milk, vanilla and eggs then, with the speed still on low, gradually pour the liquid into the dry ingredients. Beat the batter until smooth and light – about 2 minutes. Divide the cake batter in between your lined tins (if you’re OCD like me you can weight it so they’re all even – I used 400g in each of my tins). Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden, springy to the touch and a wooden skewer comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool completely before levelling them off by cutting off the tops with a bread knife. Allow to completely cool before use.
For the cocoa crumble; combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and spread out evenly on a lined baking tray. Bake in a 180 degrees Celsius (160 if you’re using a fan-forced) oven for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool.
To make the espresso syrup; brew the espresso and stir in the sugar until completely dissolved.
For the mascarpone frosting; Using an electric handheld or stand mixer (with the paddle attachment) mix the butter and icing sugar together until it reaches a sandy texture – about 9 minutes. Then add the cream cheese (room temperature) and vanilla extract and mix carefully until smooth. Fold in the mascarpone, don’t overmix. Place the frosting into a piping bag with a plain nozzle.
To assemble the Tiramisu Crunch Cake: make a collar that’s 65cm long and 21cm wide out of acetate (2 x A4 acetate sheets taped together) or double folded baking paper and insert it into the same springform cake tin you used to bake the cakes. Place the first layer of cake in the bottom of the cake tin. Brush generously with espresso syrup (don’t be afraid to really soak it as this is what will make it taste like tiramisu!), pipe a layer of frosting to cover the base and sprinkle with the cocoa crumble. Repeat this process until all the cake layers have been used. Make sure that each layer is pressed down properly. Finish the cake with a layer of frosting and the cocoa crumble. Place in the freezer for a minimum of 6 hours or until the frosting is firm. To unmold, remove the Tiramisu Crunch Cake from the cake tin, peel of the acetate and allow it to come back to room temperature before serving with a dark chocolate sauce.
Thanks for these most insightful tips Kate. I’m still deciding but have a few flavours in mind. Will show you the finished result once done
I cannot WAIT to see what you come up with! Good luck, Renuka!
How do you make the dark chocolate sauce?
Hi Andrea! I use a simple ganache recipe of 100ml cream heated to just below boiling point then poured over 100g chopped dark chocolate. You can add a little hot water if it needs to be thinner. x
I am definitely entering. I am considering unusual flavours and topping my cake with figs. I am considering a Mascarpone whipped cream topping but I always seem to split the Mascarpone. Any advice?
Mascarpone is a tricky one – it doesn’t like to be whipped or mixed too much. My advice is to slowly add liquid cream to the room-temperature mascarpone a little at a time to soften it – it should be the same consistency as your whipped cream. Then whip your cream separately (with sugar/flavourings) and fold the mascarpone into that. Good luck, Fatima! I know you’ll nail it! x
I know these might sound crazy but can it be a savoury cake? I’m thinking Petit pois cheese cake? Or would you prefer to be more traditional? ?
It can absolutely be savoury! And your idea sounds amazing – go for it!
Can I use ground coffee beans instead of whole ones?
Hi Natasha, yes you can absolutely use ground coffee beans!
Question about the coffee beans, do they crumble when you bite or could they take teeth out!! Wonder how coffee granules would work instead? Love the concept. I’m trying to create a mocha cake combining your idea here and the Milk Bar malted cake. ☺
Hi Victoria, no the coffee beans are crunchy so they are quite easy to eat – like a nut, but you could absolutely crush them or add ground/instant coffee into the crumble for a similar effect. I just enjoy the bitterness to counteract the sweetness 🙂
Hi, I’m looking for the U.K version of “cake flour”. Would this be plain flour or self raising flour?
Our cake flour is what you call plain flour 🙂 Happy baking!
I LOVE tiramisu, and have been wanting to make it in cake form for ages. This looks amazing, I particularly like your twist by adding a crunch to the cake!
Thanks so much Minela! I hope you do give it a try – it’s quickly becoming a fan-favourite! 😀 x
This is the single best cake I have ever made in my life. And I make a lot of delicious cakes! I’m in the US, so I used AP flour and Trader Joes mascarpone. The espresso syrup on the sponge is just indescribably perfect, and the frosting is the same as one from a bakery in my college town that I have been trying (and failing) to mimic for eight years! EIGHT! They put it on a carrot cake, btw, which is where I will (gleefully) be using it next.
Thank you thank you thank you for this recipe!
Elize, this just made my day! I am SO unbelievably chuffed that this cake made you as happy as it made me! Thank you for taking the time to write such a lovely comment and for making me smile first thing in the morning! x
I’ve had the worst time with this recipe. Everything seems to be light on butter – the crumble and the frosting most of all. There’s not enough butter in them to get anything to a moist stage. I just have powdered sugar all over my kitchen. AmI missing some strange to US conversion? I weighed the butter to the gram and have had zero luck. Frustrated to waste time and ingredients.
Hi Linda, I’m so sorry to hear this! As I’ve never baked in the US I can’t attest to any conversions that may have gone wrong but if you did it by the gram then everything should have gone correctly. Elise (see comment above yours) is based in the US and had success with the recipe. Regarding the frosting, it could have something to do with the fat content of the cream cheese and mascarpone you used. In South Africa, the fat content of mascarpone is slightly lower (about 30-40%). A little milk added to your frosting would get it to the correct consistency. As for the crumble, again, if you used AP flour (which has cornstarch added to it – our cake flour doesn’t), this would make it drier so you’d simply add a little more butter to get it to come together. Hope that helps!
How did you get those crunchy balls ..
Are they shaped before they go in the oven?
Hi Chryssie, the balls simply result from not stirring the mixture during baking. It should come out the oven relatively chunky then you can break it into pieces 🙂 Hope that helps!
Hi kate
I love how this cake sounds ,, just ine question ,, i know that if i can’t find cake flour .. i can add two tbsp of constarch to 1 cup of flour and stiff it very well to get cake flour .. should i do it or just use all purpose flour??
Hi Mariam! Thank you for your kind words! I’m not too familiar with pastry/cake/all-purpose flour but from my understanding, your all-purpose is the same as our cake flour (ie it doesn’t have corn starch added to it). Hope that helps and happy baking! Kx
Hello. I’m making this amazing looking cake today. After it’s been in the freezer can I just store it in the fridge?
Thanks
Helen
Fabulous Helen! Yes, you can store it in the fridge to defrost it but remove it about half an hour before you want to serve it so it can come to room temperature and the frosting gets all creamy! Let me know how it came out! x
This sounds delicious i am going to attempt to make it this week.
I was wondering if i can keep it in the freezer for a few days.
Hi Rosi! You absolutely can keep it in the freezer for a few days! Just wrap it properly so it doesn’t get freezer burn 🙂 Let me know how it comes out! x
I’m a US baker and am having trouble converting the “30ml whole coffee beans” into a US measurement. Milliliters converts into fluid ounces, which doesn’t make sense when measuring something like coffee beans that aren’t a fluid. Can you help me understand how many ounces (in weight) or cups of coffee beans I need? Thanks!
I love Tiramisu cake. I definitely need to try this recipe out.
Does this convert well to a 3 layer 6 inch cake?
Hi Kate! This cake looks so good and I was planning on making it for mother’s day but all of your measurements are in either g, ml, and kg and was wondering what are the measurements when converted to cups, tbsp and tsp?
Hi Alexandra, I always try and encourage people to bake using grams and kg (weight) as it is the most accurate. I’d really suggest getting a scale – they are not expensive at all and will change your baking results drastically. I usually don’t use cups tbsp and tsp as the amount of ml’s in each of these are different from country to country so aren’t often accurate. However, I do have a conversion chart here which you may find useful: http://thekatetin.com/baking-tips-conversions/
Looks great but with a very busy life don’t need to have to change the ingredients into American measurements…. But thanks anyway…
Hi Angela, so sorry you feel that way. Unfortunately, since I am based in South Africa and literally every single country in the world (except the US) uses the metric system, I have opted to use that. If you wish to convert to the imperial system simply paste the ingredients into google. Otherwise you can find a conversion table that I created here: http://thekatetin.com/baking-tips-conversions/
Wow, what a gracious reply to an arrogant and rude comment. As an American, I have second-hand embarrassment. We are not all this way. Also, can I just point out that the poster seems to have had the time to post a snarky comment, but somehow didn’t have the time to weigh ingredients or do a quick google search for conversions. Hmmmm.
BTW, this cake looks absolutely amazing! I have saved the recipe for my birthday. Can’t wait to make it. Thanks for sharing it with us!
This cake tastes absolutely incredible. It’s now my go-to recipe for vanilla cake (sorry Smitten Kitchen and Bakerella). I’m in Canada so I made some tweaks – added 3tbsp milk to the cocoa crunch and baked it extra long until it was crunchy (next time I would try butter). And I used 250g each of the marscapone and cream cheese since that’s the quantity it is sold in here.
Excellent reviews from my tiramisu-loving family members – more popular than my Momufuku Birthday Cake.
Jacqui, you have just made my day! There seem to be a few US/Canada based bakers who have had issues with the crumble which I think is just down to the amount of water in the butter (our local butter isn’t always the best quality and is sometimes loaded with water) so good job on following your gut and adding a little extra milk/butter. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment. xxx
How long can you keep this cake in the freezer before serving? Can I make it 2 days in advance? And how long does it take to get to room temperature before it’s ready to serve? This recipe looks amazing!
You can keep it for weeks in the freezer so 2 days in advance is perfect.
My daughter loves coffee and Tiramisu so had to make this for her Sweet 16th. I made it in secret (not easy during the UK lockdown) and she spent ages trying to find it, but never thought to check the freezer! She said it was the best birthday cake I’d ever made! Super sweet and super delicious.
Highly recommend using up all that coffee syrup so it soaks right through the sponge layers.
A great recipe for top secret baking and being able to make ahead of time. Thank you. Sx
Thank you SO much for taking the time to leave such a lovely comment, Sharon! x
It looks so amazing. Thank you for sharing this recipe. .