Hey folks! Hope you had a lovely weekend. It was my husband’s birthday last week and not being too big on parties, he decided to have a quiet one this year. He didn’t even want cake! WHAT?! No cake on your birthday? That’s like New Years Eve without the fireworks. Christmas without Santa. Easter without eggs. Anyway, I felt bad so I decided to make him a cake. An easy one to make that is. My husband is not really big into cakes, or sweets for that matter but it so happens that he likes Tiramisu. What a coincidence, I like Tiramisu too (tee hee). Of course the cake is to be consumed by our little one so there can’t be any alcohol or strong coffee for that matter. Of course with me being full term pregnant, I shouldn’t be having caffeine either. Unfortunately, we all have to give into our guilty pleasures. In fact, I’ve been drinking de-caf coffee now and then. Did you know that a cup of tea and a cup of hot chocolate have more caffeine in them than a cup of de-caf coffee?

I’ve made a lazy tiramisu before, but as this is the hubby’s birthday cake, of course I had to make it look pretty

This is also an eggless Tiramisu, so perfect for those that cannot consume or tolerate raw eggs. Perfect for coffee lovers or for anyone that loves to indulge now and then.

Ingredients:

About 40-45 sponge finger biscuits
Cocoa powder for dusting
Strawberries

For the cream:

250ml thickened cream
250g cream cheese or mascarpone (room temp)
1/2 cup caster sugar

For the coffee syrup:

1 Tbsp of instant decaf coffee
2 tsp of sugar
2 cups of hot water

Equipment:

Electric hand mixer or a stand mixer
Spatulas
Mixing bowls
Baking paper
9″ spring form cake pan

Method:

1. Dissolve 1 Tbsp of coffee and 2 tsp of sugar into 2 cups of hot water. Stir well and refrigerate for about 15 minutes to cool.
2. With an electric mixer or a stand mixer, whisk the thickened cream until it forms a stiff peak.
3. In a separate bowl, gently mix cream cheese/mascarpone and caster sugar until well combined.
4. Slowly, fold in the whisked thickened cream into the cheese mixture. Fold through until well combined.

Layering:

1. Line the bottom and sides of a spring form cake pan with baking paper (see bottom note).
2. Dip one biscuit at a time into the coffee syrup – DO NOT soak or dip for more than 2 secs.
3. Place the biscuit on the bottom of the pan. Repeat with the other biscuits (one at a time) until the bottom of the cake pan is filled with biscuits. You can fill the gaps with biscuit cut offs if you wish.
4. Cover the biscuits with a dusting of cocoa powder.
5. Use 1/3 of the cream filling to layer on top of the cocoa covered biscuits.
6. Repeat steps 2 – 5 until you have covered the cake with the last layer of cream.

7. Refrigerate the cake for about 3 hours.

To decorate:

1. Whilst cake is still in the pan, dust the top of the cake with a generous amount of cocoa powder.
2. Gently release the cake from the pan and carefully peel off the baking paper.
3. Cut off about 1 cm off the bottom of the rest of the biscuits and stand and place on the outside of the cake. Repeat this for the remaining biscuits until the entire outside of the cake is covered with biscuits.
4. Decorate the top of the cake with strawberries. Tie a ribbon around the cake so it holds its shape.
5. Refrigerate for another 30 mins before serving.

Hmm, soooo gooood! Kids will love this! Although we’ve used de-caf coffee, there’s still traces of caffeine left so the kids may be bouncing off the walls later.