Japanese Style Tiramisu Cake

I swore that I wouldn't make tiramisu cakes long time ago because Mom loves them and there's an aunty who makes it really well. Mom has tried other tiramisu cakes and still prefers aunty's. She got her recipe from a Japanese lady so I've come to associate the sponge cake type tiramisu as "Japanese style" (not sure if there's any truth to it). The local Asian supermarket and Paris Baguette has a decent one and Mom usually is 70% satisfied. Fast forward 20 years to today, neither place makes them anymore. And Mom specifically said she wanted a tiramisu cake for her birthday. Welp.

Searching online for English recipes mostly yielded ones made in a trifle dish with lady fingers. Nothing wrong with these, but it's just not the kind Mom is expecting. So I turned to search recipes in Japanese (finally, my weeb degree is useful!) and that yielded a lot of matcha tiramisu recipes 😅 but also a few with sponge cake base recipes. I won't get into how I've never learned any of the vocab or expressions for baking and cake making in Japanese class, but I was able to make out 95% of the instructions. The 5% I was unsure of I used Google's translate feature which was surprisingly pretty darn good.

So, I'm here to share the translated recipe with you as well as for my own reference later on. 

Japanese Style Tiramisu Cake

Adapted from Vivian on Cotta

Genoise Cake

200g whole egg (approx. 4 large eggs) 

120g granulated sugar 

120g cake flour

40g unsalted butter

Italian Meringue

A

60g egg whites

35g granulated sugar

B

30mL water

95g granulated sugar

Mascarpone Mousse

360g Mascarpone Cheese

8g gelatin (sheet or powder) 

Italian Meringue - all

360mL whipping cream

Coffee Syrup

100mL water

130g granulated sugar

25mL coffee extract 

15mL Kaluha liqueur 

Topping

Dutch-Process cocoa powder - as needed

Icing sugar - as needed

Fruits - optional

Yield

7 inch square/round cake

Method

Coffee syrup

Start with this first as syrup needs to cool before applying on cake.

1. Add 100mL water to 140g granulated sugar and bring to boil

2. Add coffee extract and Kaluha liqueur and return to boil

3. Remove from stove and let cool

Genoise Cake

1. Add 200g of whole eggs into a mixer bowl, then add 120g of granulated sugar

2. Whisk over a 35C hot water bath for 7-8 minutes until mixture has doubled or tripled in volume. Whisk an additional minute on low to refine the air bubbles

3. Sift 120g of cake flour into the egg mixture and fold with a spatula

4. Melt 40g of unsalted butter in a separate small bowl

5. Take a small portion of the batter and add it to the melted butter, mix well

6. Take the butter mixture and add it to the batter, fold to incorporate

7. Line a quarter sheet baking tray or a 7 inch cake pan

8. Pour batter into baking tray/cake pan

9. Bake at 170C or 340F for 20-30 minutes

10. Let cool on cooling rack

11. Either slice the cake into 1cm thick layers (cake pan) or use your cake ring mold to cut out the layers needed (sheet tray) 

12. Soak your cake layers with cooled coffee syrup with a pastry brush

Mascarpone Mousse

1. Bloom 8g of gelatin in 2 tbsp of cold water 

2. Melt the gelatin in microwave for 10 seconds on high power

3. Take 360g of mascarpone cheese in a small mixing bowl and whip with an electric hand mixer to loosen the cheese

4. Add melted gelatin to mascarpone cheese and whip to incorporate 

5. Make Italian Meringue A by adding 60g of egg whites into a clean, grease-free mixing bowl. Then add 35g of granulated sugar in 3 batches. Whip to stiff peaks

6. Continue with Italian Meringue B by putting 95g of granulated sugar into a small pot and add 30mL of water. Boil until syrup reaches 117C or 240F

7. With the mixer which has the meringue in it running on medium, immediately and slowly stream in the syrup

8. Turn mixer on high once all the syrup has been added and whip until bowl has cooled

9. In another mixing bowl, whip whipping cream to medium-stiff peaks 

10. Add the gelatinized mascarpone to the whipped cream, whip again to incorporate 

11. Add the cooled Italian Meringue in 3 batches, using a spatula to fold and incorporate 

Assembly

1. Place a cake ring mold (square or round) onto a cake plate

2. Place a layer of coffee-soaked genoise cake inside the ring mold

3. Add mascarpone mousse on top (about 1.5cm or 0.5 inch thick) 

4. Using an offset spatula, spread the mousse evenly

5. Place the other coffee-soak cake layer on top. Press down gently and evenly to ensure any air pockets or gaps are squished out

6. Add mascarpone mousse on top, about 2.5 cm or 1 inch thick. Smooth and even out with an offset spatula

7. Cover and store in fridge to set for at least 6 hours

8. Place the remaining mascarpone mousse in a piping bag, tie it up, and store in fridge 

Finishing

1. Use a warm dish towel and wrap it around the cake ring mold for a few minutes to loosen

2. Carefully, slide the ring mold up to release the cake

3. You can use the remaining mascarpone mousse to smooth out the sides and/or decorate the top with piping tip of your choice

4. Lightly dust the cake top with icing sugar (optional) and then with cocoa powder

5. Decorate with fruits of your choice (optional)