Tiramisu Cake wannabe?

Okay, why that title? It's either I made a tiramisu cake or I don't. It a long story, so bare with me a little. :) Last Saturday me and my girlfriends went out for a pre-celebration for 2 of my friends' coming birthday. It was a nice dinner at Alexis Bristol at Bangsar follow by a couple of drinks at Finnegan's Irish Pub. It was a wonderful night, something I will remember for a long time. :) While dinning at Alexis, my friends were all raving about their wonderful tiramisu and it's a MUST try desert. So I was really looking forward to trying it. Indeed it was a tasty cake, deep coffee flavors, soft chiffon cake soaked in coffee liquor and crunchy caramelized almonds on the sides, not your usual tiramisu I would say. :) After "carefully" tasting the cake, I decided (in my mind) that I should try making something similar just for my friend's actual birth date, since she really enjoyed the cake in Alexis.

This cake is totally inspired by what I tasted in Alexis, but it is purely my own creation on how it is made. Interested bakers can check out my recipe:

Ingredients for Coffee Sponge Cake:
6 egg yolks
90g caster sugar
55g maple syrup
8g coffee granulates / powder
30ml fresh milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
120g cake flour
10g corn flour
6g cream of tartar

Filling:
100ml non-dairy whipping cream, whipped
15g confectioner's sugar
3 tbsp sour cream
80g dark chocolate shavings
50g cream cheese, room temperature

Icing & decorations:
200ml non-dairy whipping cream, whipped
250g raw almonds, roasted and cooled and roughly chopped
200g caster sugar
1/4 cup water
Dark chocolate, melted & place in piping bag
Fresh strawberries

Method:

• In a large mixing bowl, add the egg yolks and 30g of the caster sugar. Beat mixture till light in color.
• Melt the coffee powder in to the milk and stir into the egg mixture till well combined.
• Add maple syrup and cooled melted butter into the egg mixture and stir well.
• Sift cake flour and corn flour into the egg mixture and stir till everything comes together.
• In another mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining caster sugar and cream of tartar. Beat till stiff peaks.
• Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line with parchment paper an 9 inch round cake pan.
• Gently fold in the egg white mixture in 3 separate portions into the flour mixture till everything is combined.
• Pour the cake batter into the cake pan and bake in the oven for 35 to 40 mins.
• Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing it and cool completely on the rack.
• Cut the cake into 2 discs and set aside.
• Meanwhile, make the filling. Beat the cream cheese & sour cream with sugar till creamy. Add the chocolate shavings and mix well. Finally add the whipped cream and stir till everything is well combined.
• To make the caramelized almonds, place the sugar and water in a small pot and start to boil the mixture. Once it almost changes to yellowish color, add the almonds and stir well. Remove from heat and pour on to a parchment lined tray. Spread the mixture evenly and not in clumps. Let cool completely. Then break up the pieces and set aside.
  
• Spread the filling evenly on top of one of the cake disc. Place the other cake disc over it.
  
• Spread the whipped cream all over the cake evenly. Plant the caramelized almonds all around the sides of the cake. Decorate at will.
  

I apologize for the quality of the pictures (so dark!). Was kind of in a rush to finish it so that I can give the cake to my friend, so did not take the time to take the pictures nicely. :-P But luckily the taste of the cake turned out good. I just wish I had more time to decorate it nicely. I merely just pop 2 fresh strawberries on top and piped the wordings over. :-P Wonder how long I take to make this cake? 4hrs++. :) But I guess time does not really matter since I do enjoy baking so much, haha!

As you can see the coffee and the maple syrup kind of turned the cake into a nice brownish tone. ;) The maple syrup essentuates the taste of the coffee, nice! The sponge cake did not really rise as nicely as I hoped for, some how I always have problem with this. :-P But overall it was really acceptably soft and with the crunchy almonds, it was pretty good. Everyone enjoyed the cake, including the little ones...I was a little worried at first that the coffee flavor might turn them off! :P The filling in the middle was a pleasant surprise, tasted like cookies and cream cheese ice cream, haha!

Although I have only known Reese for less then a year, we share a common strong interest, which is baking and cooking. She has this jovial and non-pretentious personality which can brighten you up. She's also generous to the people around her, especially on the food, haha! I was glad to bake this cake for her, and even more so when seeing the joy in her when she saw it. Happy Birthday Reese!