Tiramisu Genoise Sponge Cake

You will need:-

40g of butter

75g of caster sugar

65g of plain flour

15g of cornflour

3 eggs

50g of cocoa powder

Dark Chocolate

A tub of mascarpone

Icing sugar

1tsp of instant coffee

2tsp of caster sugar

2 tsp of water

Grease and line two 18cm cake tins and preheat the oven at 180C. 

Put the butter into a saucepan and heat until melted, leave this to cool slightly. In a large bowl, add the eggs and sugar, place this over a pan of hot water and whisk until pale and a trail forms in the mixture when you lift the whisk. Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk until cool. 

Sift the flour, cornflour and cocoa powder into a separate bowl and fold half of this mixture into the eggs gently with a metal spoon. Pour in half of the melted butter around the edge of the bowl, and add the rest of the flour, gently fold this in, and then finally add the rest of the butter and slowly fold the rest in.

Pour the cake mix into the tins and bake this for 35-40mins, until risen and firm to the touch. Leave these to cool on a wire rack. Once completely cool, mix together 1tsp of instant coffee, 2tsp of caster sugar and 2tsp of water in a cup. Pour this evenly over the bottom tier of the cake, letting it settle into the cake. 

Mix icing sugar and a tub of mascarpone until light and until it taste slightly sweet. Assemble the cake, ensuring that the coffee soaked tier is on the bottom, using a thin layer of mascarpone icing in the centre. Then coat the top and sides of the cake with the icing.

Next make the chocolate cage, place a large baking tray in the freezer for a couple minutes. Measure the cake size and the height needed and cut a piece of grease proof paper to this size. Melt the dark chocolate in a small bowl over a pan of hot water. Quickly, remove the baking tray from the freezer, place this on a flat surface and cover with the grease proof paper stencil. Then, quickly use a spatula to spread the chocolate evenly over the grease proof paper, to the correct size (poor any extra chocolate onto a spare piece of grease proof paper to use later). 

Wait a few seconds, until the chocolate has hardened very slightly but is still flexible (about 10-20 secs), using the grease proof paper to lift it, quickly fold the chocolate around the cake, then use sellotape to hold it in place. Leave for a few minutes until completely cool, then you are able to remove the grease proof paper gently, leaving the chocolate cage.

Using a sharp knife, use the spare chocolate to make chocolate rolls. Keep the knife as horizontal to the chocolate as possible to create longer rolls. Place these on top for decoration.

Tip: If you want a more elaborate effect, put the melted chocolate into a piping bag and quickly pipe a pattern onto the grease proof paper (zigzags or wavy lines over the top of each other work best), then move this onto the cold baking tray before shaping around the cake.

Enjoy! x