Tiramisu Cake with Dulce de Leche

Butter Genoise:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F – 180C and line a round cake pan – 24cm diameter – with baking paper.
2. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.
3. Combine the whole eggs with sugar in the bowl of your mixer and mix until the eggs triple their volume, at least 5 minutes.
4. Stir in the vanilla extract then fold in the flour, spoon by spoon.
5. Take a few spoonfuls of batter into a smaller bowl and mix it with the melted butter. Pour the batter back into the larger bowl and slowly incorporate it with a spatula. This is done because butter is heavier than the batter and tends to sink at the bottom of the bowl, but mixing it aside with a small quantity of batter makes this task easier.
6. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake the sponge in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.
7. Allow the sponge to cool in the pan then carefully remove it and level it if needed. Cut the sponge into 2 equal discs and place one of them in your cake ring.

Chocolate Amaretto syrup:

1. Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate. Mix until melted then add the milk and Amaretto and mix well.
3. Allow the syrup to cool before use.

Dulce de leche mascarpone mousse:

1. Combine the gelatin with cold water and let it bloom for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the egg yolks with sugar into a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a hot water bath and mix with an electric mixer until stiff and creamy.
3. Remove the bowl from heat and keep mixing until the egg yolks cool down slightly.
4. Stir in the melted gelatin then allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
5. Add the mascarpone and mix well then stir in vanilla and dulce de leche.
6. Fold in the whipped cream and divide the mousse in half.

To assemble the cake:

1. Brush the bottom layer of sponge with chocolate syrup then pour half of the mascarpone mousse over the sponge.
2. Dip each ladyfinger into the chocolate syrup and arrange them over the mousse.
3. Top with the remaining mousse and cover with the other half of sponge.
4. Refrigerate the cake for 1 hour to allow the mousse to set. I put it in the freezer for about 40 minutes as it’s much quicker.
5. Remove the cake from the cake ring and place it on a platter.

Chocolate decoration:

1. Melt the chocolate over a hot water bath or in the microwave.
2. Pour the chocolate into a paper cone then lay a large baking paper sheet on your working surface and carefully drizzle it with chocolate.
3. Carefully wrap it around the chilled cake and place in the fridge to allow to set.
4. Once set, remove the baking paper and top the cake with a dust of cocoa powder.

Caramel ball:

1. Melt the sugar until it has an amber color then using a fork, form thin strands of caramel over a large pan lined with parchment paper.
2. Carefully gather the strands into a ball and place it on top of the cake.