tiramisu birthday cake with piped swirl ruffle sides

My last post was about this mocha pocky layer cake that I made last year for my mom's birthday, which started out as one cake, and then turned into a different cake altogether! For this year's cake, the same thing happened! I had this whole vision in my head - I knew I wanted to make a tiramisu cake, because out of all the cakes that I have made for my mom, she seems to have liked this Hello Kitty tiramisu the best (she prefers desserts that aren't too sweet, and she loves the flavor of coffee). For the design on the top, I pictured something similar to this lace cake that I had seen on Pinterest somewhere, except that I wanted to dust on cocoa powder instead of sugar. And for the sides, I wanted to try this pretty swirl ruffle piping that I had pinned on Pinterest about a year ago.

So I doubled my Hello Kitty tiramisu recipe to make two 8-inch vanilla cake layers and sliced them in half horizontally. Then I topped each cake layer with a light brushing of espresso syrup, a layer of espresso and Kahlua creamy whipped filling (made with cream cheese this time instead of mascarpone cheese), and then a dusting of cocoa powder before adding the next cake layer. Then I finished it off by using the same creamy filling to frost the top and sides of the cake.

Next I attempted to dust on my lace design with cocoa powder. Let's just say that it didn't come out too pretty. So I decided to dust the entire top with cocoa powder, and then try the lace design with powdered sugar. At first it seemed to work, although the design was very light...

.. but then before I knew it, the powdered sugar started to dissolve into the cocoa powder, until the lace design was not even recognizable. Boo :( Oh well, at least I would still have the pretty swirl ruffles piped on the sides.

But even that didn't come out as I had envisioned. I think I should have gone one more swirl higher than I did.

In any case, it still looked like tiramisu, although a tad plain. So I decided to sprinkle some sugar pearls on the top, to pretty it up a little.

Right before the party, the cake was still looking a little plain, so at the suggestion of my husband I threw on some light green cymbidium orchids (although I didn't have time to properly photograph it).

To my delight, my mom loved the cake! I think I may have to make tiramisu cake for her every year!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!