What to do with leftover buttercream?

This was the question I was posed with after my macaron-making venture. It was my own fault, you see, as I had overestimated the amount of buttercream with which I needed to fill my macarons by making double the amount of filling. As a result, I had about half the buttercream left over but luckily it keeps.

I decided that I did not want to make macarons again (for the time being anyway), nor did I want to make cupcakes. So after trawling through my collection of recipes, I decided on making a foolproof coffee loaf but to sex it up a bit so it resembled my husband’s favourite dessert – tiramisu.

This cake is incredibly easy to make and can be mixed by hand. Then it’s just a matter of baking it, splitting it, brushing on some coffee liqueur and decorating with buttercream. Any cracks or splits are easily concealed by the icing so inconsistencies in appearance are easily disguised. I had forgotten how crumby this cake’s texture is, so splitting it proved to not be an easy exercise. It would probably work well as cupcakes baked for roughly 15 minutes at the same oven temperature, and decorated on the tops only.

I don’t happen to be a big fan of icing (I know, I know, what is wrong with me?!) so I was happy with the amount of buttercream I had to hand. However if you like your icing spread on more thickly, there’s nothing to stop you doubling the buttercream quantites below to make your cake extra indulgent.

Tiramisu Cake

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter
• 1 cup raw sugar
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tbs instant coffee
• 1 ½ cups self-raising flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbs coffee liqueur or essence (I used Tia Maria)
• cocoa powder and/or grated chocolate to decorate (I used a crumbled Cadbury Flake)

For the buttercream:

• 75g unsalted butter
• 1 cup icing sugar mixture
• 1 tbs coffee liqueur or essence (optional – you can leave the icing plain if you prefer)

Method:

1. For the buttercream, cream together butter with icing sugar mixture before mixing through liqueur/essence (if using). Set aside but do NOT chill in the fridge. (You will end up with a solid block of buttercream otherwise.)
2. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line the base and sides of a loaf tin with non-stick baking paper.
3. Melt butter with sugar, milk and coffee in a small saucepan on medium to low heat.
4. Sift flour into a large bowl, add eggs and mix to combine. Add melted butter mixture and mix thoroughly to combine. You will end up with a sticky gooey batter.
5. Pour batter into the prepared loaf tin. Bake for about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to sit in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
6. When cake is cool enough to handle, split into two layers horizontally. Brush the top of each layer with coffee liqueur while the cake is still warm. Allow cake to cool completely before icing.
7. Spread half the buttercream on the bottom layer of cake. Replace top layer of cake before icing the top of this as well. Sides of cake may be iced as well if there is excess buttercream. (Any leftover buttercream can be kept chilled in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.)
8. Dust top of cake with sifted cocoa powder and decorate with grated chocolate if desired. Cake is best consumed within 4-5 days.

happy cooking!