The Better Tiramisu (Cake)

I don't know if you remember my summer bucket list from a while ago, but if you do you will remember that I was dead set on making tiramisu. Well I can kind of cross that off my list. I was too lazy to break out my piping gear and make ladyfingers. Instead I made *this tiramisu cake using hazelnut liquor which was born to go in dessert. This recipe should be prepared the night before you plan to serve it; this way the espresso syrup can be completely absorbed by the cake. 

I opted to leave out the dusting of cocoa powder on top. Usually if I order it I'll suck it up because, hey, it's tiramisu, and when you eat any tiramisu--be it good or bad-- life is just too wonderful to complain about. Also, I was going to coat the sides of the cake with the whipped cream but I thought the exposed layers looked to pretty to hide. 

*A few adaptations to the recipe:

 -Everywhere that Deb used brandy I used hazelnut liquor.

-I couldn't find instant espresso in my grocery store so I used Starbucks extra strong instant coffee.

-Use a high quality bittersweet chocolate instead of any 'ol chocolate chips

-Like a dumb dumb I didn't follow baking 101, and I failed to read the recipe through before starting it. I used all the espresso extract and syrup on the cakes and didn't put any in the whipped cream (thats why the cream in my photos looks so white). 

But even with these changes (and mistakes) it still tasted DELICIOUS!