Project Tiramisu

Today was Project: Tiramisu and boy was it a project - hence the name. This is a pretty hard dessert to make alone, I recommend making it a two person project :)

For some reason the first 3 grocery stores I went to did not carry, or was out of mascarpone cheese, which is an Italian style cream cheese. It's a must have for tiramisu so that is why I went to the extent I did today, and boy was it worth it.

When making tiramisu, you must realize there are quite a few components and you have to make them all and cool them before you can even assemble the cake. The five main components of my tiramisu consist of the ladyfingers, coffee dessert syrup, mascarpone cheese filling, cocoa, and I always add coffee liqueur to give it a little kick. Then, even after putting it together, it still isn't ready because you have to let it chill for awhile to bring it all together. My point is, it's a process and

takes a few hours, so don't look forward to tiramisu anytime soon.

First what I did was make the lady finger sponge, as it's called in my recipe book, which is pretty complicated to make. If

you only have one mixer, it gets kind of redundant having to clean it constantly to stick it into a different mixture. If you have a hand mixer it isn't a big deal, but if all you have is a stand mixer, that can be a hassle - I am lucky and I have both, but I cook a lot and realize not everybody does.

So you have to separate the egg whites from the yolks, and add sugar to each, and whip them separately.

Whip the yolks until they are thick and light (in the first picture to the left) , and the whites to stiff, wet peaks (in the second picture to the left). When you are done doing that, you fold some sifted flour into the two mixtures, without over-mixing, and only until just incorporated. I like to fold the egg whites into the flour, a third at a time, and I alternate that with a third of the yolk mixture. (The third picture is of the final mixture - it will look textured and airy, but that is what you want)

Make sure to have a piping bag ready ahead of time, with a medium sized round tip so you can just pour it right into the bag and pipe it asap. Another thing to have ready before making your ladyfinger mixture, is a parchment lined sheet pan. Parchment is not the same as wax paper, and I find wax paper makes your food smell and taste like candles, so look for parchment, it's much better. Bake at 375 F for ten minutes, only lightly browning them. If you end up with brown edges, like I did, just tear those off and don't use them. (the fourth picture on the left is the baked, finished product.)

While those are baking and cooling, I made my simple syrup, and brewed my coffee. Simple syrup is exactly what it sounds like, syrup which is simple to make. It's equal parts by weight of sugar and water, which is slowly brought

to a boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. All I need for the tiramisu was 8 ounces so I used 4 ounces of each. Then all you do is let the syrup cool then add a pint of strongly brewed coffee - which I brewed twice as strong as I drink it.

The last component of this cake is the mascarpone filling, which is also my favorite part. First I get the whipped cream out of the way, which is easy, put the heavy whipping cream in the bowl and beat until it's soft peaks, and I find even going to stiff peaks is fine as well. That is the easy part. Next, you take your 2 egg yolks and beat them until they are fluffy and thick, this takes a minute and you can work on your sugar syrup. You add 6 ounces of water, 4 ounces of sugar and 2 ounces of corn syrup to a small pot an bring to a boil, you want to cook it for awhile until it comes to 240 degrees. I don't even have a thermometer that goes that hot, so I just let it boil for awhile and keep going until it's really thick. I must have let it go long enough because my mascarpone cream

filling came out great! When the sugar is boiling away and the yolks are nice and fluffy, you slowly stream the sugar into the yolks while the mixer is still going. A stand mixer is best for this part, but a hand mixer works fine as well. This sugar mixture is hot and could possible cook your egg

yolks, so just make sure you slowly drizzle it in, and stop half-way through and scrape the bottom of the bowl. Keep doing this until the mixture is complete, and beat them until they are cooled down. I like to make a little Ziploc baggie of ice and hold it against the bowl so it cools quicker, but you don't have to be impatient like me. Then add your pound of mascarpone cheese and mix it together until thoroughly combined. Lastly you bring back the whipped cream from earlier and fold it, a third at a time, into the egg yolk mixture. (The fifth picture to the left shows the creamy mascarpone filling.) That's it, and everything is ready for you to now layer it together! See I told you it was big project, and a

lot of you are thinking, "Wow that is a lot to do, and I don't know if I can do all that" ... That is why I say have a friend or two help you, it could be a lot of fun that way!

So on to the layering. You start with the ladyfingers, and layer those on the bottom the best you can, leaving few gaps as possible. (The picture to the left shows some of the layers done, as you can see you can kind of bend the ladyfingers.) Depending on how many layers you are making in your cake, determines the amound of coffee syrup you use next. I had three layers of each, so I used a third of my coffee syrup - it seems like a lot, but the ladyfingers will soak it all up, have no fear. On top of that

goes the marscapone cheese filling, and on top of that goes the ladyfingers soaked in coffee syrup, and so on. Like I said, I like to add a little coffee liqueur to my tiramisu, which is totally optional. All I add is about 4 ounces to the whole thing which is about 25 servings. I equally divide it among the 3 layers as well.

The cake is topped off with sifted cocoa powder, giving it a classic look. As I said before, it is not ready now, or at least if you eat it now, it will be soft and I promise it will be better if you wait. Chill it overnight for best results, but 2-3 hours is plenty.

For more information on the recipes please let me know - I didn't want to post them all on here because I figure you can look one up, or just ask me, but

would ultimately clutter my blog :)