A little bit about tiramisu

I have been obsessed with tiramisu all week.

It started with jt’s tiramisu cake for his birthday, which I could only savour by looking at the brilliant photo and it made me even more jealous cause tiramisu is something I love more than cheesecake.

On Sunday at the Indo church, me and D-Man met Vanessa (who is now 8 months beautifully pregnant).

“Hey, I still remember the tiramisu you made,” she said to me.
Wow! That was a long time ago

I explained to D-man, and his ‘TIRAMISU?! WHERE?!’-expression, that we had invited Vanessa and her husband for dinner a few months ago and I made tiramisu for dessert. They had loved it so much and were quite impressed; Vanessa had said it was the best tiramisu. What’s more: her husband is a chef.

And then D-man told me about the tiramisu he had made with Gee. She invited me to make green tea tiramisu when I'm in chch, tempting me with a picture. She told me she had tried the tiramisu at La Couronne Cake Boutique on Lorne St and found it very smooth but could hardly taste the Baileys.

Personally, I like Baileys in desserts as much as in a QF, but I was curious and craving...

They had just got it out of the freezer, so the girl told me to defrost it on the counter for 20 minutes, which was the time it took for me to transport it back home.

It was good, smooth although still a bit frozen and it was a small slice for $5.

I've had the Coffee Club one in Newmarket, it was really dry and disappointing, I’m still on the search for excellent tiramisu

In the meantime, I’m making my own...

I found a packet of sponge fingers in the pantry and marsala too, just the perfect amount.

This is seriously the easiest and quickest tiramisu recipe, you can almost call it a cheat. Almost.

No baking, no beating ingredients in 3 different bowls, no eggs (eating raw eggs freak me out... but not as much as thinking where they came from), just layers of coffee, liquor and cream goodness...

Place soaked sponge fingers in the bottom of a dish and spread the mascarpone mixture.
Repeat layers

Garnish with chocolate and/or crushed hazelnuts

EASIEST TIRAMISU EVERRR

2 Tbsp coffee powder
1 cup boiling water
½ cup marsala
300ml thickened cream
¼ cup icing sugar, sifted
125 g cream cheese
250 g mascarpone
1 packet Saviordi sponge fingers
Cocoa powder or grated chocolate

1. Dissolve coffee powder and boiling water. Add marsala and let cool for 10 minutes.

2. Beat cream and icing sugar together until soft. Add cream cheese and continue to beat until combined.

3. Fold in mascarpone.

4. Pour half a cup of the coffee liquid into the bottom of a dish and line with sponge fingers.

5. Drizzle with coffee until soaked, taking care that sponge fingers do not fall apart.

6. Spoon half of cream mixture on top and spread evenly.

7. Dip remaining sponge fingers into coffee and arrange layer on top of the cream.

8. Spread the remaining cream.

9. Cover and keep in fridge for a few hours or overnight.

10. Before serving, dust with drinking chocolate, cocoa powder and/or grated chocolate.


I brought it along to my parents' homegroup pot luck dinner that night.
Again, the thing with cakes is you can't try it before giving it away...

During dessert, the pastor's wife announced “Everyone’s wanting to know who made the tiramisu...”

Uh oh.

I put my hand up.

“It is delicious.” Murmurs of approval followed...

Success.


And to conclude,

Along with scorched almonds and ferrero rocher, wafers are among my favorite Christmas food.
The best part is reaching in to the bottom and picking out the pieces with more chocolate filling than wafer...

Signed,
Elisa