Tiramisu Cake

Tiramisu is a classic Italian dessert, consisting of mascarpone cheese and the delicious aroma of fresh coffee. At it’s inception (approx. 1960), the recipe was much simpler, ingredients such as alcohol, vanilla flavored sugar, rum essence, egg whites and whipped cream were not part of the recipe, but I, personally, prefer my tiramisu with more flavor, richer and more airy and this is what I’ll show you below, my own version of this dessert, in the form of a cake (I normally use a rectangular pan, but because this was a special occasion, I used the round one, for a more cake like shape).

I just want to add, that this version is similar in taste as the tiramisu I ate in Milan, the only thing different is that this one has a more intense rum and alcohol flavor (because it makes it more refreshing and tangy, instead of just sweet, and thus, better suited for summer) and, this time, I added a berries mix, which I normally don’t use, but I do like to experiment, and this turned out just as delicious.

Let’s begin!

Ingredients:

      -          1.1 lb of mascarpone cheese (get a good quality one, it’s more firm)

      -         8 oz of liquid whipping cream

      -          5 eggs

      -          7 oz of granulated white sugar

      -          1 packet of ladyfingers (about 1 lb)

      -          3-4 packets of vanilla sugar (about 1-1.5 oz)

      -          Rum essence

      -          Liqueur / brandy / whiskey (I used whiskey, this time, but brandy works well too)

      -          Berries mix (I used frozen berries: blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc. But you can use fresh ones also)

      -          Cocoa powder

      -          Freshly made strong coffee

Preparation:

I start by making the coffee out of 3 cups of water and 8 teaspoons of ground coffee (I use a kettle) and after it’s done, I set is asside to cool completly.

Next I sepparate the eggs and I beat the egg whites until  they have very hard peaks and put them in the fridge. I beat the liquid whipping cream until very hard and put it in the fridge also.

Now, in a large bowl, I mix the egg yolks and the granulated white sugar very very well, untill I get a very dense, foamy and cohesive frosting. Be patient and mix until the sugar is dissolved.

It’s very important that the ingredients above are mixed thoroughly, so the tiramisu will be more solid and won’t get too soggy, too fast (this does tend to happen).

Then I add the mascarpone cheese and mix it in gently, until it’s incorporated and then I continue to mix well, so the frosting hardens a bit more.

Now, I add the whipped cream and mix it in slowly, in a bottom-up motion, with a wooden spoon, to add air to the frosting and then I add the hard egg whites and mix gently, in the same manner, just don’t over mix.

Finally, add the vanilla sugar, the rum essence and the whiskey, mix, taste, add more and so on, till it’s to your liking. For example, I used 4 packets of vanilla sugar (about 1.5 oz), 3 teaspoons of rum essence and about 2.5 oz of whiskey.

Putting it together:

In a round cake tray, I started arranging the ladyfingers (that were, firstly, soaked in the coffee we made at the begining), first on the edge of the tray, and then on the bottom (I used all the ladyfingers leftovers from linning the edge of the tray). The ladyfingers are soaked in the completly cool coffee, on both sides, for a few seconds each (count to 3 while you soak them, for each side).

Then I added half of the mascarpone frosting, a few berries on top (because I defrosted mine, they had too much water in them, so I drained them a bit), then another layer of coffee soaked ladyfingers, more berries on top of that and then the remaining frosting (I forgot to take pictures from the second layer of ladyfingers).

I smoothed the top layer and dusted it with a bit of cocoa powder, using a sieve for a more fine and lump free coating (I also added a few tiny chocolate bonbons just for looks).

Because I used a different pan than normal,

I had more frosting

and I kind of piled it on,

but it stayed in place quite well, it wasn't runny.

Serving tiramisu:

This dessert requires to be refrigerated for at least 3-4 hours before serving, but it’s even more delicious if you make it a day before serving, so it can stay in the fridge over night and thus all the flavours have more time to develop and combine.

You can serve tiramisu as is or you can add a scoop of ice-cream on the side (I recommend coffee ice-cream).

Buon Appetito!

PS.: Since Tiramisu is a dessert that contains coffee, alcohol and raw eggs, I don’t recommend it for children. However, neither I, nor any member of my family ever had any problems with this dessert. And if you still want to make tiramisu for kids, you can replace the coffee with milk chocolate and don’t use any alcohol (for more flavour, you can just use more rum essence, it’s alcohol free). If you use fresh eggs, you keep the tiramisu refrigerated all the time and you eat it within a few days, there souldn’t be any problems.