For birthday dessert Jac requested tiramisu. She didn’t want a birthday cake. I made the tiramisu using a recipe from my Home Food cook book. Note to self: save up and buy a decent mixer! I couldn’t believe how long it took to hand beat the egg yolks with the caster sugar until the sugar was dissolved and the mixture light and fluffy, and don’t get me started on hand whisking the egg whites to soft peaks. I didn’t mind because I was making it for Jac – all I’m saying is that a mixer would’ve been a more efficient way to do it! Here’s the tiramisu, topped with freshly grated dark chocolate, before I dug into it with the serving spoon:
Here’s my serve (yeah, I decided I would have some, after all the effort!):
Jac’s mum really loved it. Despite VR’s initial reservations (she’d never had tiramisu before) she really enjoyed it (she and Jac’s mum both had seconds!). I thought it was pretty good. Jac, on the other hand, our diner of honour, didn’t end up liking it as much as she thought she would. D’OH! I asked her why, because I thought you guys might wonder why… she said 1) she thought the brandy flavour was too strong, and perhaps kahlua or tia maria liquer may have been more to her liking, and 2) she would have preferred the cream cheese layer to be thicker and less fluffy (that was totally a recipe thing, not a criticism of me). Oh well. She wasn’t upset or annoyed or anything, and neither was/am I. :) That’s just how it is sometimes when you try a new recipe. We left the leftovers with Jac’s mum, since she loved it so much! (Partial thanks for putting on such a brilliant dinner!)
For those of you interested, here’s the recipe:
Tiramisu
Ingredients
5 eggs, separated
180 g (6 oz) caster (superfine) sugar
250 g (9 oz) mascarpone cheese
250 mL (1 cup) cold very strong coffee
3 tablespoons brandy or sweet Marsala
44 small sponge fingers
80 g (2 and 3/4 oz) dark chocolate, finely gratedMethod
Beat the egg yolks with sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is light and fluffy and leaves a ribbon trail when dropped from the whisk. Add the mascarpone and beat until the mixture is smooth. Whisk the egg whites in a clean dry glass bowl until soft peaks form. Fold into the mascarpone mixture.Pour the coffee into a shallow dish and add the brandy. Dip some of the sponge finger biscuits into the coffee mixture, using enough biscuits to cover the base of a 25 cm (10 in) square dish. The biscuits should be fairly well soaked on both sides but not so much that they break up. Arrange the biscuits in one tightly packed layer in the base of the dish.
Spread half the mascarpone mixture over the layer of biscuits. Add another layer of soaked biscuits and then another layer of mascarpone, smoothing the top layer neatly. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. Dust with the grated chocolate to serve.
Serves 4.
Recipe is from Home Food, published by Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2003, pp.362-363.
tfp’s notes:
I may have oversoaked the sponge fingers – they didn’t fall apart, but they were very well-soaked and I ended up having to make more coffee and brandy mix (!). Perhaps because of my oversoaking the brandy flavour was too strong, resulting in Jac not liking it that much. But Jac’s mum is a brandy fan, so it probably worked out better for her! She loved the boozy trifle I made at Christmas too! :-PNo, smarty-pants, I didn’t have a glass/see-through dish to make the tiramisu in to show off the layers. I know it would’ve been better for presentation and the oooh-aaaah factor when first revealed.
I didn’t measure out the dark chocolate, I just grated until I felt there was enough chocolate on top. I also managed to grate myself and had to stop midway to tend to my injury. Ewwwww (and owwww).
Next time I will just use the recipe on the back of the sponge fingers packet! LOL
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
MMMMmm… It looks absolutely Delisheeuuus! whaaaaaaaaaaat! Strong brandy flavor!? Damn, How did you know I love brandy!(I guess I and Jac’s mom would definitely have something to talk about if we ever meet at a party.)
Happy Birthday to Jac!
Happy birthday Jac!
I have exactly the same problem, I’m supposed to make cookies tomorrow but I don’t have an electric mixer.. sigh. I suppose it’d be a wise investment.
I love your work TFP, keep it up (and keep it delicious)!
Hey tfp,
I love tiramisu and here is the recipe I follow, in case you’re interested! It’s easy and will sort of set like a cake after refrigeration (I see that your recipe is more runny, can’t cut to serve). I use Kahlua and also add a few more splashes of it into the coffee before dipping the sponge fingers.
I also find that different brands of sponge fingers may absorb different amount of liquid. So what I usually do is to use one to gauge how long I should soak – dip and taste. If too soggy, I dip a shorter time. If not soggy enough, then I dip longer.
Hope your next tiramisu will be a success! Hehe, do get yourself a hand mixer, I bought one from Kmart for 20-30 dollars and it’s good enough to get things done. :)
Happy Birthday to Jac!
Hey gals!
Can totally sympathize with the hand-mixing thing! Lell and i made a dark chocolate ganache cake, and both her and my wrists were ready to drop off before the ‘peaks’ rose. :) LOL
Still looking for the recipe for that one actually…
haz – (the gastronaut)
Jac says thank you for the birthday wishes!
D.Ahnela,
I’m not a big fan of brandy myself, but it was nice enough in the dessert. I’m not a big fan of really boozed up sweets though, in general.
acute,
I’d love one of those bright red KitchenAid mixers! Alas, the price is prohibitive at this point (and has been for some time!).
Hi Sarah,
That recipe’s photos look pretty good. I’ve bookmarked it for future reference. I can’t see us having any reason to make tiramisu for quite a while though. :) I think you’ll find Jac’s mum would say the tiramisu WAS a success! Heh. We do have one of those Braun hand mixers, but I find they are no good for mixing thicker batters/mixtures (I nearly fried ours recently, could smell burning!)!
Haz,
Those damn peaks! Gordon Ramsay would’ve held the bowl of floppy whites over my head to punish me for my pathetic hand-whisking skills. They did get to soft peak stage, but it took such a long time!
Happy birthday Jac!
Your tiramisu looks absolutely decadent and splendid. I can just imagine the mouth-feel of all that rich cream/sponge/brandy. Yum.
I totally empathise with the finger-grating incident. It happened to me a couple months back (so yay, I’m not the only one). I somehow managed to grate a knuckle along with the dinner potatoes last month. Bled (and hurt) like a bitch, and the scar isn’t going to fade anytime soon.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find my tiny piece of knuckle in the mountain of potato flake and so, like the filthy mangy cat that I am, I COOKED AND SERVED IT.
Mwahahahahaaaaaaaaaa.
CatDonna,
Glad you like the look of the tiramisu! It was a softer, fluffier style of tiramisu, and yes very rich indeed.
Oh yeah, my thumb bled so furiously the injury looked much worse than it really was… which was why I had to get a band-aid. Otherwise the top of that tiramisu would’ve been somewhat um, pink! ewwwww.
I have that exact evil laugh too! :)
Happy birthday to Jac!
Wow that looks really good! For a hand beaten mixture, it looks pretty damn smooth if I must say! Yum!
Ooooooh that tiramisu looks good! Just reading about you making it makes me tired though, hehe. I’ll stick to oogling ;)
Happy birthday Jac!
That tiramisu looks delicious, and I’m not a fan of them, haha. Although I’m the type of person who would just scrape the chocolate bits off the top :D
I’ve loved your pics, just like usual. I’ve been lurking a bit. I can’t get my old blog back, so I’ve just sworn a bit then decided to make a new one, so I’ve updated the link in my comment thingies to my new blog. :)
I hope everything is going well for your studies!
You did a great job making a tiramisù for Jac! And you were very brave making it for the first time ever on such an occasion – usually I’m so nervous about new recipes that I have to try them in advance just in case.
And about tiramisù: yay! It’s one of the best Italian recipes ever, I’m so proud it’s so popular worldwide :) I took like it with less alcohol and with a firmer texture.
Elinn and C,
I was pleased with how it turned out.
It was love that gave me the strength! Awwwwww (hahahaha, soppy! Actually Jac also gave me some of her muscle power and mixed a while too!)
Katie,
I hope the latest blog doesn’t meet a catastrophic end! I’ve relinked to your new address in my blog roll.
Alessandra,
I will try the recipe on the back of the sponge finger packet next time- looks like the cream cheese part in that recipe will be firmer and more to Jac’s liking. (for anyone interested, you can get that recipe at http://www.unibic.com). I’ve been pretty lucky so far when trying out new recipes… haven’t created too many disasters so far. :)
Happy Belated birthday to Jac!!
Sounds like you girls had a great weekend!!
Looks like you have another Sarah posting, so I’ve changed my name to my blog name. Just in case you were wondering, tfp, that earlier Sarah wasn’t me. :)
Anywho…Happy Birthday to Jac! That tiramisu looks divine. I love the stuff, but it’s a really hard thing to do well. You want it to be flavorful, but not drowning in liquor. But at least yours was made with love.
Thanks, Pamela. It was a very nice weekend.
The Home Cook,
:) I did notice it was another Sarah. The more the merrier, I say!
I will DEFINITELY have to have another go at tiramisu using a different recipe sometime soon, I think. All I need is the occasion.
Firstly happy birthday Jac.
Secondly, omg! You have my complete admiration and sympathy when it comes to hand whisking.
We recently experienced our first Thanksgiving (we’ve recently moved from Melbourne to Seattle), and since we had to leave all our appliances in Australia due to the differences in voltage, I was forced to hand whisk the cream for a tiramisu/trifle hybrid that I was concocting. Taking into account that the cream is thinner here as well, I honestly thought my arm was going to fall off long before it was ever thick enough.
When I finally got it to the right consistency, I found out to my utter disgust that I needed more.
LOL! Everyone claimed they enjoyed dessert though, I think they were too scared to say otherwise. ;)
Craig,
Hahahaha, like I said, love gave me the strength! (ohhh that’s so touched by an angel!)LOL
Well, it’s good they said they enjoyed your dessert… oh, I’m sure they did like it, and weren’t just saying it. :)
Your post caused a craving for tiramisu. Thank you! It was a nice change from the “healthy” food I’ve been eating.
:)
Yes, “Happy Birthday Jac!” And you did a great job with the smooth, whipped eggs and chocolate shavings. Even though there was no see-through glass container, it still looks fabulous (and oo-aah worthy) Professor TFP!
Hey TFP,
Tiramisu is my favorite cakelike dessert. You’re looks nummy.
BTW, you’ve been tagged for my Save Our Faves 2007 food blogger meme. Check out my post for the meme here. Hope you can join the fun. =)
Messy Jessy,
Your tiramisu looked yummy!
Passionate Eater,
Thanks from Jac for the birthday wishes and thanks from me for your lovely words about the tiramisu! There’s a bit of a crazed perfectionist in me who would’ve stopped at nothing to get those eggs smooth. :-P
Chubbypanda,
Thanks for tagging me – I hope I can join in the meme at some point, but I don’t know when I’ll get a chance in the immediate future. I’ll do my best. Might have to magick up a new eating buddy, now that poor Jac has been crowned Miss Low-Fat January.