Tiramisu…need I say anything more? 

I grew up in India and came to the United States after my marriage. I knew no cooking so I eagerly looked forward to eating at restaurants. The first restaurant I went to after coming to the US was ‘Florentines’, an Italian restaurant. Until then, I had never eaten Italian food but I loved all the new dishes I tried. However my most favorite dish, which often is true for me…was the dessert. I tried Tiramisu…and I fell in love with it.

Tiramisu which translates to ‘pick me up’ in Italian is my favorite. I love the coffee flavor and the lightness of this dessert. It looks elegant, tastes great and can be made ahead, what more can you ask for? In fact, if you make it a day or two ahead, I feel it tastes better.

I experimented with many recipes and then settled on this one which combines the best parts of various recipes.

Two important ingredients to make good tiramisu are a good quality mascarpone cheese and a good cup of espresso. The traditional recipe also calls for raw eggs, but I have included a workaround if you want to avoid eating uncooked eggs.

My kids love Tiramisu, this is by far their most favorite dessert. They think that I make the best tiramisu and that is quite a compliment since we have been to many nice italian restaurants. 🙂

Tiramisu

Ingredients

2 packets of lady fingers

2 packs of mascarpone cheese( about  400 g) at room temp

5 egg yolks ( at room temp)

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup whipping cream

6 shots of espresso ( about 1 1/2 cup) cooled

Method:

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Keep aside in a bowl.

Mix the egg yolks and sugar till pale yellow in color.

Add the mascarpone cheese and mix till everything is blended well. When blended well, add 1/4 cup of espresso and mix well. This time I used ‪#‎CafeUbuntu‬‪#‎sharedfate‬ from Whole Foods, I must say it is a good cup of coffee for a great cause.

Take the whipped cream and fold into the mascarpone cheese mixture.

Arrange the lady fingers in a tray.

Soak them with generous amount of coffee.

Spread with the cream mixture. Alternate till you have the top layer of cream.

Sprinkle some dark cocoa and chill in the refrigerator.  Ideally you should make it at least a day ahead, I feel that it lets the flavor mingle and marry.

Notes:

1. If you dont have access to espresso, make strong instant coffee and use that instead

2. You can use lightly sweetened pound cake in place of lady fingers if you can not find lady fingers.

3. If you are trying to make a no egg version, just leave the eggs out. Add 1/2 cup of whipping cream. I have also heard people using custard powder. I have not tried that myself.