Ian

Ian's Tiramisu

Ingredients:

The coffee dip
- 1 cup (240 cc) espresso coffee
- 1/3 cup (80 cc) Kahlua coffee liqueur

The filling
- 500g mascarpone cheese at room temperature
- 5 egg yolks
- 1/3 cup (80 cc) sugar (adjustable)
- 1/4 cup (60 cc) Bacardi Superior Rum
- 1/2 cup (120 cc) heavy whipping cream
- 2 egg whites

The base
- 160g ladyfinger cookies (adjustable)
- 2 tablespoons bitter cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Prepare 1 cup strong espresso coffee (I use Starbucks VIA with double concentration), let the coffee cool to room temperature and then add Kahlua coffee liqueur
2. Beat the egg yolks with half sugar in a bowl until they become fluffy
3. Add and mash the mascarpone cheese with a rubber spatula to mix very well until creamy, then add rum in it
4. Whip the cream, fold the whipped cream into the cheese cream until smooth
5. Whip the egg white until stiff peaks form, then add the rest of the sugar in it, fold the whipped egg white into the cheese cream until smooth
6. Soak the ladyfingers in the coffee dip, place them in one layer in a container
7. Evenly distribute the cream over the ladyfingers
8. Repeat the step with a second layer of ladyfingers and top with the cream
9. Refrigerate over night, sprinkle with the cocoa powder before serving

Tips:

1. The original Italian recipe use raw eggs as I do. If you concerned the risk by taking raw eggs, you can prepare the egg yolks in the bowl of a double boiler at that step and add no egg whites by increasing the whipping cream amount.

2. The more whipping cream you add, the more fluid-like texture you get. If you want to serve it in a cup, I think the texture will be excellent. But if you want to serve it as a cake, which means you have to cut it in square shape, you might have to reduce the cream to achieve more solid-like texture.

3. Tiramisu just can not be served after done immediatedly. Refrigerating for at least over night is good. But as my opinion, keep it in refrigerator for 2-3 days the flavor will be more "harmonic". It can also be kept in the freezer. Serve it cold, but not frozen.

4. I personally like to soak the ladyfinger with much coffee liqueur so we can taste the wonderful bitter and sweet at the same time with easy spoon approach.

5. It's easier to mash the cheese into silky form in room temperature so get it out of refrigerator earlier. On the contrary, it's better to whip the cream and egg whites in low temperature. Sometimes the mascarpone cheese contains isolated water in the box, mixing it may lead to failure; just be careful.

Almost all stuffs needed

I got the mascarpone cheese from costco initially. But I could not find it there recently, so I tried to seek other stores. I finally found it at Trader Joe's with the reasonable price but the size is 8 once each. So all ingredrients should be reduced if you use 16oz mascarpone cheese instead of 500g.  You can also get the mascarpone cheese at Whole Foods and Safeway; expansive though.

The ladyfinger is from Safeway. I don't think it's cheap but I cannot find any other place to buy it. Some recipes use sponge cake instead. However, I do think it's also hard to get a light sponge cake in America because all cakes here are just too sweet and too heavy.

Starbucks VIA Colombia instant coffee has the strong flavor with no sugar so it's ideal to make tiramisu; I make double concentration to strengthen the dip, which means in one cup there are 2 packs of VIA.

The only tool I use besides bowls and spoons is the electronic mixer.

Mixture of egg yolks, sugar and mascarpone cheese, it should be silky without solid cheese in it.

Fold the whipped cream in

Fold the whipped egg whites in

Final result

Assembling the second layer

Final product~ Cover and refrigerate it!

Small bowl sample

Looks delicious, huh?

With large spoon, you can also get this charming shape. Just like served in a fancy restaurant!

Xmas version: 

For friends who can not take coffee and chocolate, I substitute matcha (green tea powder) for coffee and cocoa powder. Kahlua is also replaced by Brandy. The taste is definitely different from tiramisu but I love the light and refreshing flavor too. The matcha has a wonderful bitterness as coffee does, and the color is right fit for Xmas.

I've seen many applications of mascarpone cheese in restaurants of Taiwan. The most popular one is very similar to strawberry short cake. I believe we can develop our own special recipe although it may not be called "Tiramisu". Let's try and have fun !