Tiramisu

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 2 July 2006 in Food & Cuisine and Portfolio.

I used to love trying out new recipes. In fact, I used to avoid making the same dish twice as it was just so frightfully boring to do so - I would rather try something completely new (and risk potential failure) than stick to the tried and tested favourites, even for huge parties.

Things have changed. More and more, I find myself returning to the good ol' favourites, be it my oyako donburi recipe, or the perfect roast chicken recipe I found a few months ago. I think it probably has something to do with approaching 30. Or maybe, it's the fact that cooking has become a slightly more complicated affair with Daniel around - planning time for a dish has been relegated to snatches of time I get in between working and taking care of him. Preparation for a dish is usually done during his naps. And the actual cooking, ... well, let's say, there's a lot of multi tasking that goes on - cooking is still a joy and very do-able, but it's definitely become different.

And so, when Husband told me that 20 of his colleagues would be dropping by for tea on Friday, my mind immediately locked on to this good ol' tiramisu recipe, which I have made a dozen times, with increasing success each time. Now, there are many ways to tiramisu, but my favourite recipe was passed to me by a friend, who in turn got it from another mutual friend, who in turn got it from her sis-in-law, S. This recipe uses Bailey's Irish Cream, which I feel makes a much better tiramisu than kahlua or any other alcoholic alternative. It is minimalist, using icing sugar which imparts a sweet but not too overpoweringly saccharine flavour, and it is light, using whisked egg white to keep the marscapone from coming across too sickeningly heavy. So here it is - another favourite of mine. Tiramisu by S. Enjoy!

(Now I really have to get kicking on experimenting with new dishes!)

Tiramisu by S

250g marscapone cheese

1 egg

2tb icing sugar *

1/2 ts vanilla essence

2tb Bailey's Irish Cream

About 12 sponge fingers

1 cup of black coffee

Some cocoa powder for dusting

Separate the egg yolk and white. Mix the yolk with the sugar and add the vanilla essence. Stir in the marscapone and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white till soft peaks form. Then, add the egg white to the marscapone mixture. Pour in the Bailey's Irish Cream. Give everything a thorough mix. In a 8 inch-by-8 inch tray or serving dish **, lay out enough sponge fingers to cover the base. Spoon coffee onto the sponge fingers *** and then smother with marscapone. Lay out another layer of sponge fingers, spoon coffee over and smother with marscapone. Dust with cocoa powder and chill till ready to serve. Bon appetit!

* S's recipe calls for only 1tb of icing sugar. I don't have a sweet tooth, but I still found this too little sugar, maybe because the bitterness of the coffee neutralised the sugar? So, I always add 2tb of icing sugar - heaped!

** I often double the recipe to produce a bigger dish of tiramisu. To do so, simply double all the ingredients and use a 16 inch by 8 inch serving dish, or thereabouts!

*** Spooning coffee onto the sponge fingers is somewhat of an art. If you spoon too much coffee, the fingers are all soggy and gross when the dish is served. If you spoon too little, the fingers are too "dry". I've never quite got it right, but about 2-3 tb of coffee per layer is what I usually end up using. Consequently, I don't use up the entire 1 cup of coffee.