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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Tiramisu Cake

 Meh.



If you aren't familiar with tiramisu, it's a creamy, layered dessert that consists of a base layer of ladyfingers soaked in coffee. The ladyfingers are then covered with a mixture of mascarpone cheese and zabalione custard then cocoa is sprinkled over the top before chilling.


Okay. There's no point in trying to hide it. There are very few foods that I don't like. But, the few I don't are biggies in the food world. They all seem to be the ubiquitous foods that are hard to avoid. The biggest one being...cheese. There I said it, please keep your comments of outrage to a minimum. One of the other foods/flavors I don't like is coffee. I've tried drinking coffee every imaginable way and I just don't like it. Now, if everyone is finished judging me we can get on with the post.

I decided to let my friend Jessica pick which recipe would be featured in this blog entry, you know, change it up a bit. I should have known she'd pick the tiramisu cake. That girl is crazy for tiramisu. Since I don't like coffe...at all, and Jessica chose the recipe, once it was finished, I handed the entire cake over to her. So we kinda have a guest blogger with us today.

Me:  How was the cake?
Jessica: It was good cake.


Ummm. Thanks for that graphic description Jess.

Luckily, the Darling Husband does like coffee, and was able to snag a piece of the cake from Jessica and gave me the analysis I was looking for.

Here is his take on the cake.... "If you want tiramisu, make tiramisu, not this cake." Harsh. Finally, the blatant honesty that I was looking for!

For the recipe you bake a sponge cake. You then mix together an espresso extract (espresso powder and boiling water). Then you concoct an espresso syrup (water, sugar, Amaretto). Take the espresso extract and mix some of it with the espresso syrup. After mixing, brush the mixture onto the cake layers, until the layers have soaked up the coffee flavored fluid. Set the layers aside, then mix the mascarpone cheese, some powdered sugar, vanilla and more Ameretto. Then whip some heavy cream. Mix the heavy cream and the mascarpone mixture. Together they make the filling and the frosting for the cake. There are a few other steps to the construction of the cake, like adding chopped, semi-sweet chocolate to the filling, and I opted to decorate the top of the cake with sifted cocoa powder and chocolate covered espresso beans. Quite frankly by the time I put together all the different cake coponents, it felt as though every bowl in my kitchen had been dirtied, and I felt quite a bit of exasperation for this recipe.


The cake layers were dry, which wasn't a surprise. So often cakes made from scratch turn out dry,and in this case, I think it was it was done purposely. The cake layers have to be dry so that when you soak them with coffee they won't become overmoistened and fall to pieces. But, the coffee flavor was barely detectable in the cake portion. There also wasn't much coffee flavor in the filling and frosting. Somehow the semi-sweet chocolate and the cocoa dusting brought very little chocolate flavor to the party. The texture was good, but the flavor was bland.

In theory this cake is a good idea, it just doesn't pan out when applied to real life. The goal being to get the full tiramisu experience without all the work. BUT tiramisu is already pretty easy, this cake recipe is actually more time consuming than making tiramisu and doesn't taste nearly as good....or so I'm told.

In conclusion, I wouldn't make this recipe again, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. I've grudgingly listed the recipe below. Grumble, grumble.

Up next, Snickery Squares. And I promise not to be so negative about the upcoming recipe.

Tiramisu Cake




For the cake:

2 cups cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 ¼ sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract

¾ cup buttermilk



For the espresso extract:

2 tbs. instant espresso powder

2 tbs. boiling water



For the espresso syrup:

½ cup water

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbs. amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy

For the filling and frosting:

1 8-oz. container mascarpone cheese

½ cup confectioners sugar, sifted

1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbs. amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy

1 cup cold heavy cream

2 ½ oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, or about ½ cup store bought mini chocolate chips



Chocolate covered espresso beans, for decoration (optional)

Cocoa powder, for dusting



Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.



To make the cake: Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in three additions and the buttermilk in two (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.Bake for 28-30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool then for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.



To make the extract: Stir the espresso powder and boiling water together in a small cup until blended. Set aside.



To make the syrup: Stir the water and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the syrup into a small heatproof bowl and stir 1 tablespoon of the espresso extract and the liqueur or brandy; set aside.



To make the filling and frosting: Put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk just until blended and smooth. Working with the stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream with a light touch.

5 comments:

  1. The cake looks yummy.

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  2. AB, the new site looks great. Now that we have that out of the way... You don't like coffee or cheese?! We're talking about two of the world's favorite flavors. Nine out of ten death row inmates ask for coffee with their last meal. Lewis and Clark bribed Sacagawea with coffee to be their guide through the North-West. Even the Australians love coffee. As for cheese... Ancient Rome loved it's cheese so much that Roman cheese makers were given free funerals when they died. France surrendered to Hitler because he promised them inexpensive Limburger. And cheese was so sought after in the 1920's that the Welsh used it to bribe their politicians. Of course, all of this is ridiculous bullsh**. But so is not liking cheese and coffee. Love the blog, keep up the good work!

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  3. I had to make an account to post a comment. Thanks for the cake, but it was a little dry, like it needed to soak more in the espresso stuff. The beans on top were great! I ate them all (except like 3 I gave to my mom) and I do not drink coffe, but I like coffee flavor, go figure. I'm excited about the snicker bars, I would be glad to be your taste tester from now on. An with the guy regarding the cheese, OF COURSE cheese was popular in the 20's & 30's people were starving! I eat a bug if I was hunry enough, Limburger cheese would be welcome when that time comes.

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  4. I would totally do that Jessica girl because womens who can't spell drive me wild!

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