You Know.... It's For YOU, Tiramisu...

Had been think about making Tiramisu but never got around to it as it was looking like a very daunting tasks [Which it did prove to be... :-) ] and then a friend's mail pushed me into an overdrive.....

I spent ages reading up stuff on the net.... not too many good recipes floating around. What was even more crazy, was going to many markets to look for the ingredients like cream[goes out of stock in summers] and even more for marscapone cheese[finally found it in Khanna Mkt in Jorbagh :-) Thank god for small mercies].....

Couldn't find sponge fingers anywhere[South ex, Sarojni Nagar, Moti Bagh, RK Puram, New Friend's Colony Markets] as per demanded by the original recipe.... So I decided to make the cake myself... Since I like coffee n chocolate flavour, made the cake into a coffee sponge cake[loaded with extra coffee] instead of vanilla sponge fingers.... Spread lots of concentrated coffee syrup on it.... Added a coffee liqueur[Bailey's] into the filling of cream and marscapone with some extra coffee extract.....

All the effort was really worth it......

Had gone for dinner to vimla aunty's place, the next day. Everyone liked it a lot. Did the dressing at her place only..... Dusted the top with cocoa[totally slipped my mind to take a picture at this stage] Next time for sure...
Even the sugar-free people had 2 helpings.
I ate it too....... Hmmmmmm...... Really good for a first attempt.

Coffee Sponge Cake
Adapted from Deeba at http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com
Ingredients:

• Plain flour - 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup
• Cornflour - 1/8 cup
• Baking powder - 2 tsps
• Instant coffee - 2 tbsps [I had used 4-5 tbsps cause I'm quite a coffee freak.. :-)]
• Pinch of salt
• Castor Sugar - 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup
• Oil - 5 tbsps
  
• Water - 5 tbsps
• Eggs - 3 / separated

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Line an 8" tin.
  
• Sift the cornflour + flour + baking powder + salt + Castor sugar (yes, it's correct) into a mixing bowl.
• Beat the egg whites till they stand in soft peaks & keep aside.
• Lightly beat the oil + water + yolks together & stir into the dry ingredients. Beat on low speed until smooth.
• Fold the whites gently into the yolk mixture.
• Turn into lined tin & bake for about 45 minutes till well risen & golden brown. Check if it is done with a wooden pick.(Slide a sheet of foil lightly over the top if it begins to brown too fast).

For The Filling
Adapted from Nigella's Tiramisu layer cake

• 2 large organic eggs
• 75g caster sugar
• 500g mascarpone
• 250ml double cream, Whipped to soft peaks
• 125ml Tia Maria [I used bailey's]

Whisk the eggs and sugar, and then beat in the mascarpone and whipped double cream. I use an electric beater for this, but there is no need to if you’re feeling muscly. Then add, gradually, the 125ml Tia Maria[I used bailey's] to make a creamy spreadable layer for the cake.
Instead of leaving the eggs raw as most recipes said... I cooked it[to prevent any sort of allergic reactions to raw eggs] over a double boiler with some vanilla essence[I hate the smell of raw eggs]

Assembly:

• Using approximately 1 cake per layer, dunk the slices in Coffee syrup before lining the bowl with them.
• Squidge them down, pressing confidently as you go; each layer should not be too thick, but juicily compact and solid.
• Spread a third of the cream mixture over the soaked cake slices.
• Repeat with another layer of soaked chocolate cake slices, then cream again.
• Finish with a layer of chocolate cake slices – not as soaked as the first 2 layers – reserving the last third of the cream mixture for later in a covered bowl.
• Press the cake layer down to make it as smooth as possible, then cover it with clingfilm and put the cake in the fridge overnight.
• When you are ready to serve, take the cake out of the fridge, then spread with the final third of cream mixture, before dusting with cocoa and serving.

The assembly was quite a challenge for me in Delhi's heat....... The ingredients are suppose to be whipped cold... n Delhi's freaking HOT...... If I put on the fan, the gas flame goes off[the coffee syrup was simmering] and the cake is drying up...... If I put off the fan, the cream n marscapone would not whipp up cause it's so hot...... [finally put the bowl of cream n marscapone on icecubes in a kadai... Crazy stuff I did to escape from Delhi heat :-) ]Running from the kitchen to my room to click the pictures along with cooking.............n not to mention if I put the fan off, I BOIL, rather feel like MELTING...................


Managed some how by taking 30 seconds A/C breaks in nanaji's room...... :-) That's nanaji enjoying some of the coffee cake as a curtain raiser... LOL....

The phrase tira mi su literally means 'pick-me-up' or 'pull-me-up' in reference to the effects of the sugar and espresso.