Tiramisu

Until last year I'd never had tiramisu. I'm not quite sure why not, I'd just never tried it. It's such a classic dessert and yet I'd never even tasted it.

Last year I made it, bu never photographed it because it was huge, and in a pie dish, and kind of fell apart when it was dished. It was also all eaten before I got the chance to even attempt to make it aesthetically pleasing.

This time, I decided to make an effort to ensure at least some of my tiramisu was dressed up enough to be photographed. As result, my photos are some what misleading. This recipe actually makes a rather large tiramisu and I didn't serve it all in cute, tiny glasses. No, that would have involved a lot of washing up and me actually having enough small, glass ramekins - which I don't.

I don't know if this is the best tiramisu recipe out there as I have no benchmark to compare it to. However,, my untainted palette thinks this is very good, extremely rich, and best enjoyed in small to medium quantities with friends.

Tiramisu

From Goons with Spoons

Makes one 22cm x 33cm (9" X13") cake

• 4 eggs, separated
• 250ml (1 cup) heavy cream
• 110g (1/2 cup) white sugar
• 125ml (1/2 cup) port
• 250ml-500ml (1-2 cups) espresso or strong coffee
• bittersweet chocolate, grated
• mascarpone cheese
• about 30 ladyfingers

Add two teaspoons of sugar to the hot coffee, set aside to cool.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks by hand until they lighten in colour, about 2-3 minutes. Add the sugar and port, whisk until completely incorporated.

Simmer about an inch of water in a small pot, place the bowl of egg yolk mixture on top; make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. Heat the egg yolk mixture, whisking the entire time. Allow the custard to thicken to ribbon stage, about 5 minutes, it should fall off the whisk when you lift it and remain on top of the custard for a moment.

In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone until smooth. Add the custard and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk the cream to soft peaks. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture; ensure there are no streaks in the mixture.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to firm peaks. Fold the beaten egg whites into the mascarpone mixture. Set aside.

Pour the coffee into a medium sized shallow bowl. Place the dish you'll be putting the finished tiramisu in next to the bowl of coffee. Dip a ladyfinger into the coffee for a second, flip the ladyfinger to the other side for another second, then pull it out and place it in the serving dish. Try to avoid letting the coffee drip off the ladyfinger. Repeat until you have a layer of ladyfingers covering the bottom of the serving dish.

Spread a generous layer of mascarpone cream over the top of the lady fingers. Sprinkle the cream with a layer of chocolate. Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers, cream, and chocolate. Cover the tiramisu and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Walnut & coffee biscotti with white chocolate

It's been a week of baking failures, first I tried to make baked ricotta cheesecake (disaster!) and then I tried to make chocolate and beetroot cake (even more of a disaster!) So, needless to say, I was feeling rather disheartened. It's not fun to fail!

So, to cheer myself up I decided to make something that couldn't possibly go wrong - biscotti. Luckily for me, nothing did go wrong and I redeemed myself in the eyes of well... myself.

I love biscotti, there's something lovely about it. Maybe it's the fact that it needs to accompany a cup or tea or coffee, two things that I rather like. This biscotti isn't bad, but it's certainly let down by the fact that it contains instant coffee, however I'm not sure how to get the coffee flavour and the speckled look without using it. This biscotti is certainly pretty and the use of white chocolate rather than dark makes it deliciously sweet - nicely offsetting the bitterness of the coffee.

If you don't mind the instant coffee taste, this biscotti is rather good. Dripped in coffee it makes for a tasty, tasty afternoon treat.

Walnut & coffee biscotti with white chocolate

(adapted from Biscuits and Macaroons by the Australian Women's Weekly)
makes about 20

110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
1 egg
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
35g (1/4 cup) self-raising flour
4 teaspoons instant coffee
100g (1 cup) walnuts, coarsely chopped
60g (2 oz) white chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), line an oven tray with baking paper.

Whisk the sugar and egg in a medium bowl until combined. Sift the flours over the egg mixture, then stir through. Stir in the coffee granules and walnuts. Shape the dough into a 20cm (8 inch) log and place it on the prepared tray. Bake for 30 minutes, then cool on tray.

Reduce the oven to 150°C (300°F).

Using a serrated knife, cut the log diagonally into 1cm (1/2 inch) slices. Place the slices, in a single layer on to the tray. Bake for 30 minutes, turning the biscotti halfway through so ensure both sides are cooked. Cool on wire racks.

Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over freshly boiled water. Spread one side of each biscotti and stand at room temperature until set. Serve with coffee.

Caprese with coffee glaze

I'm not a fancy person most of the time, I like my food simple but delicious. I like my cake rich but not too sweet. I like this cake, a lot. Especially with the coffee glaze, coffee and chocolate is a combination that can't be beat.

This cake is moist, dense, and chocolate-y. All good things, it's perfect with a cup of coffee. It belongs in a café. I would love to have a café near my house that served cake like this one. My wallet, on the other hand, would not.

I'm finding more and that I cannot justify buying cakes from cafes. The knowledge that most of them are factory produced and shipped over 1000 kms (600 miles) to cafes in my city (rightfully) horrifies me. I think this speaks volumes of many of the cafes in my city that, undoubtedly, make delicious coffee but insist on serving awful mass produced cake. It makes me feel like such a snob but I can't help it. I suppose this isn't really a bad thing to be snobby about though!

Caprese with coffee glaze

(from The Four Seasons of Italian Cooking by A.J. Battifarano and Alan Richardson)
makes 8-10 servings

115g (4 ounces) semisweet chocolate
115g (4 ounces) butter
75g (1/2 cup) sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup ground almonds
1/3 cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) degrees. Butter a 20 cm (8") round cake tin and line the base with a round of baking paper. Butter the paper and lightly coat the pan with flour.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water and let cool to room temperature.

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a electric mixer at a high speed until it is light anf fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Combine the almonds with the melted chocolate and blend the mixture into the batter. Add the flour and mix on a low speed until completely combined. Wash and dry the beaters.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites at medium speed until they are stiff but not dry. Using a large rubber spatula, stir one quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites, being careful not to over blend.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre fo the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack to cool for 10 minutes, then unmold and cool completely.

Serve with coffee glaze.

Coffee Glaze

1 teaspoon instant coffee
30ml (1/8 cup) boiling water
35g (1/4 cup) icing sugar, sifted

combine instant coffee with boiling water and whisk until all lumps are gone. Pour coffee mixture into the sifted icing sugar and whisk until smooth.