Tiramisu Cake Adventure

Figure 1. From the Swedish Institute, this taught me that Swedish Christmastime is terrifying to say the least...I bet they definitely use lady’s fingers.  Why am I showing a Swedish picture in an arguably Italian cooking adventure? (You may rightly ask.) Because I love freaky stuffed things in people clothes, that’s why. Also, let’s put the anthropomorphized animals back in CHRISTMAS!

Abstract:  A cake is made from the technical challenge of the Great Holiday Baking Show on ABC, it goes mostly well…mostly

Introduction:

     The Great British Bake-off…or Great British Baking Show…or whatever the heck it’s called was shown here in the States on PBS.  Then during Christmas time ABC aired the Great Holiday Baking Show, and as spring (spring, like warm Christmas!) is currently here I decided to make something a little more complicated and see how it turned out!

     This recipe is by one of the judges from the Great Holiday Baking Show that isn’t Mary Berry.  I always get confused at how to pronounce his name, which I’m sure causes all my Italian ancestors to spin around in their collective graves.  It’s Johnny Iuzzini’s Tiramisu Christmas Cake (it’s not my fault he always makes me think of Joe Iszuzu, played by that dude from Empty Nest, I mean it’s only like two letters away from that!)  This recipe takes a tiramisu and then combines it into a forbidden love child with cake to create something that makes mouths waters (it’s been scientifically proven, mouths waters is officially a thing (1).

     Tiramisu is originally from Veneto, Italy and is loosely translated to “pick me up”, “cheer me up”, or “DAAAAAAMN THAT TASTY”.  It is a coffee flavored dessert usually composed of lady’s fingers (the cookie, not to be confused with actually lady’s fingers, which would be a different plate entirely), mascarpone cheese (which also makes mac and cheese super creamy), and cocoa (which is powdered chocolate).  It was first seen on the cooking scene after 1960 (2).

Materials: (3) (This is going to be a long and complicated one, cross your fingers! I know it looks very complicated, but take my word for it, it’s not too bad.)

Cake:

2 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

3 large eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

¾ cup boiling water

2 tsp espresso powder

¼ cup cocoa powder, for garnish

Red satin ribbon, for garnish (or you could be like me and use a cheap piece of red Christmas ribbon if you’re lazy)

Espresso Extract:

½ cup boiling water

1 Tbspn espresso powder (I took this to refer to instant espresso coffee you can buy at the store, who knows if that’s right, but I sure couldn’t find espresso powder!)

Espresso Syrup:

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup water

1 Tbspn espresso extract (from above, don’t be like me and buy espresso extract from the store and then be all like, “what the what?!?!?”)

2 tsp Kahlua

Tiramisu Filling:

3 large egg yolks, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbspn Kahlua

1 Tbspn espresso extract (once again, from above)

1 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks, room temperature

Espresso Buttercream:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbspn espresso extract (guess where this is from?  Ya guessed it, from up above!)

Ladyfingers:

1 dead lady hand…oh wait, scratch that…I shouldn’t listen to Sweeny Todd while copying recipes…

½ cup unbleached all purpose flour, sifted

3 large eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ cup granulated sugar

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Methods:

I.  Cake:

       A.     Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease, flour, and parchment 2 (9 inch) cake pans.

       B.     In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla.  Combine the boiling water and espresso.  Set aside.

       C.     Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Stir in the espresso.

       D.     Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pans onto a cooling rack.

       E.     When completely cool, if there is a dome on the top of the cakes, using a serrated knife, carefully remove.  Slice each cake layer in half, giving you four layers.

       F.     To assemble: Place one cake layer on cake stand, cut side up. Brush with Espresso Syrup.  Top with 1/3 of the Tiramisu Filling. Repeat with remaining 3 layers, leaving the top layer without tiramisu filling.  You will have four total cake layers.  Frost the entire cake with the Espresso Buttercream. 

       G.     Create a Christmas tree stencil, basically teleport yourself in your mind back to the   first grade or so, take a piece of parchment paper and cut out the shape of a pine tree. Place in the center of the cake and dust the inside with cocoa powder to create a Christmas tree.  Stick the ladyfingers along the side of the cake.  The frosting will help them stick. Tie the red bow around the ladyfingers, slice and serve.

II. Espresso Extract:

          A.     Combine all ingredients and set aside.

III. Espresso Syrup:

          A.     Combine water and sugar.  Bring to a boil.  Cook 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved.

          B.     Remove from heat and stir in extract and Kahlua (take shot of Kahlua, unless you’re an alcoholic, then just take a shot of espresso). Set aside.

IV. Tiramisu Filling:

         A.     Heat a medium pot with about 1 in of water inside.

         B.     In a bowl that will fit on top of the pot, but not touch the water, whisk together egg yolks and sugar.

         C.     Place bowl over pot and cook for 5-7 minutes whisking constantly.  The yolks and sugar will become pale yellow and smooth.  Remove from heat and whisk in Kahlua and espresso extract.  Allow to cool for 15 minutes.

         D.     In a mixer with a paddle attachment combine mascarpone and yolk mixture.  Mix for 1 minute.  With the electric mixer on medium speed slowly add the whipped cream.  Mix until smooth.  Set aside or chill until ready to assemble cake.

V.  Espresso Buttercream:

Figure 2. Note the creamy texture I refer to as "Ima gunna eat that entire bowl"

         A.  Place all ingredients in an electric mixer.  Mix until smooth.  Set aside until ready to           assemble.

VI.  Ladyfingers:

        A.  Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Using a marker make 8 (4 inch) lines on each tray about 2 inches apart.  Prepare a piping bag fitted with a large round baking tip.

       B.  In a large bowl, whip the egg yolks and vanilla on high until thick ribbons form, about 5 minutes.  In another bowl, whip the egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks form.  Should appear shiny and if the bowl is flipped upside down the meringue should hold (although if you flip it too soon and it gets all over please take a picture and post it on the internet). 

Figure 3.  I call it my "Lady Batter" hahahahahahahaha gross.

        C.  Combine the yolks with the meringue and gently fold together.  Add the sifted flour and fold until combined. Place in piping bag.

        D.  Using the lines you previously created, pipe 8 ladyfingers per tray leaving about 1-2 inches in between each ladyfinger.  Dust each ladyfinger with powdered sugar.  Let sit for 1 minute.  Dust a second time and place in oven.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside until ready to assemble.

Figure 4. Sometimes you might get nervous and make really skinny ones, feel free to layer on top with more batter to make them look real janky!

 Results and Discussion:

     First, and foremost, cakes are typically circular in nature.  Not in the sense that the go from whence they came, but more so that they are literally a circle.  I got confused looking at delicious tiramisu pictures on the internet for a solid half hour and accidentally made it square, which is why the ladyfingers look a little spacey around the periphery.  The frosting was delectable and the cake spongy, the ladyfingers tasted good for a couple days, and then they started getting a little soft, but that didn’t stop me from munching down hard on them. 

     I’d say the most challenging part of this recipe was balancing when to make what, juggling all the component parts, and the ladyfingers, because anytime I have to break out a ruler is not going to be a good time.  It was also challenging getting the pressure on the bag correct to squeeze out equally sized cookies, I would recommend making more batter than you need so you can pick the good ones out, and eat the leavings, or give them to ladies as presents, because ladies loves them some fingers, or so I’ve heard. 

Figure 5.  Some people say that a square is just a circle that's not trying hard enough...those people are wrong.    

     All in all this cake wasn’t too horrible to make, and was a decadent treat for Christmas, or whatever holiday/regular day you want to eat it on and I highly recommend it!  All the family loved it, even the non-Italian members of the family!

Work Cited

1.  Okay, so nobody really did that research, but I’ll bet there’s a grant somewhere wanting to study saliva production when people even look at the word Tiramisu.

2.  Wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiramisu.

3.  Johnny Iuzzini’s Tiramisu Christmas Cake.  Abc.go.com  The Great Holiday Baking Show.  Marisa Dabney.  12/07/15. 

Won't you trim,  my Christmas tree? With some decorations bought at, the Wild Bird Food Store.