Tiramisu is an Italian classic. Lashings of mascarpone cheese, blended with egg yolks into a thick, creamy custard and coffee-infused biscuits. All topped off with a sprinkling of cocoa. What's not to like?
As usual, when I'm reading about something I'm planning to make and googling recipes, all manner of choices present themselves and I found myself down a rabbit warren of discussions about the use of raw eggs, adding whipped cream or using egg whites. It's a veritable minefield that wastes so much time and energy and leaving me facing decisions I don't want to make. There's also the question of alcohol. I fancied adding a few drops of rum, but decided against it this time, much to the chagrin of the FiL!
To get around the egg issue, I decided to pasteurise my own egg yolks and use whipping cream because I love cream and wanted to make it my way. To hell with traditionalist preaching and 'authentic' mumbo jumbo. It's food. Making what I like judged on seeing a picture and a list of ingredients, will be my future mantra.
To be fair, the raw egg issue does have legs. Its very possible to get a dose of salmonella from eating raw eggs and whilst the darker corners of my mind thinks that seeing the in-laws rushing off to the toilet every 30 seconds does have its merits, I decided to err on the side of caution and find a way to pasteurise my own egg yolks using the microwave as opposed to setting up some complicated double-boiler apparatus.
I could have bought ready pasteurised egg yolks but they were very expensive and only came in 2kg cartons and would have therefore ended up getting wasted, so that was a 'no'.
Get your things ready!
The first thing I did was to prepare the coffee. At the risk of @macchiata 's ire, I made a very strong brew using instant coffee to dunk my ladyfingers into.
Coffee prepared and back into the fridge.
I tried hard to keep everything as cool as possible so as not to create a runny, sloppy custard, making it difficult to set later.
The recipe I settled upon (full details at the end) to fill my rather large 9 x 11-inch glass dish called for 4 eggs. You'll also need a measuring cup and a cooking thermometer.
The trick is, trying to get them up to about 71°C (160°F) for 5 minutes without cooking them! Tricky indeed.
So firstly, I separated the whites from the yolks. Not very well, but no matter.
Then pop them in the microwave for 20seconds at full heat. Then take them out and measure the temperature. For me, I got up to about 30°C so I added a quarter cup of water, mixed the yolks and water together and put them back in on half power for a further 20 seconds.
You can see the remaining egg white cooked very easily so I just scooped it out!
After getting the temperature up to 63°C, the yolk had started to cook and solidify slightly so after another good stir, I pushed them through a fine sieve to create a slightly thick, but perfectly smooth, eggy emulsion
Smooth and creamy and a great base.
Then I gathered everything else together, needing to work quite quickly.
Missing from this picture is the sugar, vanilla and salt.
Under Milo's supervision, I squeezed the mascarpone out into a large mixing bowl.
Then I added the egg yolks, sugar and salt and gave it a light whisk to combine all the ingredients together, being careful not to overwhisk. Fear of separating the mascarpone is why I don't use an electric hand blender.
Tra-laaaa. Creamy, thick and smooth.
Next up came the teaspoon of vanilla flavour. Sorry, chefs, I didn't have real vanilla essence.
Then it was time to lightly whip up some cream. This is where it could have all gone wrong. I didn't want the cream to be whipped up too hard, but too runny, and I would have had a liquid mess when I combined it with the mascarpone.
After a gentle beating, the cream was just starting to stiffen slightly, and I'd got plenty of air into it, so I called it a draw. The cream was getting warm, and I didn't want it to turn, so I gently folded it into the mascarpone.
Time for construction, and I started by quickly dipping the ladyfingers into my coffee and creating the first layer in the dish.
You just need them in for a second on either side, soggy is not good!
After the first layer is complete, add a layer of your custard. For me, this is where things started to go a little wrong! Firstly, I forgot to take a photo. Perhaps this was because I was trying to work quickly, as it was so hot. Then I put too thick a layer of custard over the bottom layer of ladyfingers.
Thus, I had very little left to spread over the top layer.
Nothing to be done about that, though, so it's into the fridge overnight to allow all the flavours to combine.
The final act was to sieve cocoa on the top and try to make it look a little more level!
And that's it. Time to serve.
So, how was it?
Firstly, the taste. I was actually really happy with it. Everyone loved it. I thought it could have done with a little more egg, and next time, I'm going to use a genuine vanilla extract and make some 'real' espresso, which I think will take it to another level.
Then there was the texture. I think I got it spot on. It was firm, perfectly smooth and creamy without lumps and just melted in the mouth.
As for presentation, could do better! I'm cross with myself for not measuring and dividing the custard into two equal portions and for not getting the final layer smoother and level. This will mean that I won't need as much cocoa to compensate for the unevenness.
Finally, the recipe
This makes about 10 generous portions in a 9 x 11-inch dish
4 Egg Yolks
450g Mascarpone
200ml Whipping cream
1/3 cup of Castor sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Salt
2 cups of Strong Black Coffee
Cocoa powder to dust
20 Ladyfinger biscuits
If anyone makes this at home, it will last for 3 days in the fridge. Mine lasted a day before it was gone, and if you do make one, let me know what recipe you used, please. I love to read different recipes and techniques, and @commentrewarder has been activated.
Thanks for dropping by. I hope everyone has had a great week and has an exciting weekend planned.
Best wishes, and thanks to @macchiata and @akipponn for the inspiration.
