Tiramisu

Made our first tiramisu since moving to San Francisco on Saturday. The only thing missing was a tiny sieve for sprinkling the cocoa on the top. Also, the egg yolks here, even though they claim to be organic and from free and happy chickens, are a kind of fluoro yellow, not the almost orange color of free range egg yolks in New Zealand.

It came out well. It had perhaps a slightly watery taste because I had to use strong plunger coffee rather than espresso. But it still tasted excellent and impressed our restaurant owner guest.

I also realised when I needed the recipe for making this, that I only had my dog-eared recipe originally printed from the Internet in 1997 when Geo-cities still existed!

So it’s about time I put it here for safe-keeping. The original site has gone I’d say, but the recipe is nice and basic and now that I live in America, I see it’s actually from the back of the Bel Gioioso pack of mascarpone! My personal tips in perfecting this over the years – go fairly heavy-handed on the brandy (cognac gives quite a different, sweeter flavor that I’m not so keen on), use 3 shots of espresso making up about a cup of coffee liquid, and definitely make it at least 24 hours in advance for a truly alcoholic coffee hit.

Tiramisu

• 3 eggs,  yolks and whites separated
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8 oz/225g mascarpone
• 20 sponge fingers / lady fingers
• 1 cup espresso or strong coffee
• 2 tbsp brandy (or Cognac)
• Cocoa for sprinkling

Combine 3 egg yolks, 1 tbsp espresso, sugar, and brandy into a large mixing bowl – beat (electric) 2 to 3 minutes (I always give it the full beating at every stage as it ensures a smooth and fluffy filling). Add the mascarpone and beat 3 to 5 minutes until consistency is smooth.
In another bowl, combine 3 egg whites and a pinch of sugar – beat until mixture forms stiff peaks. Gently fold into mascarpone mixture.
Pour half of the remaining cup of espresso into a flat dish, dip one side of each sponge finger in coffee, and layer on bottom of serving dish, coffee side down. Spread 1/2 the mascarpone mixture on top and sprinkle with cocoa. Repeat once more. (The original recipe seemed to indicate that you could achieve 3 layers, but with the dish I use (oblong) and the size of one packet of sponge fingers, 2 layers works fine.)

Refrigerate for at least 24 hours.