And I won’t be doing it again soon. Fancy pastry-making is a pain in the butt. However, the tiramisu was intoxicatingly delicious, as it was laced with brandy and 151 rum. Here’s the cook’s rundown:
Step 1: Make ladyfingers. Choose a good spongecake recipe, spoon the batter into a pastry bag, and pipe 4" sticks onto a buttered, floured cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool on racks and sift powdered sugar over them.
Step 2: Make mascarpone cheese filling. Whisk 3 eggs in a double boiler until they are just over 150 degrees and fluffy, like a zabaglione. Whip 1/3 cup of cream until stiff. Beat 8 ounces of mascarpone until softened, and fold the eggs and cream into it, along with 1/3 cup sugar. Add 2 tablespoons of good brandy.
Step 3: Make espresso solution. Make about 1/2 cup of espresso or very strong coffee. Sweeten it with 2 teaspoons of sugar and add 1/4 cup of 151 rum.
Step 4: Assemble. Dip a ladyfinger in espresso, and put it into a standard-sized breadloaf pan, and repeat until you have a single layer on the bottom. Slather on about 1/3 of the mascarpone mixture. Repeat until you have used up one or the other of the ladyfingers or the cheese mixture; the top layer may be composed of either. Sift some unsweetened cocoa over the top. Refrigerate it for at least an hour; this step is important, or the ladyfingers won’t get all soft and spongy with the rum/coffee mixture.
Step 5: Devour.
::drool:: This tasted way better than any I’ve ever eaten in an Italian restaurant – and we still have half of it left for dessert tonight.
N.B.: Ladyfingers are great all by themselves, served with espresso for dipping (with or without 151!).