Tiramisu

Yes. I said Tiramisu.

Yes. You read it right.

Yes. I made that!

I'm making this for A Sweet Punch series hosted by Divya Kudua, Ria and Maria. This once a month series focuses on baking and blogging about baking. The hosts reveal a recipe at the beginning of the month and bloggers get their chance to make that recipe and blog about it. Please click here for more details - A Sweet Punch. 

Thanks you guys for hosting this event. Looking forward to baking up delicious recipes!

To me however, the idea of baking something new once a month was very appealing..and so here I'am. Now, if only I could sign up to run a marathon that same week I bake all this delicious stuff...:)

And besides, Tiramisu has been on my list for a long time now - thanks to my Tiramisu loving friend Kamakshi! She is ready to even starve a whole day so she can eat the of the 1800 calorie slice of Macaroni Grill Tiramisu. She loves it more than butterflies and rainbows!

I'm going to get on with the post since this is already a lengthy one! Here's the recipe provided by the hosts.
Our First Punch - Tiramisu Cake. I printed out the recipe and got started.

Mise En Place. Make sure all your ducks are in a row. 

Mix all the dry ingredients together and sift once to get a smooth consistency.  This would include

2 cups cake flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Set aside after sifting.

In a mixing bowl, take 1 and 1/4 sticks, that would be 10 tbsps of unsalted butter. Make sure the butter is soft and at room temperature. This helps in whisking it smooth. I used my hand mixer since I'm still waiting for that KitchenAid from my husband for Mom's day last year!

Whisk the butter for about 3 mins or until fluffy.

Now, add 1 cup sugar to the whipped butter and beat for about 2-3 minutes again.

Then, add 3 eggs, one at a time and beat well after each egg is added making sure that the eggs are incorporated well into the batter. At last, add one egg yolk and beat again well.

Add  1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and beat once.

Now we will be mixing this wet batter with the dry mixture and also some buttermilk. Add the dry flour mixture that you set aside before to this batter, a little at a time, about 1/3 of the flour. Alternate this with buttermilk. We will be using about 3/4 cup of buttermilk. Start and end with the dry ingredients.

When the batter is ready, divide them into equal portions and move into two 8-inch round pans that have been buttered, dusted with flour and lined with parchment paper. Easy on/off!

Did I tell you to preheat the oven to 350F before this is ready? No. My apologies. Please preheat now - you can lick a finger or two with the batter while you are waiting on the oven! Shhhh..trade secrets!

Once the oven is ready, move these pans to the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test.

While the cake is basking in the heat, let's get started with the espresso extract. I did not have instant espresso crystals and so just used my regular instant coffee - Taster's Choice.

Take 2 tbsp of instant coffee crystals in a bowl. 

Boil 2 tbsps of water - I know I don't need a picture for this step - but seriously, isn't this pretty? I had to show it to you! Reminds me of the school of fish eggs swimming around in Nemo - if only the water was colorful, it would have been more like that!

Mix the boiling water and espresso crystals. This will be the coffee extract. Easier way to do this will be to just mix the coffee and water and then pop in the microwave and heat together for a min. But, I'm a complicated person - ask my husband and he will vouch for that!

Next step would be to make the espresso syrup. For this, take 1/2 cup water and 1/3 cup sugar. Mix together and boil for about 4-5 mins.

Move to a bowl and then add 1 tbsp of the extract that was just prepared before this.

Now add another 1 tbsp of coffee liquer or kahlua or amaretto. Yes...why let only sugar give you a kick??

Set aside. This will be the syrup used to soak the sponge cake in. 

To make the cream filling and frosting, whisk together 8-oz pack of mascarpone cheese, 1/2 cup of sifted icing sugar, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and another 1 tbsp of kick-ass coffee liquer! Just whisk everything together well until combined. Set aside.

Now, in a mixing bowl, add 1 cup of heavy cream.

Whisk the hell out of it until you see firm peaks forming.

You know, sometimes things happen and when they happen, you realize that there is a super power above you. And all things happen for the good. And you are so grateful that they happened at that time of your life.

Sometimes, life's lessons are taught to you when you make Tiramisu!

I just got done with the whipped cream - I saw the firm peaks, all done. Good. I should have stopped. But, I did a couple of more whisks and look what happened - my whisk broke. At the very last stroke. Isn't that lucky?? I'm grateful to my whisk that it did not decide to break when I was starting out.

Now there's my perfect reason to get a KitchenAid mixer. And I did get one.  A bright tangerine colored one at that! RIP, my old mixer. You were very loved.

Now, take about 1/4 of the whipped cream and gently fold into the mascarpone cheese mix. When this is combined well, add the rest of the whipped cream and fold gently.

This will be the filling in between the cakes.

Here are the cakes - perfectly done. Remove it from the pans and let it cool on a rack for a few mins.

Since the cakes have crowned a little bit, scrap off the center with a knife and try to make it as even as possible.

Place the cake on a cake stand. Make sure you cover the base with parchment strips to easily clean up the mess later. 

Now, with a brush - brush the espresso syrup on the cake.Hindsight working hard, I think I should have put a lot more syrup in here. I stopped thinking the coffee flavor will be overpowering. So, if you are trying, go ahead - add a lot and make sure that the syrup reaches the cake all the way to the bottom.

Just to show the difference - the cake at the back is how it came out of the oven - the cake upfront is after its been soaked with the good stuff!

Now, cover this layer with the cream-mascarpone filling. Add a thick layer and also cover the sides with the filling.

Top off with chocolate bits.

To make these chocolate bits, all I did was throw in a cup of chocolate chips or chunks in a food processor and grind to a coarse powder form - leaving a few bits.

Now, drip more syrup on the second layer and that soak it up a bit.

Move this layer the soaked side down on top of the already filled first layer.

Now, add more syrup on top of the cake.

Top off with more filling/frosting. You could make another frosting with just mascarpone cheese and sugar. But, I just used the same filling. Smooth out the sides too.

Decorate it any way you want. I kept mine just simple. You can sprinkle cocoa powder on top for a classic look too. I just used my chocolate bits - I think chocolate always makes everything better.

Are you ready to indulge now?

Yumm..

Enjoy. Peace out!