Week 7: Tiramisu Cake

This week's cake was the most time consuming and complicated  cake so far!  There were so many different components and steps, but it was all worth it when people tasted the cake :)  I've made a version of Tiramisu before, with a filling made of cream cheese, sour cream and whipped cream, which I've gotten good reviews on...but I've never made the authentic thing with mascarpone cheese, mainly because it is so expensive, thankfully the ingredients were all provided in class!     

The first component we made was the lady fingers.  We did this differently from a traditional Tiramisu, where the lady fingers are each piped out separately.  We made the traditional batter but then piped it out into a cake round and one large sheet pan, with a zig zig pattern.  When they were done baking, we cut the sheet cake lady fingers into a long strip and attached it to the side of the cake in one piece.  This was much easier and less time consuming than piping out individual lady fingers, ensuring they are all the same size and layering them one at a time on the cake.

The next component was a coffee soaking syrup to add flavour to the lady fingers, which are pretty bland on their own.  This was a mixture of simple syrup, strong coffee and Kahlua.

The final component was the filling, the hardest part.  First we made whipped cream.  Then hand mixed the mascarpone cheese, making sure we didn't over mix, because it can easily become grainy.  Then dissolved sugar in egg yolks over a water bath.  Then the yolks and whipped cream were gently folded into the mascarpone.  Brandy, water and gelatin were mixed over a water bath to dissolve the gelatin.  Egg whites were whipped to soft peaks with sugar.  Then the gelatin brandy mixture was tempered and added to the cheese mixture and then the egg whites were folded in...so many steps and so many dishes!



 Finally to assemble the cake :)  This was pretty straight forward, using a cake ring, we placed the strip of lady fingers around the side and put the cake round in the bottom, brushed it all with a good amount of coffee syrup, filled it up with the mascarpone filling and topped with cocoa powder.  Several hours later, with some time in the blast chiller, it was ready to be taken home.


 

This was the most difficult cake so far, but it is also my favourite, I think the effort put in was really worth it.   The quality of ingredients and flavour of coffee really come through, without the coffee being overpowering.  Next time I do this though, I will soak the sides of the cake in even more coffee syrup, to keep it all moist.