How to Make Tiramisu?

Image Courtsey: Mahesh Ravi

     Yes, I dared to experiment making Tiramisu this Easter. The daring part is that I was having friends over for lunch and this was the only dessert in my refrigerator. The excitement of serving Tiramisu was on until lunch time. It was during lunch-time that I realised that I didnt have any back-ups for dessert, just in case..."The way the food turns out depends on the fate of the one who eats", I tried easing myself. Believe me, the fate of my friends turned to be quite fabulous that day. Thank God! :)
     My friend and I have had some real fun times with Tiramisu. There's another friend of mine who have heard loads of stories of Tiramisu from me. So, when I decided calling them over for lunch, I decided on the dessert far ahead than the starters or the main course. There were innumerous sites that I researched to get a recipe. Finally, I took tips and pieces from many of them and charted out how I was gonna make it. So, this is my customized version.

Please note: This recipe does not use Marsala wine or dark rum like the traditional menu demands since I don't use alcohol. Instead I used mild homemade grape wine. 
     Serves roughly 25 people [Not the piece you see above, of course ;)]
For best results:
Make your Tiramisu a day ahead to serving it so that all the flavours bind in nicely making the dessert indeed a piece of heaven in your mouth.

Ingredients that make up a Tiramisu:

1. Egg yolks - 6 nos.
2. Sugar - 1/2 a cup
3. Fresh cream - 200 ml
4. Condensed milk - half a tin
5. Mascoporne cheese - 500 grms
6. Sugar - 1 cup
7. Wine [I used a home-made grape wine] - 2 tablespoons
8. Vanilla essence - 1 tablespoon
9. Gelatin: 10grms
10. Egg whites
11. Sugar: 1/2 cup
12. Instant coffee powder - 9 teaspoons
13. Evenly sliced sponge cake - approximately 1 kg, bought or baked a day ahead and refrigerated [The actual ingredient is 2 packets of Ladyfingers (or, Savoiardi as they are traditionally called). I chose sponge cake as I couldn't find Ladyfingers here in Bangalore.]
14. Unsweetened cocoa powder.

Image Courtsey: Mahesh Ravi

Now that you have all that you need, lets make Tiramisu:

     1. In a neat steel bowl, beat the egg yolks until nice and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup sugar and beat until nice and creamy. Keep this mixture over a double-boiler and keep stirring the egg yolks until all of the sugar granules have dissolved.
     Oh... ini athinu vendi double-boiler vaangan kazhiyilla, athu kondu Tiramisu onnum venda ennu parayan varatte... (Don't give up making your Tiramisu just coz you don't have a double-boiler. I didn't have it either...) Simply boil some water in a steel container with a perforated lid over it. Place the bowl with the egg yolk mixture over it to get the double-boiling effect. Vennamenkil chakka verelum kaayikkum mone... (Where there is a will, there is a way ;))

     Once the sugar granules dissolve completely, keep it to cool by allowing the bowl to float over a bath of cool water.
     2. In the mean time, beat your egg whites in another bowl until they are nice and creamy. This will take time. You have to whisk it till they get a creamy texture. Once that's done, add a half cup sugar into it and continue the whipping process until the mixture gets thick enough that it doesn't fall off the bowl if you flip it.
     3. Now, you need a third bowl to work up your fresh cream. Blend the fresh cream and condensed milk till they are well combined, nice and thick.
     4. Dissolve gelatin in a small amount of water by constantly stirring over boiling water. Make sure the granules dissolve completely.
     5. Time for another bowl. Empty the mascoporne cheese into a clean and dry bowl. Whisk it to loosen it up. Continue blending while you add in 1 cup of sugar bit by bit. Once all of the sugar is blended in well, throw in the egg yolk mixture, which would have cooled away by now. Blend it in well. Next, add around 2 tablespoons of wine into the mixture and blend well. Add the vanilla essence and keep blending until smooth. Pour in the dissolved gelatin and continue the whipping process.
     Once the whole mixture is nice and smooth, keep your blender aside and fold in the egg white mixture with a spatula. Using the spatula, ensure that both these mixtures are well combined.
     6. Refrigerate this mixture for 3-4 hours so that it gets a little stiff.
     7. In the meantime, make black coffee by combining the 9 teaspoons of instant coffee in 1.5 cups of water. Leave it to cool.
     8. After your 4-hour break, its layering time! Mix another 2 tablespoons of wine into the black coffee which, I bet would have cooled by now ;)
     9. Find a large deep dish to assemble your Tiramisu.
    10. Lightly dip each of the sponge cake slice or ladyfinger into the coffee-wine mixture and arrange them into the dish. Make sure there are no spaces in between. This forms the first layer.
    11. Over the cake layer, spread out a thick and even layer of the cheese mixture.
    12. Using a tea sieve, sprinkle unsweetened cocoa powder evenly over the cheesy cream layer.
    13. Repeat another layer of sponge cake/ladyfingers followed by a thick layer of cheese and a layer of evenly sprinkled unsweetened cocoa like for the previous layer.

14. Close the container. Don't fret if it doesn't have a lid, just cover using foil paper.

A small sample of  Tiramisu
Image Courtsey: Mahesh Ravi

Note:

1. You can use the same method of layering to set Tiramisu into individual cups. Just make sure you shorten the length of the sponge cake strips or ladyfingers accordingly.
2. Avoid storing Tiramisu for more than 3 days as it uses raw eggs.