Teenie Cakes

Daring Bakers - February 2010: Tiramisu

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks):  "What is Tiramisu?"

Jay (Rob Reiner): "You'll find out."

Sam Baldwin: "Well, what is it?"

Jay:  "You'll see!"

Sam Baldwin:  "You better tell me.  Some woman is gonna want me to do it to her and I'm not gonna know what it is!"

Quote & scene from Sleepless in Seattle

Back in 1993 when Sleepless in Seattle was released, screenwriter Nora Ephron found it hard to believe that most Americans didn't know what "tiramisu" was.    Her hope was that the "tiramisu scene " would have meaning for people who knew what it was and something else for folks that didn't.¹    Flash forward to today and it's quite a different story.   The question might be - who doesn't know what tiramisu is?

Sleepless in Seattle is a one of my many favorite movies - so when I found out that this month's Daring Bakers' challenge was tiramisu, I could hear and see the scene about tiramisu from this movie in my head (I love movie quotes!).

This Italian dessert translates to mean ‘pick me up’, supposedly referring to the ‘kick’ provided by the strong coffee, sugar and alcohol in it.  Classic tiramisu is made of alternate layers of espresso soaked ladyfinger biscuits and a cream made from mascarpone cheese and zabaglione (an egg custard).

There were many parts to this luscious dessert which spanned over a couple of days to complete:

1. Make mascarpone (separate post)
2. Make savoiardi biscuits / ladyfingers (separate post)
3. Make zabaglione
4. Make vanilla pastry cream
5. Make whipped cream
6. Prep the ladyfingers for tiramisu assembly

The dessert and methods used created an absolutely delicious dessert without any problems.  It was worth the effort and multiple steps!   Hubby pronounced it's the "best dessert ever"...while this is an absolute genuine compliment from my man, visions of all the other desserts I've made through the years flickered through my mind!  :)

A very special thanks to Aparna and Deeba for a challenging, fun and ultimately delicious Daring Bakers' Challenge.   The recipes, instructions and supporting resources made this a very educational and rewarding experience!

Homemade Savoiardi Biscuits - Ladyfingers

Ladyfingers are called savoiardi in Italian, derived "from savoy". The French call them biscuits à la cuillère and are a common ingredient in many French desserts. You may be familiar with ladyfinger like biscuits in tiramisu, charlottes and trifles.

The recipe to these biscuits makes a delicate and perfect accompaniment to your coffee or tea. They are light (but not too fragile), crispy and slightly sweet.

If you are using these in a dessert, you can make them well in advance (stored correctly, they should be good for up to 2 - 3 weeks).

Making ladyfingers was part of The Daring Bakers February 2010 challenge for tiramisu.   Part of the challenge was to bake our own ladyfingers.    They are so easy to make, there's no need to ever purchase them in the store again!

Homemade Mascarpone

Homemade Mascarpone

Mascarpone (mahs-car-PO-nay) is probably best known as an ingredient used in tiramisu.   It's also sometimes used in lieu of butter to thicken rissoto. 

I hadn't made anything with mascarpone before, but I have tasted it in tiramisu I've enjoyed in restaurants for dessert.    For the February 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge, we made tiramisu and part of the challenge was making our own mascarpone for the luscious Italian dessert.   The process was very easy and without incident.  I will definitely be making my own mascarpone again.

Daring Bakers - November 2009: Cannoli

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

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Cannoli are known as Italian-American pastries, although the origin of cannoli
dates back to Sicily, specifically Palermo, where it was prepared during
Carnevale season, and according to lore, as a symbol of fertility.

Daring Bakers - October 2009: Parisian Macarons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I hadn't tasted a French or Parisian Macaron before this month's challenge and I, like many others, always associated a Macaron or Macaroon as a coconut-type cookie.   These don't contain coconut (unless you flavor or theme them so) and the shells itself have very few ingredients.   I didn't know much about these fine delicacies until I started reading up and researching this month's Daring Bakers challenge.  

French macarons are notorious for being difficult to master.   After researching, reading many instructions and tips and looking over the list of few ingredients I thought "What could be so difficult?"    I read that one of the many keys to a successful macaron are the presence of the feet.    The feet?

My first attempt (yes, initial major failure) I was nervous - how could I possibly mess it up, I did my homework and I'm ready!   Had everything measured out, templates created for 1 1/2-inch rounds when piping, sifted almond flour and confectioner's sugar, room temperatured/aged egg whites, laid out to dry for almost two hours.    Ugh!  The cookies never rose into cute little domes and no feet!   They spread out and became tasty almond cookies.  Great texture - crispy on the outside and chewy inside but nothing resembling the cute and infamous macarons I had been researching.   Disappointment.    However, I was not to be beaten by the macaron so I attempted them again this morning.