Tiramisu

So, I have had Tiramisu at restaurants, but I am not crazy about the whole lady finger thing. This recipe uses a Hot Milk Sponge Cake in place of the lady fingers. It's so good and not really hard to put together. It holds up very well in the fridge for several days.

Tiramisu  From: Better Homes and Garden Cookbook (another favorite cookbook of mine)

First make the Hot Milk Sponge Cake:

2 eggs-at room temperature (about 30 minutes sitting out)

1 cup of flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons of butter

Grease a 9 x 9 square pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the flour and baking powder together. In another bowl, beat the eggs 5 minutes -until thick. Slowly add sugar, while beating for another 5 minutes (until light and fluffy). Add in the flour and beat until just combined.

In a small sauce pan heat the milk and butter, stirring until the butter melts. Add this to the batter and pour into the baking pan.  

Bake for 20-25 minutes and cool in the pan.

The rest of the recipe:

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons of instant coffee or espresso powder ( I use instant coffee)

2 tablespoons of rum (you can use 1/2 teaspoon of rum extract)

2  8oz packages of cream cheese at room temperature (or 16 oz of mascarpone cheese)

1/2  cup of sifted powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 oz of semisweet chocolate, grated

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons of strong coffee ( I just make some with instant coffee and a couple of tablespoons of hot water)

1/2 oz semisweet chocolate, grated

For syrup-In a small pan mix the regular sugar, the instant coffee and 1/3 cup of water. Heat to boil and boil for 1 minute. Stir in the rum or extract and allow to cool. 

For the filling-Mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in the 2 oz of grated chocolate.

For the topping-In a chilled mixing bowl with chilled beaters, mix the whipping cream and the strong coffee until soft peaks form.

To assembling-Evenly cut the cake horizontally into 3 layers. ( Yes, this is tricky!) Put one cake layer to the 9x9 pan and brush the top with a 1/3 of the syrup. Layer with half of the filling, another cake layer, more syrup, the rest of the filling, the last of the cake and then the last of the syrup. Spread on the topping and sprinkle with the 1/2 oz of grated chocolate. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, overnight is even better.

I usually make a double batch of the syrup because the cake really soaks it up fast, plus more flavor isn't going to hurt anything. 

I am linking up to Sweets for a Saturday