Tiramisu with the Daring Bakers

Daring Bakers time again!  Tiramisu this time, with homemade lady fingers.  The homemade ladyfingers are definitely worth making - they really weren't too difficult, and they tasted much better than store-bought.  In addition to the mini-trifles (above), I made a tiramisu sandwich as well (see pic below); I think it's adorable!

I absolutely loved the cream filling on this tiramisu, though I didn't follow the recipe exactly.  Instead of making the pastry cream (which is not present in a traditional tiramisu anyway), I increased the zabaglione, and just folded that in with the whipped cream and mascarpone.  It was delicious! I absolutely loved the cream filling on this tiramisu.  The coffee and lemon combination was wonderful, and I'll definitely serve this as a mousse in the future, with some raspberries on top.  Yum!

Fine Print:  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. 

Tiramisu

Recipe Yield:  3 individual tiramisu trifles + 1 tiramisu "sandwich" + some leftover ladyfingers

For the Ladyfingers

3 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup cake flour, sifted
6 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.


Separate the eggs.  Beat whites until foamy, then gradually add sugar while beating.  Keep beating to stiff peaks.  Whisk yolks together, then gently fold into the whites with a wooden spoon.  Sift the flour over the egg mixture, and gently fold in.  Work gently so as not to deflate the batter.

Fill a decorating bag with the batter, and a wide round tip. I think I used a 1/4" or 3/8" tip, but I'd use bigger next time.  Pipe your desired ladyfinger shapes:  disks, individual lady fingers, or lady finger band (pipe individual ladyfingers that touch), so you can either make the tiramisu sandwich or wrap the ladyfinger band around the outside of your round tiramisu.


Bake for about 10 minutes, then rotate pans, and bake another 5-7 minutes until just golden.  Cool for about 5 minutes on the tray, then use a metal spatula to remove the ladyfingers from the pan while still warm (otherwise, they might stick to the parchment).


For the Zabaglione

3 yolks
1/4 cup + 1/2 tablespoon sugar
3/8 cup brewed coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon lemon zest

Whisk together all the ingredients in a metal (or other heatproof) bowl, and place over a saucepan with 1 inch of simmering water.  Whisk constantly over low-medium heat until the mixture thickens.  This took me a little over 15 minutes.  The original recipe says it should resemble a thick custard, but mine never really looked like a custard, though it did get considerably thicker.

 For the Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Whip the cream until very soft peaks, then gradually add the sugar while continuing to whip.  Add the vanilla, and beat to firm peaks.



To Assemble the Tiramisu

1/2 cup brewed espresso (4 shots)
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup mascarpone
chocolate shavings or unsweetened cocoa powder

For the individual tiramisu trifles:  Dip a ladyfinger disk in the sweetened espresso on both sides, and shake off excess liquid.  Place on the bottom of the trifle dish, and spoon a layer of cream on top.  The cream should be about as thick as or slightly thicker than the ladyfinger disk.  Top with some chocolate shavings if desired.  Repeat with a second ladyfinger disk.  You can use a decorating bag and star tip to pipe little rosettes of cream on the very top.  Top with chocolate shavings or cocoa powder.  Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.


For the tiramisu sandwich:  I piped a ladyfinger band roughly 3" x 6".  I cut the band in half to make two 3" x 3" squares.  I just dipped the flat side of the band in the sweetened espresso, and kept the ridged, undipped side for the exterior.  Spread a thick layer of cream on the wet side of one of the ladyfinger squares, and top with chocolate shavings.  Place the remaining ladyfinger square on top, wet side down. Top with a dollop of cream, and more chocolate shavings or unsweetened cocoa powder. 

Baking Class: Cheesecakes

 Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake with Oreo Crust

Baking Class has been over for awhile now, but I still have lots of goodies to post from it.  During the last week of class, we made cheesecakes.  This is a recipe adapted from the Daring Bakers; the students made a lot of different varieties.  It's a very adaptable recipe - so have fun and design your own flavor combination!

 Anna & Jen

Graham Cracker Crust

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Spray the springform pan with baking spray.  Stir together the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until it begins to clump.  Press into the bottom (and up the sides if desired) of the prepared pan, and bake for 8-10 minutes until set.  Cool completely.

Sean, Andrew, & JC

Oreo Crust

1 ½ cups oreo cookie crumbs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Spray the springform pan with baking spray.  Stir together the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until it begins to clump.  Press into the bottom (and up the sides if desired) of the prepared pan, and bake for 8-10 minutes until set.  Cool completely.

Batter Mixing

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Batter - Before Baking

Cheesecake

24 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tbsp liqueur, optional

Be sure to have all ingredients at room temperature, especially the eggs and cream cheese. This will help keep cracks from forming in the top of the cheesecake.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put a kettle of water on to boil for the waterbath. Wrap springform pan in 3-4 layers of aluminum foil to prevent (or lessen at least!) leakage.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed for about 4 minutes, until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 4 minutes, until the cream cheese is light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 1 minute) and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Beating at low speed, add the heavy cream, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir in the liqueur, if using. The batter will be thin.

(Note: If you're using a hand mixer, you will want to increase the mixing times).

Bake the cheesecake for about 80-90 minutes in a water bath; it should hold together, but there will still be a lot of jiggle in the center. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. After one hour, remove the cake from the water bath, and let it finish cooling on the counter top. Refrigerate overnight, and bring to room temperature before serving.

Lemon Cheesecake

Flavor Variations

Lemon:  Replace liqueur with fresh lemon juice, and stir in 2 teaspoons lemon zest.

Coffee:  Dissolve 2/3 tablespoon espresso powder into 1 tablespoon very hot water, and cover until using.  Add to batter at the same time as the vanilla extract.  Omit the lemon juice, and use Kahlua for the liqueur.

Chocolate Swirl:  In a separate bowl, stir together about one-third of the batter and 3 ounces melted semisweet chocolate. Pour the plain batter on top of the cooled crumb crust. Drop the chocolate batter mixture on top of the other batter in spoonfuls. With a knife, gently swirl the chocolate batter through the plain batter.

Coffee with Nutella Swirl : See my previous post.

Pumpkin:  See my previous post.

Coffee Cheesecake with Chocolate Swirl

Buche de Noel (Holiday Yule Log) and Meringue Mushrooms

These meringue mushrooms might just be the cutest little treat I've ever made!  I'll be making them again and again - they were definitely easier than I'd anticipated.

If you don't have time for the full Buche de Noel, make just the meringue mushrooms (the kids will love them), or just the cake without all the fixin's (you can do just the roulade without shaping it into a yule log and without mushrooms or other decorations; it still looks elegant).

There are some great videos on the Food Network site of Malgieri rolling up the cake and making the marzipan decorations (I ran out of time for the marzipan).  I strongly recommend watching them, at least the one where he rolls up the cake!

And remember, leave a post by tomorrow night on the Chocolate Bombes post for a chance to win Julia Child's book, My Life in France.

Coffee Cheesecake with Nutella Swirl on a Brownie Base

I frequently bake for my students. I may be fooling myself, but a yummy brownie or delicious cupcake seems to lessen the blow of getting one's less than stellar calculus exam back. I also need to give away my baked goods to my students, or my friends will soon start blaming me for sugar overload; the students never complain. Students are also excellent guinea pigs for testing out new recipes. But during semesters when I have a lot of students, I need recipes that can feed a crowd. Cheesecake is perfect - it's fancier than a brownie, easy to make, and serves a lot, especially when I use my 9 x 9 springform pan.





The recipe for this cheesecake is very similar to that of the April Daring Bakers challenge, which is itself very close to Dorie Greenspan's recipe. I added coffee extract, espresso powder, and Kahlua. I also mixed some of the batter with some warmed nutella, and added a nutella swirl. The nutella-batter was too heavy for the cheesecake batter; I got only a slight hint of a swirl on top of the cheesecake, and more of a nutella-cheesecake layer right on top of the brownie layer. It wasn't quite the look I was going for, but it's probably one of the best cheesecakes I've ever had. I especially loved the brownie base. No matter how many layers of aluminum foil I use when I make cheesecake, the water bath always seems to leak into the springform pan. Here, though, the slight leak just seemed to make the brownie base just that much fudgier. Yum.

This recipe makes a lot of cheesecake. I used a 9 x 9 springform pan and had some batter left over for two round 4" cheesecakes. If you're using an oreo-cookie or graham cracker crust, you probably won't have any batter left over after filling the 9 x 9 pan. Use two-thirds of the cheesecake batter recipe (3 eggs) for a 9" round springform pan with brownie crust (or even for a slightly shorter cheesecake in a 10" round pan).

Recipe:

For the Brownie Base (adapted from King Arthur Flour):

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter 3/4 cup (2 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
4 large eggs
2 cups (14 ounces) sugar
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (or spray with baking spray) a 9 x 9 square springform pan.

Melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder. Cover, and set aside to cool.

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs for 3 minutes, then gradually add the sugar, beating 2 to 3 minutes more. Stir in the butter/chocolate mixture. Gently fold in the flour and salt, just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool completely.


For the Cheesecake:

1 Tablespoon espresso powder
1.5 Tablespoons hot water
36 ounces cream cheese (preferably Philadelphia cream cheese)
1.5 cups sugar
5 eggs
1.5 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons coffee extract
1 Tablespoon Kahlua
1/4 cup Nutella, warmed

Be sure to have all ingredients at room temperature, especially the eggs and cream cheese. This will help keep cracks from forming in the top of the cheesecake.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (if you're doing the cheesecake the next day; otherwise just leave the oven on). Put a kettle of water on to boil for the waterbath. Wrap springform pan in 3-4 layers of aluminum foil to prevent (or lessen at least!) leakage.

Dissolve the espresso powder in the hot water; cover.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed for about 4 minutes, until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 4 minutes, until the cream cheese is light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 1 minute) and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Beating at low speed, add the heavy cream, extracts, and espresso powder mixture. Stir in the Kahlua. The batter will be thin.

(Note: If you're using a hand mixer, you will want to increase the mixing times).


In a separate bowl, stir together about 2 cups of the batter and the nutella. Pour the remaining batter on top of the cooled brownie base. You'll want to leave a little room (half-inch or so) at the very top of the pan, but it should be nearly full (depending on your pan size and your base, you may have extra batter which can be cooked in small cake pans or muffin tins). Drop the nutella/batter mixture on top of the coffee batter in spoonfuls over the top of the cheesecake. Much of this will sink through the coffee batter. With a knife, gently swirl the nutella batter through the coffee batter.

Bake the cheesecake for about 60-75 minutes: it should hold together, but there will still be a lot of jiggle in the center. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. After one hour, remove the cake from the water bath, and let it finish cooling on the counter top. Refrigerate overnight, and bring to room temperature before serving.