Coffee Ice Cream

Recipe adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Tiramisu Cake

This is the perfect cake to make for a celebration. It is easy to make, not very time-consuming and tastes wonderful! It will take longer if you make your ladyfingers, I decided to try it out with store-bought Savoiardi cookies. We made this for my boyfriend's mother's birthday and everyone loved it! I would make a bigger one next time I think, maybe a 9-inch cake, because it disappeared quickly!

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Tiramisu Cake

Adapted from Happy Home Baking

Makes one 7-inch cake

For the espresso syrup:

1 tbsp instant espresso/coffee powder

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup boiling water

1 tbsp Kahlua (or Marsala)

Dissolve the instant espresso/coffee powder and sugar in the boiling water. Let it cool and stir in the Kahlua. Set aside.

For the filling:

250 g marscapone cheese

1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp icing sugar

2 tbsp Kahlua (or Marsala)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

In a mixing bowl, whisk marscapone, icing sugar, vanilla extract, Kahlua and 3 tbsp of the espresso syrup with a manual whisk until blended.

With an electric mixer, whisk the whipping cream until soft peaks form and fold 1/4 of it in the marscapone mixture with a spatula. Fold the remaining whipped cream in the marscapone mixture gently.

To assemble the cake:

About 24 ladyfingers (Savoiardi)

Dark and white chocolate shavings

Cocoa powder, to dust

Espresso syrup (above)

Filling (above)

Line the edges of a 7-inch spring form pan (remove the base) with plastic wrap and place it on a plate or a round cardboard base. Cut off one end of the ladyfingers so each is about 3 inches in length. Line the sides of the pan with the ladyfingers (about 17) and save the leftover small pieces.

Gently dip ladyfingers one at a time in the espresso syrup and use them to line the base of the pan, soaked side up. Cut the ladyfingers into shorter lengths if necessary and use the leftovers pieces to fill in the gaps.

Spoon over half of the filling and spread it evenly over the first layer of ladyfingers. Grate some dark chocolate over the filling. Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers and spoon over the remaining filling. Spread and smooth the top. Dust with cocoa powder and grate some more dark and white chocolate over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, best left overnight.

Before serving, unmold the cake and tie a ribbon around the outer ladyfingers.

Macarons au café - Coffee Macarons

Last year I had visited a macaron shop in the downtown area of Montreal and wrote a post about it! The owners of that shop have written a book with all the recipes of the macarons they sell there and guess what? I got it for Christmas! It is such a beautiful book! I will attempt to make my favorite macaron one day, caramel fleur de sel.

This week, I made my first macaron from that book, Macarons au café (or Coffee Macarons) following the Italian meringue method. The recipes are planned out for you, dividing the tasks to make each macaron in days. For these, Jour 1 consisted of making the chocolate-espresso ganache and Jour 2 consisted of making the shells and assembling them. They turned out a success, even if I used dark chocolate instead of milk for the ganache! I only think that I should have ground the almond powder more because my macaron shells turned out looking a bit grainy. I'll be doing that next time one day or two before and letting it dry. I can't wait to try making more! Here is their in-store catalogue!

Tiramisu Cups

I made a Tiramisu cake about a month ago following Dorie Greenspan's recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours. Since everyone in my family loves Tiramisu, I had chosen to make it for my mother's birthday. The filling and coffee-flavored icing, both made with mascarpone, were delicious. I was pretty disappointed with the sponge cake though. Even if I had made it a day in advance, it turned out dry and hadn't absorbed the syrup. Overall, the cake didn't resemble the famous Italian dessert I knew.

Needless to say, I wasn't satisfied with my result and couldn't cross Tiramisu off my wishlist. Because I still had some mascarpone left in the fridge, I decided to give it another try, this time using a recipe that uses Savoiardi ladyfingers.

It didn't take me much time at all to make these Tiramisu cups. I put on The Martha Stewart Living Show yesterday morning and was watching out for Kaitlin from the Whisk Kid. I prepared the coffee liquid as the show started, cooled it, then started on the mascarpone mixture. Everything was ready to be arranged into the cups when the Whisk Kid (why do the blog names stick to us?) made her guest appearance. It was so incredible to see someone who's blog I've been following for a while now appear on television. Not only that, but also standing next to Martha Stewart and showing her how to make the fabulous Super Epic Rainbow Cake that has inspired us all! Congrats Whisk Kid!

So the Tiramisu cups were assembled in no-time, and after being refrigerated for a couple of hours, I recognized the soft, syrupy layers between the creamy mascarpone. Amazing how something so good can take so little time to make!

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Tiramisu Cups

Adapted from Ooh, Look... (originally from Donna Hay)

Makes 3-4 serving cups

1/2 cup strong black coffee (I used 1 tbsp Instant Espresso from Nescafe with 125ml boiling water)

1/3 coffee liqueur (Kahlua or Tia Maria)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup (250g) mascarpone

1/4 cup cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp brown sugar, extra

Savoiardi ladyfinger biscuits

Place coffee, liqueur and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved (the alcohol will evaporate). Pour into a shallow bowl and refrigerate until cool.

Whisk together the mascarpone (I used 230g), cream, vanilla, and extra sugar until combined. Do not overbeat or the mixture will be too thick (I added a little cream to it cause mine was too thick).

Remove coffee liquid from refrigerator. Dip one side of the ladyfinger into the liquid, then turn it over and dip the other side. Arrange the biscuit on the base of one cup and repeat the dipping until the base of the cup is covered. (I cut the biscuits for them to fit)

Spread some of the mascarpone mixture over the biscuits. Dip and arrange a second layer of ladyfingers, then top with some more of the mascarpone mixture. Continue with the rest of the cups.

Refrigerate the tiramisu cups for at least 2 hours. Sprinkle with cocoa powder before serving. The cups keep for 3 days in the refrigerator, and its flavor improves over this time.