Tiramisu!!!

Hello darlings, I got my tiramisu recipe from this website! This recipe received raving reviews so I decided to try it out, but made some changes along the way.

Original Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tiramisu-II/Detail.aspx

Tiramisu

Ingredients (serving for 12)

• 6 egg yolks
• 150 g white sugar
• 155 ml milk
• 295 ml heavy cream
• 3 ml vanilla extract
• 455 g mascarpone cheese
• 60 ml strong brewed coffee, room temperature
• 30 ml rum
• 2 (3 ounce) packages ladyfinger cookies
• 5 g unsweetened cocoa powder

Beng's note:

Ladyfinger cookies, called savoiardi in Italian, can only be found at Carrefour. They look like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladyfinger_(cookie)

Mascarpone cheese can be found at carrefour and phoonhuat, my ntuc doesn't sell it but I'm not sure if its the same for other branches.

Strong brewed coffee = espresso or normal kopi-o boiled till half of original volume. Highly concentrated in short.

As for the type of liqueur, rum, kahlua, bailey's are all suitable substitutes, though I used Southern Comfort for gg's cake because i have neither of the above, and luckily it didn't taste weird. I think the general thumb of rule is to use sweet liqueur, if not the milky ones.

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil gently for 1 minute, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Cover tightly and chill in refrigerator 1 hour.
2. In a medium bowl, beat cream with vanilla until stiff peaks form. Whisk mascarpone into yolk mixture until smooth.
3. In a small bowl, combine coffee and rum. Split ladyfingers in half lengthwise and drizzle with coffee mixture.
4. Arrange half of soaked ladyfingers in bottom of a 7x11 inch dish. Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers, then half of whipped cream over that. Repeat layers and sprinkle with cocoa. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours, until set.

Beng's notes:

Step 1: Alternatively, use a double boiler or water bath to heat up the mixture. I guess direct heat can be used, but most recipes I saw else where used the aforementioned methods, it's always better to err on the side of caution.

Step 3: Many comments left by people who tried this recipe recommended doubling the amount of liqueur, you might want to follow for a stronger liqueur flavour. You can either drizzle the coffee/liqueur mixture onto the cookies, or simply soak the entire stick into the mixture. I did the later as it will absorb the coffee liqueur flavour better. Just dunk it in for a second, those cookies can get soggy easily.

Step 4:I'll normally combine the yolk and cream mixture into one before spreading it onto the ladyfingers, instead of separating them into 2 layers. Sprinkle cocoa powder only after the cake is refrigerated to prevent them from turning damp easily..

Refrigerate for 1 day, best 2 days, for the flavours to blend and "come out".

Cheers!!! :D