Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tiramisu Cake and Questionable Parenting Practices; TWD



Dorie introduces this cake by saying that in the 1990s, the only way to avoid tiramisu was to go to Antartica. I cannot figure out why anyone would want to avoid tiramisu. Heck, I would probably be willing to travel to Antartica to get it, if that was the only place it was available. Luckily, Dorie makes it available in a layer cake form, with homemade yellow cake instead of storebought ladyfingers. This cake is wonderfully delicious, drenched in espresso syrup and a little amaretto kick. It is the perfect "pick me up".

Traditionally, this is a dessert made with the ladyfingers, mascarpone cheese mixed with some liqueur, espresso, and a dusting of cocoa powder. I didn't have any mascarpone, but had ricotta I needed to use, so I used that. I had read you could use ricotta and to whir it in a food processor to make it smoother. I was rushed, so I skipped that part. I was worried it would make the filling and frosting too grainy, but after sitting in the refrigerator over night, it is very smooth. I knew I would love this recipe at this point:



This cake gets more than just a dusting of chocolate. The layers are filled with chunks of chocolate. I had some of this on hand:



A perfect choice for this cake. Making the cake was fun and simple. I was getting out the ingredients and asked Little E to do some quick math for me to figure out how many grams of cake flour I needed. After telling me the answer was 224, he came to see what I was doing. I was pouring the cake flour onto the scale. Oooops, 225 grams. I pulled a spoon out and got lucky and scooped exactly one gram. So I said to Little E, "If you ever need to eyeball one gram of white powder, this is what it looks like. hee hee." I'm not sure what is wrong with me, that I would make a drug joke to my thirteen year old. He responded, "Well, hopefully I'll be dealing in kilos, not grams, hee hee." So I stopped giggling and made it clear that it is not really funny.

Little E brought home a stray cat two nights ago and we are letting it stay here while we find it a home. It is mentally ill I think, and continuously sucks on your shirt and kneads at you like it is nursing. Constantly. It has kept him awake for the past two nights so he was really dragging this morning. Of course, I offered him a piece of the tiramisu cake for breakfast. He really needed a "pick me up". He was running late, so he grabbed a piece and headed out the door. There goes my teenager, heading to school eating a 'breakfast' not only filled with sugar, but laced with alcohol and espresso as well. At least I did not make any more cocaine jokes.

I would guess this cake has the potential to be addicting though. It is really delicious. This recipe was chosen by Megan, of My Baking Adventures. She has the recipe and great step by step pictures on her blog. It can also be found on pages 266-268 of Baking, From My Home To Yours, by Dorie Greenspan.

14 comments:

Megan said...

Ha ha ha ha - what a great story about your son. Is it wrong that I gave an 11 year old cake filled with coffee and alcohol?

And I'm right there with you if Antarctica is the only place we can get the cake!

Jennifer said...

Little e crack me up! He's so funny and smart.

Teanna said...

Wait, you mean this wouldn't make a good breakfast????

.....

hahaha Great story about your son! The cake looks amazing!

Pamela said...

Oh, that poor little cat! It's nice of you to care for him for a bit. The cake looks great!

spike. said...

The coffee and alcohol cancel each other out right? hmm, this cake is pretty addictive which explains why there is none left in my house

Ms. PH said...

I think you should be proud of E - he has lofty goals. No matter what you are, be the best at it - even if it is a drug seller, I guess.

Every once and awhile, I will have dessert for breakfast (because, seriously, isn't most breakfast food essentially dessert anyway?) and the times that it has been alcohol laced, I wonder if my breath smells at work.

chocolatechic said...

giggle....

I am so glad you liked it.

Marthe said...

That poor cat!! This cake is addictive, ask any one of my colleagues!

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks gorgeous. Love the story. Ha!

Danielle said...

LMAO that kitty sounds normal to me! We had a cat that used to suck on the tip of its tail like it was nursing, they dont have thumbs so its the next best thing right!!

I ate the last slice for breakfast myself. I didnt lace mine with booze msaybe I should next time! Your cake looks great!

Danielle said...

LMAO that kitty sounds normal to me! We had a cat that used to suck on the tip of its tail like it was nursing, they dont have thumbs so its the next best thing right!!

I ate the last slice for breakfast myself. I didnt lace mine with booze msaybe I should next time! Your cake looks great!

Katie said...

Oh no! Now you have added a crazy cat to the mix? So since you already had Doobie the dog. Is this going to be Snow the Cat?

That cake looks fabulous. I may have to try to make that!

TeaLady said...

Alcohol and elementary school!! Questionable!!! I don't think so!!! Looks like a great cake.

Sounds like kitty left it's momma too early. Mine used to do that. Weird feeling at 2:00 in the morning to wake up to that.

James said...

Yum, your cake looks fantastic! I would like to taste now.