Tiramisu for My Birthday

One of my favorite desserts of all time is Italian Tiramisu.  Since today is my birthday, I decided to make a big pan of it to celebrate.  Tiramisu is so delicious because of the festival of contrasting flavors of espresso, cheese, dark chocolate, lemon, vanilla, and rum.  Therefore, there are a lot of ingredients that go into this dessert, however the actual process of making a Tiramisu is much easier than you may imagine.

To make a two-layer 9"x13" pan, you will need these ingredients:

3 cups milk

1 cup sugar

4 large egg yolks

4 tablespoons corn starch

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons rum

1 tablespoon vanilla

8 ounces of cream cheese or Italian mascarpone cheese

2 tablespoons lemon juice - not needed if using mascapone cheese

1/4 cup sour cream - not needed if using mascapone cheese

3/4 cup heavy cream

2 cups espresso or strong coffee, cooled down

4 tablespoon coffee liqueur

17 oz package of crisp ladyfingers

4 ounces of dark chocolate

First of all, make the Italian cream custard.  Put 2 1/2 cups of milk and 1 cup of sugar in a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved and milk is very hot.

Separate 4 large eggs (you don't need to find green and pink Ameraucana eggs like I happen to have from my backyard chickens, Abby and Bella) and mix the yolks with 4 tablespoons of corn starch and 1/2 cup milk. 

Place a litte of the hot milk into the egg mixture and warm it up before adding it to the saucepan and whisking for 2 minutes, just until thickened.  Do not overcook or you will have scrambled eggs in your custard.

Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add 4 tablespoons of butter sliced into small pieces, 4 tablespoons of rum and 1 tablespoon of vanilla.

Mix all together until butter is melted and cover with a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard and cool it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Now make some espresso or very strong coffee.

Make at least 2 cups of espresso and mix in 4 tablespoons of coffee liqueur and let it cool.

Now make the mascapone cheese.  I live in an area with very few Italian immigrants so it's hard for me to find a real mascapone cheese.  I make a very good substitute by mixing 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 1/4 cup of sour cream until very creamy.

Fold the cheese into the cooled custard.

Now whip 3/4 cup of heavy cream until stiff.

Fold the whipped cream into the custard cheese.

It's finally time to assemble!

Dip ladyfingers one at a time in the espresso mixture and turn them over to get them wet, but not very soaked.

Crisp ladyfingers are easier to work with than spongy ones.

Layer the ladyfingers tightly in the pan.

Spread with half of the Italian cream mixture.

Grate dark chocolate over the top.  Or, sprinkle cocoa powder.

Make a second layer with espresso soaked ladyfingers, then the rest of the Italian cream and top with more grated chocolate.

Now for the hard part.....  Refrigerate overnight.

Ciao!