Friday, February 26, 2010

Daring Bakers: Tiramisu




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 is a traditional Italian dessert, but in all my years studying Italian and going to department dinners, I don't think this dessert ever came up. I think I first learned about it only by accident a few years ago. So I suspect it's not really that big of a deal in Italy, but maybe I'm wrong. I've never actually been to Italy. Someday when I've made my millions as a farmer (hah hah), Florence is at the very top of my list of places to visit (I might have a mild obsession and crush on Dante).Whatever the case, this was so much fun to make. It's a good thing I took a day off of work to make the tiramisu, it's another one of those projects. We had to make from scratch our own custards (zabaglione and pastry cream), our own lady fingers, and even our own mascarpone cheese. I think the mascarpone is the best part: it's really expensive at the grocery store, but super cheap and easy to make on your own. (Note: I found out, like others did, that the cream never did get to a high enough temperature in the water bath, so I just put the pot of cream straight on the burner, and it turned out fine.) Great challenge!

17 comments:

chef_d said...

Beautiful looking tiramisu!! Looks very yummy :)

Anonymous said...

Stunning tiramisu. Very nice presentation. Well done :)

Mary said...

It looks great--love the ladyfingers around the outside!

Lisa said...

You've done a wonderful job with this and your presentation is so tidy! Interesting that you never came across tiramisu before!

Suz said...

So beautifully presented! The ladyfingers round the edges are a nice touch.

Hilary said...

Oooh that looks divine!

Anonymous said...

Good job! Nice presentation!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Looks beautiful. Am happy you emjoyed it.
Thanks for baking with us.

kate the bake said...

I love the ladyfinger biscuits around the outside too, what great presentation!

Wic said...

it looks lovely and I love that you had so much fun with this months challenge.

Anonymous said...

Looks great!

Bread and Jam said...

Very nice work! :) Pretty presentation.

Unknown said...

Gorgeous tiramisu! Congratulations on a beautiful challenge!

amlamonte said...

mmm dante. too bad he only likes dead married girls. :) i love that everything on your tiramisu is homemade! the ladyfingers are especially beautiful. well done!-

ice tea: sugar high said...

Love your photos. Great job on the challenge, your tiramisu looks fantastic.

fairy_mi said...

yummmmm your tiramisu looks delicious!
What a great version for this challenge.
I love the flavors combination and the pictures are great
Beautifully done!
Inbal
(also a DB)

apparentlyjessy said...

I am sorry I haven't visited in a while. Your desserts always look so good, especially this Tiramisu, I would like some with a nice latte I think!