Tiramisu Cake

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe for Tiramisu Cake was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures. Tuesday's with Dorie has finally opened up its membership, and I've emailed to join (twice) but no word yet, so for now I'm still unofficial - though not for long!

Tiramisu is a traditional Italian desert that is made by soaking ladyfingers in espresso and topping them with a whipped mascarpone mixture. Dorie's version is a yellow layer cake soaked in espresso and topped (and filled) with a whipped mascarpone mixture. 

This was a fun cake to make, though incredibly time consuming - it took me 4 hours from start to finish. Of course, I do most of my baking while wearing my 6 month old in a baby carrier, so everything takes a little longer that it would normally. 

I substituted almond extract for the liqueur, and I made half the recipe in one 8" pan and cut the cake horizontally to make my layers. Other than that and topping it with finely chopped chocolate instead of cocoa powder, I stayed true to the recipe. 

I wish the layers of the cake were more evenly soaked with the espresso syrup, so if I make it again, I'll use different proportions on the layers than Dorie calls for. I really appreciate the addition of chocolate between the layers - without it the cake would be all one mushy texture.

I thought this was a very delicious cake, and though it has been a very long time since I've had tiramisu, the cake tasted exactly how I remember it. 

All in all I really loved this cake. I can't believe how many cakes I've been making lately, and enjoying - cake is not usually my thing... 

Great pick from Megan, please visit her blog for the recipe. 

Mascarpone

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe - tiramisu cake - mascarpone is one of the ingredients. Mascarpone is a rich creamy soft cheese used in Italian cuisine. I have been wanting to make it for some time, so this cake gave me the perfect excuse. 

I found two different recipes in cookbooks I have. One called for 2 cups heavy cream and 6 cups skim milk with a yield of 2 cups, the other called for 2 cups of cream and 1/4 cup of buttermilk with a 1 1/4 cup yield. The decision was obvious. 

It couldn't have been easier to make, and the result was heavenly! (though not terribly easy to photograph)

Mascarpone

adapted from Heaven's Banquet by Miriam Hospodar

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup buttermilk

Stir together cream and buttermilk in a small saucepan. Heat to lukewarm - 90 degrees. Careful not to overheat, as this will cause the mixture to curdle. When it reaches temperature, pour into glass jar, cover with a towel, and leave in a warm place for 24-36 hours, until thickened. Mine was about the consistency of a thick yogurt after 24 hours. Line a sieve with 2 layers of cheesecloth, place in a bowl so that the sieve is not touching the bottom of the bowl, spoon cheese into cheesecloth, cover and leave in refrigerator for several hours or over night. Remove cheese from cloth and store in an airtight container. Mascarpone will keep for a few days, but is best eaten the day it is made. 

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Strawberry Shortcakes

This week's recipe for SMS was chosen by Wendy of the fabulous blog Pinkstripes, and boy did she pick a winner!!! 

I was really excited to make these, and they didn't disappoint. They are basically biscuits filled and topped with strawberries and whipped cream, but oh my are they delicious. The shortcake is lightly sweet and contains lemon zest to make them extra special - I thought that was one of the things that really made this recipe. 

All of the components are really simple to put together, and fast as well - the whole prep took about 15 minutes. These will be something I'll be making again and again - especially as strawberries come into season in the coming weeks! 

I substituted agave syrup for sugar in all elements of the recipe so that my sugar-free 2 1/2 year old could eat them, and they turned out just beautifully. Thanks for the great pick Wendy! Please visit Wendy's blog for the recipe. If you'd like to see the other SMS baker's creations, look here.

Chocolate Cream Tart

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe was for a chocolate cream tart. 

Let me start by saying that I am not a fan of custardy desserts, never have been. I can't stand the texture. I decided to give this tart a try, however, because I had never made pastry cream and wanted to give it a shot, plus the comments from the official TWD members were so positive that I thought maybe this tart would change my mind. 

I am so glad I gave this tart a shot. It consists of a bittersweet chocolate shortbread crust, chocolate pastry cream filling, and a whipped cream topping. It is delicious. Incredibly rich, but not heavy, and the texture of the filling was silky and divine.

All of the elements were fairly simple to put together, and I had so much fun making the pastry cream. 

I made a few changes to the recipe, but nothing major: the crust calls for 1 egg yolk, though in my excitement I neglected to notice the word "yolk" and put in an entire egg. It worked great anyway, and I baked it an extra 4 minutes to make sure it would be crunchy, not cakey; the pastry cream calls for bittersweet chocolate, but all I had on hand was semisweet so I used that and reduced the sugar from 6 tablespoons to 4 so it wouldn't be too sweet; the whipped topping calls for confectioner's sugar, but I prefer to put just a touch of honey in mine. All of the components of this tart work beautifully together, this recipe is definitely another winner! 

The above photo does not do this tart justice - I waited too long to photograph it, and it started to dry out around the edges... oh well... I promise it tastes a lot better than it looks in this photo. (It also looked a lot better 3 days ago when I made it)

Kim of Scrumptious Photography chose this recipe. You can find the recipe here.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Granola Breakfast Cookies

Anytime I can have an excuse for eating cookies for breakfast, I'll take it! This week's recipe for the SMS baking group was for these yummy cookies made with granola. I used all molasses instead of molasses and honey - my cookies are probably browner than other people's because of that, and used some all purpose flour instead of all whole wheat - I had no idea I was running so low on wheat - but otherwise I stayed true to the recipe. These cookies are incredibly easy and fast to make - not taking into account the time it takes to make the granola - and quite yummy. The granola has a lot of variety in it - pumpkin seeds, almonds, rye flakes, dried cherries, etc... so there are a lot of great textures and flavors in the cookie. They are nice and crisp on the outside, and wonderfully chewy on the inside. All in all, a very tasty cookie - and sugar-free, so my 2 1/2 year old son can eat them! (He loved them, by the way). Thank you to Jessica of A Singleton in the Kitchen for choosing this recipe. You can find the recipe here on Jessica's blog, and if you'd like to see the other SMS baker's creations, look here.

Mediterranean Pizza (with Broccoli)

After seeing the delectable asparagus, fingerling potato and goat cheese pizza on Wendy's blog Pink Stripes I was inspired to make pizza of my own this week. 

For my crust, I used the same recipe she did from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart . It was the October 2008 Daring Bakers challenge, and let me say how fantastic it is. It is unbelievably simple to make - especially in a stand mixer. The dough takes less than 10 minutes to put together, nd doesn't require multiple turns of kneading and rising - simple, simple, simple! This recipe calls for tossing the dough. I had never tossed pizza dough before, but I was eager to give it try. It wasn't a terribly graceful operation, but it was  lot of fun, and it worked! I used 2 of the 6 balls of dough that the recipe makes, and ended up with pizzas approximately 12" in diameter. 

I went a little crazy with the toppings, but it all worked together, and the pizzas were delicious. I topped them with locally made tomato sauce, broccoli, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh parmesan, fresh mozzarella, gorgonzola, walnuts and fresh basil. So yummy. The recipe for the crust can be found here at Rosa's Yummy Yums

No Sweet Melissa Sundays today...

My 2 1/2 year old and I both had a stomach bug for the last week - hence the lack of postings... He's completely over it, and I'm pretty much over it, but didn't quite feel up to baking :( 

I'm hoping to make the turnovers later this week and post them then.