I hope so, you were able to use your days off over Sunday for a large portion of relaxation. After a short creative break [which just had to be after a few stressful weeks at work] we’re starting again with you today. Many delicious spring-themed recipes await you in the coming weeks. I don’t want to reveal too much just yet, but it’s not only going to be pretty colorful, but also fruity, sweet and savoury. Mr wild garlic and Mrs rhubarb were our guests. We also became bread bakers. But as I said: there will be more about this in the coming weeks.
Starting the new week with a day off is just a dream, isn’t it? If it were up to us, it could be like this every week. Then we wouldn’t have to drag ourselves out of bed on Monday morning. And could spoil you with a fresh piece of cake every week. Wouldn’t that be something?
TIRAMSIU CAKE FROM KITCHEN IMPOSSIBLE
Because to match yesterday, we’ll just call it: “Happy Lazy Monday”, we brought you a nice little cake. The word “fine” doesn’t come close to describing how this Italian “Torta Tiramisù” tastes. Maybe “ultra” would be better. Or quite simply: fantastic.
The recipe for this Italian tiramisu cake did not come from our pen this time, but from a true Italian – Melissa Forti. Melissa Forti runs a coffee shop – the “Melissa’s Tea Room & Cakes” – in Sarzana, a small Italian town in the coastal region of Liguria. We became aware of them when we watched the show “Kitchen Impossible” a few weeks ago. In Kitchen Impossible, two chefs compete against each other. The other person sends the chef to another country and has him cook a typical national dish there. The chef has to find out how the dish is prepared from the taste alone. We think Kitchen Impossible is a really good show where you can learn not only about cooking but also about other countries and good restaurants. A ray of light in the otherwise rather gloomy television sky.
In the said program, star chef Tim Raue had to bake the “Torta Tiramisù” in Italy. The original looked so damn delicious that we knew we had to bake it! Said and done! So today you can find this incredible recipe on our blog – the Tiramisu Cake from Kitchen Impossible.
If you don’t bake cakes often, don’t be put off by the recipe! It looks more complex and difficult than it is. And the result is really worth it!
FOR THE CAKE BASES:
285 grams of flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
150 grams of sugar
4 eggs
1/4 tsp cream of tartar baking powder
100 ml olive oil
300 ml strongly brewed espresso
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cocoa powder for dusting
FOR THE CAKE CREAM:
200 g crème fraîche
300 grams of mascarpone
50 g powdered sugar
PREPARATION:
For baking, I used a 20 cm diameter baking pan and divided the dough into thirds for baking. This worked very well and resulted in the optimal height of the cake bases.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C (top/bottom heat). Line the sides and bottom of the baking pan with parchment paper. I just made a small template that fits perfectly in my baking pan.
For the dough, first, make the espresso and set it aside. Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites together with the cream of tartar until fluffy, then add half the sugar and beat really well until stiff. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks together with the oil, 200 ml of the espresso, salt, the remaining sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy. Mix the flour and baking powder and stir carefully into the egg and espresso mixture. Stir only until a homogeneous mass is formed – so do not mix for too long!
Now carefully fold in the egg whites with a spatula or wooden spoon. Divide the dough into thirds and bake for 25 to 30 minutes each. Don’t forget the chopstick test! No more dough should stick to the toothpick.
Allow the finished bases to cool briefly, remove from the mould and saturate generously with the remaining espresso. The more you soak, the juicier your tartlet will be in the end. Let the soaked floors cool down completely.
For the cake cream, using an electric mixer, beat the mascarpone with the crème fraîche and powdered sugar until creamy. Now take the first cake base and spread it thinly with cream. Sift cocoa powder over it and put it on the second base. Also spread/sieve over the cream and cocoa powder and place the last cake base (soaked side down). Caution! After filling the tart you should have about 3/4 of the cake cream left. Decorate the tart with the remaining cream. You can do this, like me, by covering the outside of the cake sparsely with cream and spraying small dots on top with a star tip, or you can decorate the cake evenly with cream. As you wish.
Finally, dust the tartlet with some cocoa powder and serve well chilled.
