Step One to a Tiramisu Torte

The Idea:

Faced with preparing an Italian dinner, only one option jumped to mind for dessert-tiramisu. Of course I inevitably toyed with making it into a torte, but better take one thing at a time and try to master tiramisu before I turn it into a torte. Rome wasn't built in a day after all. Oh boy, I kill myself.... but moving on. I was never a big tiramisu fan until I was in Italy with a die hard tiramisu fan and he managed to turn me into a tiramisu lover. Not a big challenge, who doesn't love coffee, booze, custard, cake and chocolate?

The Recipe:

Tiramisu.

I chose this recipe because after sorting through hundreds of recipes online, calorie guilt got the best of me and I decided to try for a whipped egg white vs. whipped cream version. More or less any colored alcohol was mentioned in all recipes from rum to chocolate liqueur to brandy. This one has brandy. This recipe also uses shaved chocolate vs. cocoa.The Result:

I was happy with the result. I have tasted better and worse. This was lacking certain decadent richness, but I can accept that due to the egg vs. cream issue. I definitely over soaked the lady fingers and have no one to blame but myself. The recipe clearly said QUICKLY soak lady fingers in coffee. The chocolate shavings were too big, cocoa would have been better for dusting the top.

What I would do differently next time/how I would use this info to get a torte recipe:

Next time I would try making a coffee, brandy and sugar glaze and make giant lady finger recipe disk for torte layers. For the filling I would incorporate a combination of heavy cream and egg whites- perhaps more fat would hold up better between the layers. Instead of chocolate shavings I would use sweetened cocoa to dust the filling and if making a torte I would top the whole thing with a ganache.

If you happen to have a good tiramisu recipe, please leave me a comment!

(Update: Since I can't seem to comment on my own blog, In response to Dace:

Man bija personīgais strīds, bērniem ēst jēlu olu tiramisu vai nē. Visi pārdzīvoja. Arī nezinu, vai tiramisu varētu ganache noturēt, bet tas būtu neautentiskās tortes versijā. Nepretendēšu uz autentisku tiramisu torte, tikai tiramisu "inspirētu" torti! ;)