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! ;)

Russian* Apple Pie (or when desserts go wrong)

The Idea: I will not dwell much on this recipe or the result, but some times good intentions do not result in good outcomes. For our semi-regular "Ethnic" night, my family made Russian fare and while it was a great opportunity to make a recipe I found for "Russian Torte**" online, the 1350 calories per serving turned me off and I settled on something different- a simple, 4 ingredient dessert that had positive reviews.

The Recipe:
Russian Apple Pie on Food.com

Alterations:
No Granny Smith Apples available (unless I want to go to a high priced import shop) so the cheaply available Polish apples went in this version. No chance on blaming the apples for the negative result. I did sprinkle a bit of baking powder in the batter because I had my doubts as soon as I realized what was going into the batter that my result was going to basically be a thick pancake with apples in it. It reminded me of the times way back when when my sister and I used to have recipe free bake-offs which 9 times out of 10 resulted in thick, oven cooked pancakes since we were pretty clueless about what actually should go into cake batter... but back to this flop of a desert. At least I had some assistance from my trusty sous chef:
Lessons Learned:

• I should have known better.
  


• Stick to tortes.
  


• In all fairness this was ok sprinkled with powdered sugar as a afternoon snack for kids. The recipe only has 1/2c sugar in the whole thing, so at least it is not too sweet. Or sweet at all.

What's Next:

My next post will be about an excellent light torte for a BBQ the next day, but I will keep the calorie laden Russian Torte Recipe in mind for future use. When I need to stock up on calories for a long winter or something.

*I cannot vouch for the authenticity of these recipes, so I hold no one accountable for this sad excuse for a "desert." :)

**I will be trying that one later, despite calorie count because I am well aware that is probably the average calorie count for a good sized piece of torte! I am not ignorant about where the cups of sugar and 100s of grams of butter go to...

The Brazilian Contribution

The Idea:
We once again had a theme night with Brazil as the country. I came across this recipe which claimed to be Brazilian. not finding a torte recipe, I went with this Gingerbread Roulade with Lemon sauce.


The Recipe:
Gingerbread Roulade with Dulce de Leche Cream Filling
http://www.recipe.com/gingerbread-roulade-with-dulce-de-leche-cream-filling/


Alterations:
I had no candied ginger available and instead of creme fraiche, I used high quality plain yogurt

Lessons Learned:

• Dulce de Leche may be a possible sweet topping/filling for a cake, but it is too runny for frosting.
  



• not much else here to work with for future tortes.



• If I were to make a roulade again, the batter must be spread very thinly on the cookie sheet. I hesitated to make it so thin, but as you can see, it turned out to be more of a tube than a roulade.
  

Mango Pavlova (yeah, I know it is not a torte...)

The Idea: Copy-catting a friend of mine, I decided to have theme nights with food, etc. from different countries chosen by my children. This week they chose Australia. This was a bit tough, since very few items for "authentic" Australian/bush food are available close to me, but since a few Australian friends suggested making a pavlova for dessert, I decided to post the results. A pavlova is of course not a torte, but I may use elements of a pavlova and incorporate they into a torte since I was so thrilled with the results. The Recipe: I based my pavlova on "The Best Pavlova" recipe from allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/the-best-pavlova/Detail.aspx)

Alterations:

• The recipe said plain sugar, but I whirled it around in a food processor to make it extra fine- some Australian recipes insisted on caster sugar.


• I used mango on top instead of strawberries, because around here this time of year there are few good, fresh fruits and my wonderful guests just happened to bring me 2 perfectly ripe mangoes (also a rarity around here!) This brought a wonderful desert up to another level in my opinion.


• I used 4 egg whites to up the size a bit, but reduced sugar by 1/2, because I really think it is enough for meringues. It was the perfect sweetness.


• I cooked it for 1 hour at 125 deg C, turned off the oven and left it in the oven for 30min, then opened the door for 30min.


• I topped it with 400mL of whipping cream for no other reason than whipping cream comes in 200ml containers and I thought 200ml would be too little. The 1 1/4c would have been fine.


• I did not pipe the meringue for the simple reason that I was feeling lazy.

Lessons Learned:

• Serves 12 in this case meant 4 adults 3 kids- with 1 exception* everyone had seconds (and 3rds).


• I will definitely make this again provided I have very good fruit to put on top. My standby bananas or pears would have been OK, but I think excellent fruit makes this dessert.


• Make a higher "wall"to hold in the whipped cream/fruit. This is not very important, but it helps to keep it together a bit. Perhaps pulling out the piping bag would help here ;).


• I have to put more thought into how I can incorporate this into a torte. Perhaps a light white/yellow or angel cake, layered with meringue, whipped cream fruit? It would almost not be worth it because this is simply so good by itself. I will have to ponder the possibilities over my next long run.

Next up: Easter. I am thinking of finally breaking out the imported marshmallows and trying my hand at home made fondant, or if I make my way over to the inconveniently located restaurant supply store I will buy marzipan by the kg and make a marzipan wrapped torte. I am thinking egg shaped and colored! *the one exception is my cute little nemesis goddaughter who is the only one who eats very little cake while my little monsters scarf them down. What do you bake for a child who eats very, very sensibly???