Tiramisù

When my children were little they loved to invite all their friends at their birthday party even though we lived in a little apartment, which they filled with balloons, fun, and laughter.

At those events I used to make a birthday cake adding on top of it the lit candles to blow out. I also prepared little sandwiches, appetizers, snacks and the tiramisù. But in every birthday party I had the same problem, only few of the little guests ate the birthday cake while everybody wanted to eat the  tiramisù, which was never big enough to satisfy the sweet-tooth little army.

Thus, I experimented with making two tiramisù rather than traditional birthday cake, with candles on top. Great success! Everybody was happy and no more leftovers.

One of the tiramisù principal ingredients is the mascarpone cheese which is not suitable for dieting people, but I have a secret for you: you can use ricotta cheese instead of mascarpone cheese, it will be lighter in calories but not lighter in flavor. I promise you! 

Ingredients

• 14 Oz (~ 400 gr) “Savoiardi” lady fingers biscuit;
• 3 large eggs (they must be fresh and pasteurized because they will be uncooked);
• 10.6 oz (~300 gr) mascarpone cheese;
• 2 cups black espresso coffee;
• 1/4 rum, pisco or grappa (optional, but well-recommended);
• 3 tbsp sugar;
• 2.5 oz (~ 100 gr) powdered unsweetened cocoa;
• Salt.

Directions

You will need 3 bowls, 1 rectangular pan, a small sieve and an electric hand mixer. 

Make the black espresso coffee and pour it into a bowl. Add one shot of rum, or pisco, or grappa, and allow it to cool down. 

Separate egg yolks from egg white and put them in two separate bowls. 

Beat egg yolks with sugar until creamy white. In the same bowl add mascarpone cheese and beat until well blended. 

In another bowl, beat egg albumens with a pinch of salt until well frothy, then pour it into the bowl of mascarpone mixture and beat until well blended. Put it aside. 

Now, one at a time, quickly dip a “savoiardo” biscuit in the espresso coffee and immediately pull it out. One by one, put them across the bottom of the rectangular pan. 

Spoon a layer of the mixture cream across the layer of "savoiardi." Use 1/2 of the mascarpone mix. The layer should be about 3/8 in. (~1 cm.) thick. 

Put a tablespoon of cocoa into a small sieve, and with the help of a spoon, sift it on top of the mascarpone layer, making sure you cover the whole thing evenly. 

Dip another layer of “savoiardi” repeating the previous procedure, but place the biscuits in transversal way, as compared to the first layer. 

Spoon a second layer of mascarpone mixture across the second layer of “savoiardi,” and sift another layer of cocoa above it. 

Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours before serving. 

The tiramisù will taste quite good for several days if refrigerated, but it will not need to because it will eaten in the blink of an eye.