Tiramisu cake

I made this cake as a present for a house-warming party. It was a first time I made tiramisu in a cake form, so I modified my classic recipe a little bit to make it work. I added gelatine to keep it stay and for the stronger texture.

Ingredients:

2 ready made round sponges (21cm diameter and about 3-4cm thick)
1,5 package lady-fingers biscuits
1 tbsp good quality cocoa powder (I used Dutch-processed)

Tiramisu cream:
250g mascarpone,
250ml heavy cream,
3 eggs,
100ml Kahlua (any coffee liqueur or Irish Cream would work well)
1 leaf gelatine (you can add 1 more leaf for stronger texture or for the summer time),
1/2 cup caster sugar,
1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla essence,


Soak gelatine leaf in cold water. Set aside.
Put the mascarpone in a small bowl and gently fold in the liqueur and vanilla seeds (or vanilla essence). Set aside.
Put the egg yolks and 1/4 cup of sugar on a double boiler and whisk until sugar dissolved and mixture is hot on touch. Remove from heat and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy then gently fold in the mascarpone mixture.
Whip the cream until soft peaks and fold in the mascarpone mixture.
Drain the water from the gelatine and dissolve it in microwave or over a double boiler.
Whip the egg whites until soft peaks, continuing whipping slowly add the dissolved gelatine and whip until glossy. Slowly fold in the mascarpone mixture.


Syrup:

100ml strong espresso,
4 tbsp sugar,
50ml Kahlua.

Mix all ingredients and stir until sugar dissolved. Allow to cool.

To assemble:
Put one circle of sponge on the bottom of 23cm spring-form cake pan. Arrange lady-finger biscuits around the sides of the pan. Moist the sponge with prepared syrup then cover with the half of mascarpone cream. Cover with second sponge, moist it with the syrup then cover with the remaining mascarpone cream. Dust over with the cocoa powder. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Iced honey mascarpone and almond cake with fig salad

This is my new favourite - awesome almond cake with figs - absolute divine.  To be honest I'm not a big fun of mascarpone and also I don't like honey, but in this cake I love them. Try it with a glass of a sherbety, grapey Moscato.
You’ll need to start this recipe at least a day ahead. Recipe adapted from Gourmet Traveller Magazine.

Ingredients:
12       figs, quartered
125 gm       raspberries (optional)
1 tbsp       amaretto
To serve:       honey

Almond dacquoise
200 gm       unblanched almonds
6       eggwhites
110 gm (½ cup)       caster sugar
60 gm       icing sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
50 gm       plain flour

Honey mascarpone
3       egg yolks
110 gm       honey (I used 50 gm honey and 60 gm brown sugar)
750 gm       mascarpone (I used 400 gm mascarpone and 500 ml whipped cream)
60 ml (¼ cup)       amaretto




1     For dacquoise, preheat oven to 150C. Process almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Whisk eggwhites in an electric mixer until soft peaks form, add caster sugar and whisk until thick and glossy. Fold in icing sugar, then almonds and flour and spoon into a piping bag. Trace three 18cm circles onto baking paper-lined oven trays. Pipe dacquoise within template into circles, bake for 15 minutes or until just golden, cool on trays for 5 minutes, then turn onto baking paper sprinkled with icing sugar and cool completely.

2     For mascarpone, combine egg yolks and honey in a heat-proof bowl and whisk over simmering water for 7-8 minutes or until pale and thick. Transfer to an electric mixer and whisk until cold. In a bowl, gently mix amaretto and mascarpone, then fold in egg yolk mixture.

3     To assemble, place a dacquoise circle, trimming edges to fit, into a baking paper-lined 20cm springform pan, spread with one third of mascarpone all the way to the edges and down the sides, then top with another circle. Repeat with remaining mascarpone and dacquoise, finishing with a layer of mascarpone and freeze overnight.

4     Fifteen minutes before serving, remove cake from freezer and place in refrigerator. Combine figs and raspberries in a bowl, drizzle with amaretto and stand for 10 minutes. To serve, remove cake from pan, arrange fig salad on top and drizzle with honey.

Tangelo Cakes with Rhubarb Cream

Ingredients
Tangelo Confit
2 tangelos, cut into 5mm-thick slices and seeds removed
2 cups water
1 cup sugar

Rhubarb Cream
250g rhubarb, cut into slices
¼ cup tangelo juice
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoons mascarpone

Tangelo Cakes
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
½ cup tangelo juice (from about 2 tangelos)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
12 slices tangelo confit

Method
Tangelo Confit
Place the tangelos in a saucepan with the water and sugar, and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 20 minutes until tender. Cool in the syrup.

Rhubarb Cream
Place the rhubarb, tangelo juice and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until the rhubarb is tender (around 10 minutes). Taste and add a little more sugar if necessary (it depends on the sweetness of the tangelos and rhubarb).

Allow to cool completely then mix gently with the mascarpone. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tangelo Cakes
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 12-cup muffin tray with oil and line the bases with rounds of baking paper. In a bowl beat the eggs and sugar until combined. Add the tangelo juice and olive oil.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a separate bowl. Add the flour into the wet mix a third at a time, combining well. This will make quite a runny batter. Pour into the muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin. Top each cake with a slice of tangelo confit. Serve either warm or cold with a spoonful of the rhubarb cream. Serves 12.



Enjoy!