Mini tiramisu

The KAF tiramisu recipe is pretty good. I am trying it out again. This time in a smaller scale, and is for a friend nearby.

Recipe: Mini tiramisu (1 small pan)

Ingredients:
Cake
- 5 lady's fingers
- 1 tube of starbuck via coffee
- 2 TB water
- 1-2 TB sherry cream
- 2 tp cocoa powder
- 1 TB chocolate bits
Filling
- 1/3 of a pack of 1/3 less fat cream cheese, about 8/3 oz
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tp lime juice

Procedure:
1. Mix cheese, lime juice, heavy cream, and confectioners' sugar in a bowl. Beat on low speed until integrated.
2. Dissolve via coffee in 2 TB hot water in a sauce pan. Heat the coffee until the liquid is reduced to about 1/2 TB. Then remove from heat. Add 1-2 TB sherry cream. Mix well to dissolve any coffee that is drying on the sauce pan.
3. Line lady's fingers on a small pan. Brush generously with coffee.
4. Pour beaten cream and cheese on top. Spread uniformly over.
5. Sprinkle chocolate bits and cocoa on top.
6. Chill overnight before serving.

Results:
4:48pm, all ingredients:

4:55pm, a really thick liquid of sherry and coffee (about 1 TB):

4:59pm, cream cheese, lime juice, heavy cream and confectioners' sugar beaten:

5:03pm, lady's fingers brushed with coffee:

5:04pm, cream mixture thinned with about 1 TB of half-and-half:

5:09pm, cream mixture spread uniformly onto lady's fingers:

5:13pm, cocoa and chocolate chips sprinkled on top:

Observations:
1. After I have tried out the sponge cake, it becomes obvious to me that sponge cake has much more moisture in it than lady's fingers. Therefore, if lady's finger is to be used in the recipe, it may be necessary to increase the moisture in the cream or the coffee liquor.
2. In this experiment, the cream and the cream cheese becomes really thick after beating. It's totally different from my previous experiment, in which the cream and cheese mixture is somewhat liquid.
3. In this experiment, the cake is definitely too dry. Try to increase the amount of liquid next time.

Tiramisu

I try this KAF recipe for the women's book club. It turns out to be a rather well-received dessert. It is a little too sweet to me, but my friends have found it good. I may reduce the sugar by just 1/4 or 1/3 next time.

Recipe: Tiramisu (for a small group of 7)

Ingredients:
- 1 package of starbuck instant coffee
- 2 TB cream sherry
- 1+1/2 tp cocoa
- 1/4 cup curled or shredded unsweetened chocolate
- 8 oz (1 package) low-fat cream cheese
- 2 TB light sour cream
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
- lady's fingers, about 15 pieces

Procedure:
1. Mix cream cheese, sour cream, confectioners' sugar together with a spoon. Then add the whipping cream. Mix into a thick paste. Then mix with electric mixer on low setting.
2. Refrigerate filling until use.
3. Boil coffee in 1/4 cup water until reduced to 1 TB. When cooled, add 2 TB cream sherry.
4. Line a layer of lady's fingers on a pan. Brush with the coffee mixture. Do not be too greedy. Since the cream cheese filling is rather liquid, it's better to be conservative with the coffee liquid.
5. Spread 1/3 of the cheese filling on top.
6. Repeat step 4 and 5 twice to create 6 alternate layers of lady's fingers and fillings.
7. Dust the top with cocoa powder. Then sprinkle chocolate on top.
8. Chill before serving.

Results:
4:33pm, ingredients used to make the cheese filling:

4:39pm, confectioner's sugar, about 3/4 cup:

4:46pm, hand mixing filling to give it a good start:

4:48pm, beating filling with electric mixer:

4:49pm, filling beaten and ready to chill:

8:44pm, ingredients for assembling:

8:45pm, boiling instant coffee to thicken:

8:47pm, thinness of the filling after chilled:

8:55pm, coffee condensed into 1 TB:

8:57pm, 2 TB cream sherry added to coffee:

8:58pm, layer 1:

8:58pm, brushing layer 1 with coffee mixture:

8:59pm, layer 1 brushed:

8:59pm, scooping cheese:

9:00pm, layer 2:

9:01pm, layer 3:

9:04pm, layer 3 brushed with coffee:

9:05pm, layer 4:

9:07pm, layer 5:

9:08pm, layer 5 brushed with coffee:

9:09pm, layer 6:

9:12pm, dusting top with cocoa:

9:13pm, top with cocoa:

9:15pm, unsweetened chocolate:

9:24pm, chocolate sprinkled on top:

9:24pm, height of tiramisu:

9:26pm, cover with paper towel, then wrap with foil to chill:

Overnight, 11:42am, interior holding together strongly enough to be cut:

11:39am, lady's fingers moistened sufficiently to feel like sponge cake, but not soggy at serving time:

Observations:
1. The cheese filling is rather thin, to my surprise. When I brush the top of the lady's fingers with coffee, it suddenly becomes clear to me that the lady's fingers are going to absorb plenty of that moisture in the cheese filling.
2. I've used only 2 TB of the sherry and coffee mixture because I am not sure if the dessert will be too moist. The remaining 1 TB is poured out. Even so, the flavor of coffee is distinct at serving time.
3. After chilling overnight, the lady's fingers have become soft like sponge cakes. But they are not so moist as to be soggy.
4. I wonder if my choice of cream sherry is appropriate for this dessert. Maybe brandy is a better choice.
5. Try using 1/2 cup instead of 3/4 cup of confectioner's sugar next time.