What can I say about a classic Italian dessert that is as good as this one? It combines sweet mascarpone cheese with chocolate shavings, lady fingers dipped in dark rum and espresso.
This is the perfect dessert to make for Father’s Day! Impress the whole family and show your dad how much you love him! (Unless he’s diabetic.)
I ground up some fresh coffee beans and brewed a couple shots of espresso, then let it cool down to room temperature to use. Espresso is very important in this recipe, so I would recommend not trying to fudge it with some regular strong coffee. It would be totally worth it to buy some espresso shots at a coffee place.
After making this exact recipe three times, I’ve found that making individual servings in ramekins made them look most aesthetically pleasing, out of the three.
Adapted from David Lebowitz
Makes 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
24 3½-inch ladyfingers (I couldn’t find real ladyfingers so this is a wanna be)
2 cups of espresso, at room temperature
1.5 cups of mascarpone cheese
2 large eggs, separated, at room temperature (I used 3 medium sized eggs)
7 tablespoons of sugar, divided (I used 4 tablespoons of vanilla sugar)
2 tablespoons of dark rum
1/2 tablespoon of cognac
2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate shavings
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for serving
Pinch of salt
Procedure:
1. Mix together the espresso, rum, and cognac. The mixture should taste strongly of alcohol. If not, add more until it does. (That flavor will tone down when mixed with the other ingredients, but feel free to adjust to taste.)
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they begin to get stiff. Beat in half of the sugar until stiff. Be patient! This will take a while. (Think about how good this dessert will be when once you get the egg whites nice and fluffy!) Scrape the egg whites into a bowl. Set aside.
3. In the bowl where you just mixed the egg whites, beat egg yolks with the remaining sugar until stiff and light-colored, about three minutes. (If using a standing electric mixer, you may need to stop and scrape down the sides.) Then, beat in the mascarpone by hand with a spatula or whisk, until lump-free.
4. Slowly fold in half of the beaten egg whites, then the remaining half, just until fully incorporated.
5. Put a splat, a heaping soup spoon, of the mascarpone cream into the pan.
6. Submerge each ladyfinger in the espresso mixture for 5-10 seconds. Then layer them over the mascarpone cream.
7. Grate a generous amount of chocolate. Repeat steps 5-7 to add another layer.
8. Top with remaining mascarpone cream, cover, and refrigerate at least four hours, but preferably overnight.
9. Right before serving, shake powdered cocoa generously on top with a sieve.
June 19, 2009
Yum! Love your spoon/fork too