Brown's Tiramisu

Total Time: 9 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 8 hrs

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups water, room temperature
• 3/4 cup amaretto
• 3/4 cup kahlua
• 6 tablespoons instant coffee
• 250 g cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 2 cups whipping cream
• cocoa powder

Recipe

• 1 preheat the oven to 350°f if you haven't already, take the cream cheese out of the fridge to warm up, and refrigerate the mixing bowl you'll be whipping the cream inches. no, not inches, inches. no, inches. look food.com, i know i'm ending a sentence with a preposition, but that doesn't make it okay to auto-correct me like this. fine, i give up. refrigerate the bowl in which you will be whipping the cream.
• 2 mix the egg yolks with 1/3 cup sugar, and beat until pale and thickened.
• 3 mix the egg whites with 1/3 cup sugar, and beat until stiff.
• 4 fold the egg yolks into the egg whites. fold in flour, 1/3 cup at a time.
• 5 grease and flour a 13x9 pan, cover the bottom with wax paper. pour the batter into the pan and smooth out the top.
• 6 bake around 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. overbaking is not much of a problem, as it's going to be soaked in liquor before you eat it.
• 7 let cake cool for a bit, then dump cake on a rack to cool some more. wash out the pan.
• 8 when cake is cooled completely, cut in in half across its height, so that you have two layers like a sandwich.
• 9 mix together all the ingredients listed under "fuel" and set aside.
• 10 beat the cream cheese and sugar together until fluffy.
• 11 add the vanilla, milk, and brandy to the cream cheese, mix until blended and smooth.
• 12 in a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until stiff.
• 13 fold the cream cheese into the whipping cream, and set aside.
• 14 grease the pan the sponge cake was baked in (i like to use peanut oil, but i've used canola or pam in the past, and it hasn't made much difference).
• 15 put the bottom half of the sponge cake back into the pan, cut side up.
• 16 pour half of the "fuel" evenly over the sponge cake, try not to leave any dry spots. it should soak up very well.
• 17 spread half of the cream cheese mix over the cake. be careful, as the soggy cake is very delicate, and can easily mix in with the topping! smooth it out as much as possible. a plastic disposable trowel is great for this, be sure to wash it after you bring it home from the hardware store, and never use it for plaster!
• 18 use a fine mesh sifter to generously dust the first layer with cocoa powder.
• 19 lay the top half of the sponge cake on top of the cocoa, cut side up, so that the "fuel" can soak in through the sponge.
• 20 layer on the cream cheese mixture as you did before. get the top layer as smooth and flat as you possibly can, it makes the presentation that much nicer.
• 21 dust with cocoa powder. a generous dusting hides whatever imperfections you couldn't smooth out.
• 22 cover the tiramisu, either with the pan's lid, or cling wrap. if you're using cling wrap, you may have to wipe the cocoa powder of the edges of the pan. for goodness sake, be careful! don't spoil your beautiful presentation. you may want to use toothpicks to hold the cling wrap above the tiramisu, depending on the depth of your pan.
• 23 chill tiramisu for 6 hours.