Tiramisu

This is not what I'd think of the traditional way of preparing a Tiramisu cake but it comes out quite lovely in both composition and sliced into pieces.


Formula*: yields one 7" cake
Lady fingers, one 7" bottom and side pieces
Pate Glace (melting chocolate)
Mascarpone filling (See fillings, Mascarpone)
3-6 oz. Simple syrup (depends on how dry your cake is)
1.5 Tbl Trablit (concentrated coffee)**

Tools: Small off set spatula, bowl scraper, 7" charlotte ring, 8" cake card, parchment paper or ascetate

*Adapted from Gisslen, Professional Baking, Ed. 5, Pg. 474
**If you can find Trablit you can use very strong espresso, one shot should be good. Or you can pour concentrated drip coffee with simple syrup.

MOP: assemble
Heat up Pate Glace if necessary. Pate Glace is basically a thin glazing chocolate. If you dont have Pate Glace on hand then you can heat up cocoa butter and oil and make a thin glazing or melting chocolate.

Take your lady fingers and gently de pan from the parchment paper. The circle shape and the individual fingers you should be able to get up with a off set spatula. The larger strips you should cut the parchment a little bit wider then the fingers, cut another piece of parchment to place on top. Sandwiched between the two parchments, flip over the row of lady fingers gently. Peel the "old" sheet off of the back of the lady fingers.
Make sure your circle shape lady fingers are a little bit smaller then the charlotte ring that you are using, just smaller then 7". If its not then trim the lady fingers. Coat the bottom of the ring with Pate Glace. Put this in the freezer briefly to cool the chocolate.
While this is setting up you can trim your other lady fingers if need be. You want the strip to be moist so you can bend it, if its not moist dab the inside (not textured side) with simple syrup. If the fingers sit higher then your charlotte ring then trim them down on one side only (the trimmed side will be your bottom).

Pull the bottom out of the freezer, place this chocolate side down on the cake card. The chocolate is going to be a stabilizer for your cake shape when you pull the finished cake out from a freezer.
Place the lady finger strip along the side of the charlotte ring baked side in, so you can see the definition of each lady finger on the outside of the cake. Make sure to leave the parchment on the outside of the ladyfingers between the fingers and the ring, this will make it easier to keep the cake moist when freezing and make it easier to keep its shape when defrosting. Dab the inside of the sides and bottom of the cake with simple syrup and coffee mixture.
Fill immediately will Mascarpone filling (see fillings). Use your tiny offset spatula to flatten out the top if necessary. Chill the cake as soon as you fill the cake.

When you take the cake out of the freezer, dust the top with cocoa powder. Using a stencil gives it a nice elegant look. Cut and serve!

If you have extra filling, and extra cake (although you don't need cake to do this). Get a few soufle cups and fill it with the mascarpone filling. You can either use the left over simple syrup with a little bit of coffee to make "latte art" attempts like I did, or you can also chill these and then dust with cocoa powder.