Everyone loves tiramisu. It’s a good lazy thing to do as its not complicated and with a few good ingredients, you can create a wonderful dessert. Just get the mascarpone and ladyfingers. The rest of the ingredients will usually be at hand. Its special to have individual portions rather than scooping portions out from a large dish. I bought these from a shop in Chinatown which is a few shops down from Sia Huat. I can’t remember the name but you would definitely be able to find it as it looks a lot like Sia Huat and is just down the road. They have really beautiful things. I bought these small glass bowls for $1 each. I bought some jam jars, yes my next big project would be jam making. I’ve been reading up a lot on pectin content in fruit. I also bought some small square glass bowls. They had the cutest little glass jugs that would look so nice with individual portions of syrup for pancakes or some cream for a warm cake. Unfortunately some things were out of stock. Most of the bowls and plates costs between S$1-$4. For the tiramisu, I layered coffee dipped ladyfingers with the mascarpone cream in 2 layers for an individual portion. It started to drizzle while I was taking these photos outdoors so those little spots appeared on the surface. These bowls would look good with a trifle or a nice jelly. Nice crockery just makes everything taste better!
Tiramisu
Makes 10 small portions
Ingredients
250g ladyfingers
500g mascarpone cheese
5 eggs
75 g granulated sugar
400ml strong coffee
Cocoa for dusting
Method
Separate egg whites from yolks. Be careful not to break any of the yolks as the fat will make the whites refuse to rise. Put the yolks and the sugar into a clean bowl and whisk over a saucepan of boiling water. (Double boil the mixture) Whisk quickly to stop eggs from scrambling. The mixture should be yellow and syrupy. Leave to cool. This is an important step as the hot yolk mixture will cause the mascarpone cheese to feather and you’ll get a grainy texture rather than smooth creamy tiramisu. Beat mascarpone cheese into cooled yolk mixture.
Beat egg whites on medium speed with an electric mixer till soft peaks form. Beat half into yolk and mascarpone mixture. Fold the rest of the whites in gently.
Now assemble the dish. Dip ladyfingers into coffee mixture briefly on both sides. Do this quite quickly as the ladyfingers tend to absorb coffee fast and may even disintegrate in the coffee. Break the fingers into half and line the bottom of each bowl. Put about a large heaped tablespoon of creamed mixture into each bowl. Layer with another layer of ladyfingers. Finish with a layer of creamed mixture. Sift a generous amount of cocoa on top. Leave in the fridge to set for at least 2-4 hours.
Unfortunately, I don’t love tiramisu, nor have I ever tasted one. I don’t eat cheese ~ahakz. But I do agree with you that nice crockery makes food taste awhole lot better! And $1 – $4??? Sheesh, I must try to make my way down there someday. Sounds too good to miss!
OH MY GOD i thought by ladyfingers i thought you meant the ones used in asam pedas (obviously i am a minah kampong at heart)… i thought i was going mad. luckily i had the good sense to google it! hahaha! i was thinking how can something that looks and tastes so good have Bendeh that is just WRONG. oh well, you learn something new every day. hahaha.
ps: you are absolutely right, everything just tastes better with nice crockery! : )
I think a paper or masala thosai is around £6 – £8. Can’t remember. Roti prata x 2 is about £4.20!!!!
I can’t wait to go home so I can stock up on pretty kitchenware. I discovered a shop in Chinatown that had all the old-fashioned Chinese hawker ware when I was last back. Didn’t know that Sia Huat has moved to Chinatown, last time I visited I think it was in Bugis.
Your tiramisu looks perfect too!
Tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts! And it is quite easy to make. I made tiramisu with berries a couple months ago (recipe on my blog) and it turned out well.
I like your photograph, now I feel like making some tonight..!
Ovenhaven: mascapone cheese doesn’t taste like cheese at all, in fact its kinda like a fragrant vanilla cream. Its really delicious, you should try it. Its not cheesy at all, trust me!And the shops at Sia Huat which is at Temple Street all close by 6, so make it there early.
Shafaa: Thank god I didn’t call the ladyfingers “langues de chat” or cats tongues as they’re also known. Your heart might have stopped for a sec. Anyway I’m glad you read thru the recipes unlike MEL who confessed that she skips all “the cooking bits” on my blog. You can buy the store bought sponge fingers from carrefour or cold storage and they usually have lots of french words on it. So u have to recognize it by sight.
Tommy: Gosh, at that price, cold or warm outside I’ll have trouble swallowing! And sia huat is still at Bugis, I think they have a larger outlet in chinatown though. I think i need to explore more of chinatown, to find that shop.
Jen: I’m guessing its u not Oliver somehow,
yup I saw that post, yum yum.. The combination of the sponge fingers and mascapone is a winning one, I’ve never dared any variations, but I’ll try yours!
YEs, It was Jenn! How did you guess?
Oh yes, announce it loud and clear here why don’t you…:P I don’t really skip it, I just glance through it; but i know where to go if i ever/were to cook/bake something! So unless I’ll be doing the actual cooking/baking I would for sure read the cooking bits thoroughly, trust me, not only thoroughly, several times and maybe call you to get help! haha!
Mel:
*guilty smile* Thought it was cute when u told me u didn’t read certain parts! hehe.. Anyway, I would also like to announce here that Mel did lots of cookie baking recently and I received a grorgeous bottle of honey cornflake cookies. Thank you! I know you’re a domestic goddess at heart.. Let me post a photo of them if there’re still any left..
Jen: “woman’s instinct”..
Its quite easy to tell based on ur writing style on ur blog and ur comments, when its u and when its Oliver. You sound like a girl and he sounds like a guy! Does this make sense? I can’t point out exactly what it is!
nice photos! I am so jealous of your nice little glass holder! I hope I can still find them when I come back to Singapore next year.
I don’t know why, but the creme mixture ended up too watery instead of a thick, creamy texture.
Please advice.
Hi Tristan,
The cream mixture is the consistency of a thick pouring cream when just done. After layering it with the sponge fingers and chilling for a few hours, the tiramisu should “set”. The sponge fingers are really a sponge that soaks up liquid, and together with chilling should set the cream. Chilling it for a few hours before eating also makes sure the sponge fingers are yielding and no longer crunchy.
Another possible problem is that ur whites did not whip well. Make sure the whites are in no contact with any fat(ie the egg yolk, if it broke the whites won’t whip) or water. It should whip to soft peaks than folded into the mixture.
If this still does not work for you, I suggest discarding the egg whites and just whipping 400 ml of cream then folding it into the egg yolk and cheese mixture. This method is full proof and I make use of it sometimes when I accidentally break a yolk and knowing that trying to whip the whites would be useless.
Hope this helps..
Luv, Farhan
That looks great too. Here’s my Tiramisu version. I use only 3 eggs
I love cheese and coffee for sure. That leave Tiramisu as the perfect dessert for me. I’ve been making it twice with cream cheese (and I guess, it’s different from your version), it taste like cheese. I love it but I want to try the original version. The mascarpone version. Anyway, I’m guessing that you’re from Singapore (haven’t look at ur prof..blerr..got attracted by ur Tiramisu). In my city, there’s only one place where I’ve seen mascarpone and it cost in between RM30-35 for 500g. And the savoiardi is not that easy to find. I guess, I have to stick to the old version with sponge cake and cream cheese..
Aira: thanks for dropping by, here its about S$12 for 500g, it is quite an expensive dessert cos u dun get much for the amount u paid. The taste of mascapone is very light, almost like just double cream.
I had a humongous craving for tiramisu the other day, but being a hopeless case in the kitchen I didn’t know where to start. So luckily I found your website. Your photos are so yummy! tried your recipe and it tasted great, couldn’t stop dipping my finger into the mascarpone mix. But I think I overdipped the ladyfingers cos it turned out a bit soggy. Otherwise it was a hit. I did a big bowl of tiramisu but thinking back I should have made it into individual portions, easier to keep and take out for a guilty midnight snack hee.
Hi ilovedessert,
Welcome to the site girl! Glad you enjoyed it.. Looking forward to try some of your creations one day
hey there…
i tried making your tiramisu for iftar yesterday and it was awesome! very easy to make and quick too.
ps: I used Vietnamese coffee so it was a good substitute for that strong flavour in alcoholic tiramisu.
thanks again!
I have a stash of vietnamese coffee and have yet to use it, thanx for the idea! Though I’m off raw eggs now cos of salmonella risk in pregnancy. But I would love to have a tiramisu as soon as I am able to!