Tiramisu

Tiramisu is an Italian dessert I discovered on my trip to Italy in 2009. Traditionally, it uses ladyfingers soaked in espresso and layered with a mascarpone-cream filling whipped with marsala wine. Due to the lack of some of these ingredients, I decided to use substitutes that I found from various sources and came up with a similar taste to remind me of the bliss I felt when indulging in this unbeatable dessert. I mean, who wouldn't like coffee, cocoa, and cream mixed together in the most heavenly combination?!? Not to mention the wine 😉

Ingredients:

Coffee Dip:

2 cups espresso
2 tsp sugar (I added 2 tbsp sugar as I like my dip a little sweeter 😊)

2 tbsp brandy

Base:

40 ladyfingers (in two layers)
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Filling:

1 cup mascarpone cheese (I used a substitute using cream cheese, fresh cream, and sour cream I found on biggerbolderbaking.com)
1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup marsala wine (I added 2 tbsp brandy)

Method:

Filling:

Beat the cream cheese, fresh cream, and sour cream till nice and creamy. 

Add the caster sugar and brandy, and mix.

Add the heavy whipping cream and whip.

Assembly:

Dip the ladyfingers in the coffee dip and layer the base of a glass casserole.

Sift a layer of cocoa powder on top of the ladyfingers.

Top with a layer of the filling.

Arrange another layer of coffee-dipped ladyfingers on top of the filling.

Sift a layer of cocoa powder and top it off with another layer of filling (I like to pipe this layer of filling as it looks fancy). 

Sift some cocoa powder on top.

Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour and serve chilled.