If tiramisu is offered on a restaurant menu, David and I brace ourselves for the inevitable pitch by our server, “it is the best tiramisu in the city!” Why is tiramisu so competitive? I don’t hear such claims about other desserts, but nearly without fail we hear it for tiramisu. More often than not the grandness of the claim is directly proportionate to the amount of alcohol the tiramisu is laced with. A couple tiramisus I have had should have come with a “designated driver needed” warning.
I can play that game. This week’s Tuesday with Dorie Tiramisu Cake is the best tiramisu in any city, ever! Honestly, it’s really good and I would put it up against any restaurant version and probably prefer this one that I can make at home. The hooch is minimal, just enough to provide a nice flavor, but far from enough to get you even slightly buzzed.
I broke free from the recipe in a few places; most notably with the construction. Dorie’s version is a basic 2 layer cake that is fully frosted, but I prefer thinner layers of cake, so I sliced each layer in half. To highlight the layered construction of traditional tiramisu I left the sides unfrosted and made sure to soak the edges of the cake with the coffee syrup so they would be a nice dark contrast to the cream filling.
One of my favorite tiramisus was made by my friend Katja. It didn’t have too much alcohol and it was only subtly sweet. Because the not very sweet approach worked so well in Katja’s version; I dialed back the sweetness in a few ways. I used bittersweet chocolate to sprinkle between the layers, and I sprinkled on an equal amount of cocoa nibs which have no sweetness at all. I cut down the sugar in the frosting from ½ cup to 1/3 cup and as is traditional for tiramisu, dusted the top with unsweetened cocoa powder. I didn’t change the amount of sugar in the cake because I didn’t want to change the texture of the cake. I did, however, double the salt (1/2 tsp.) and add a ½ tsp. of nutmeg. The nutmeg was surprisingly strong and would have been too much to eat the cake plain, but with the coffee syrup and cream filling it was nicely balanced and added a beautiful warm background flavor.
This is an outstanding cake that is light, not overly rich, not overly sweet, and doesn’t require a designated driver. I guess to some those criteria wouldn’t equate to an outstanding cake, but in my book it was. Because the filling is quite soft and fluffy, this really isn’t a cake that you would want to travel very far with. Thank you to Megan of My Baking Adventures for selecting this week’s baking project. She has the recipe posted on her blog if you want to make your very own “best tiramisu in the city.” You can even make one that requires a designated driver and has extra sugar if that’s the way you like it!
I, along with over 350 other baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 72 recipes completed 149 to go!
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I love the way you constructed it. I’ll try that next time I make this cake (b/c there will be a next time!).
I love your layers! Beautiful!
Turning this into a 4-layer cake is such a great idea. The nutmeg sounds really good too!
Woahhhh!!! So many layers! …Hummm… I have my doubts… you sure adding on the layers is not a way to double the amount of liquor sirup!??? LOL LOL kidding…
Very, very nice Carol, actually one of the nicest Ive seen today! WOW. …and brilliant to have left the side uncovered.
I love the look of a four-layer cake. I’m sure that would have helped with soaking the layers, too. The two cakes were too dry for a lot of us.
Restaurants ARE competitive about tiramisu … What’s that about?
I had to chuckle with your comment about restaurants being competitive about tiramisu. In LA, tiramisu is ubiquitous at every Italian joint, and of course, each place claims that it’s a family recipe (i.e. grandma, great aunt). I agree, this has to be the best tiramisu in town! I like your addition of the cocoa nibs…a fantastic idea!
I think your cake looks gorgeous! I like thinner layers too and upped the salt as well. I
I love that you made thinner layers for your cake! It looks so pretty like that. Gorgeous photos as always!
Your cake looks fabulous! I love it! And i’m a big nutmeg fan too!
Wonderfully done. I love the details! You are such a smart artistic baker. Lovely, stunning, just fabulous!
Beautiful! I never would have thought of cocoa nibs or nutmeg but both sound so appealing in this cake. I actually prefer it not frosted on the sides as it looks a little truer to the original dessert.
Your variation sounds delicious! This was a truly versatile recipe.
Oh, this looks so wonderful…I am doing that double layer thing next time as it is just show stopping gorgeous!
Genius idea to make so many layers. It looks fantastic. Bet it was good.
That presentation is absolutely stunning! I love where you went with this recipe.
Love the idea of 4 layers! What a great cake you made!
I love that you separated this into 4 layers, gorgeous! I loved this cake too, it was one of my favorites so far!
wowsers! it is gorgeous! and i’m sure it is the best in the city!
This looks absolutely fantastic! and so beautiful!