Mascarpone and Tiramisu

Who doesn’t love something made with mascarpone?! It’s a lovely combination of butter and creamy perfection blended to together!! It’s delicious on toast with jam, or used as frosting, perfect for any kind of cream filling…and if you have cream it’s just a step away!!

Mascarpone

Here’s the basic recipe I use;

1 qt heavy cream

1 qt whole milk

1/2 tsp Tartaric Acid

Yields 22-28oz of finished Mascarpone.

Heat the milk and cream in a double boiler until it’s 185-190, hold at this temp for 5 minutes. This temperature cooks some of the whey protein and gives a thicker result.

In a small bowl, mix the Tartaric Acid with 2TB of water until dissolved. Set aside.

Make sure your milk temperature is 185-187, and add the Tartaric Acid water. Stir gently, quickly, then stop.

Mascarpone curd is very tiny and quite fragile. Let the pan sit for a few minutes to finish curdling and cool off a bit. Then ladle into a good cheesecloth (I use Plyban) and let the whey drain off. Depending on your curd and cheesecloth, this can take 20 minutes-2 hours. Let it finish draining and setting up in the fridge. It should have a thick yogurt texture while warm and a cream cheese texture after it’s chilled.

*Note. There is no salt added, so shelf life is rather short.

*Note 2. Milk temp is important for proper coagulation. It cools off rapidly from 185, I’ve had it drop 20 degrees in 10 minutes.

*Note 3. Mascarpone whips just like whipping cream, it also breaks (like butter) if you beat it too long.

Tiramisu

Sponge Cake + Coffee Soak + Mascarpone filling

Full recipe makes a 2/3 sheet cake.

My notes: reduce cake in half and use 3 cake pans for smaller layers. Use less Marscapone for thinner layers and a lighter cake

• 12 large eggs separated

• 300 grams (1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled

• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 2 tsp baking powder

Coffee Soak*

• 480 mL (2 cups) strong coffee

• 45 mL (3 Tbsp) Amaretto Liqueur *optional

Mascarpone Cream

• 24 ounces mascarpone cheese, cold

• 300 grams (2 1/2 cups) powdered sugar, spooned and leveled

• (2 cups) heavy whipping cream, cold

• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

• tiny pinch of fine sea salt

• Cocoa powder for dusting (I used dutch)

Sponge Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease and line 6, 8-inch round cake pans with baking spray and parchment paper.

2. Place the egg whites in the bowl of the stand mixer and using the whisk attachment, at full speed, beat until they're frothy.

3. With the mixer on medium speed, stream in the sugar. Turn the mixer up to full speed and beat just until the meringue reaches stiff peaks.

4. Pour in the egg yolks and vanilla and turn the mixer to medium-high speed, mixing, a few seconds, just until they're fully combined.

5. Sift in the flour and salt and baking powder and turn the mixer up to medium-low speed, mixing just until the flour is incorporated.

6. Scrape the edge of the bowl well and distribute the batter evenly among the pans, and bake for about 18ish minutes, until the cake is golden. It will also spring back when you press on it gently.

7. Flip the cakes over onto a tea towel and allow them to cool completely.

Coffee Soak

1. Pour the coffee into a large measuring cup so it's easy to see how much you use per layer. Add water or milk to reach the needed volume.

2. Once the coffee has cooled, add the amaretto.

Mascarpone Cream

1. Place the cold mascarpone into the bowl of a stand mixer (or just a large bowl with a hand mixer) with the powdered sugar.

2. Beat at low-medium speed until they're combined and then increase the speed to medium-high for 1-2 minutes, scraping the edge of the bowl halfway through.

3. Add the vanilla and the cold heavy whipping cream.

4. After adding all the heavy whipping cream, the cream may look soft, turn the mixer up to full speed for 1-2 more minutes and it should stiffen up (like whipped cream does).

To assemble the cake, place the first layer onto your final display pan/plate and gentle pour some of the coffee soak into the cake, then spread some of the mascarpone filling and repeat with following layers. The final layer of mascarpone should have cocoa powder dusted on the top as a final touch.

This sponge cake is flexible (literally), and I’ve used any combination of baking pans depending of what I want for final thickness and size. I like the final Tiramisu to be at least 3 layers. Add or diminish the coffee soak as you like.

It’s also easy to change in to fruit layer cream cake. Simply omit the coffee and use fresh strawberries, bananas, raspberries…whatever you want.

The cake is best after sitting overnight (in the fridge).

And Mascarpone filling makes a lovely cream cheese style frosting!!