Happy April!! I can’t believe April is here and not looking any better than March. I would like to stop watching/reading news about this virus but at the same time I want to know everything that is going on. It’s very stressful to not know when this is going to be over.

Also, I haven’t posted about this before but my little niece (daughter of one of my brothers) was just diagnosed with cancer not too long ago. It has been really hard for the whole family plus dealing with the situation in this strange virus environment makes it more scary I guess. She already had 2 brain surgeries and what she has is brain sarcoma cancer. I think I’m writing about this today because she called me on Facetime yesterday (she’s hospitalized right now due to having fever and low defenses). We laughed and played with those funny facetime filters. She told me she was wearing a wig and that kinda broke my heart. She is too little to be dealing with this. Anyway, I wanted to vent for a bit here.

Now, let’s talk about my easy Tiramisu recipe. I know many of you are cooking and baking more because of the stay at home order. Also, I know it’s really hard to find flour right now. This TIRAMISU is perfect because you just need a couple of ingredients and you do not need flour or butter!

Let’s start with the recipe.

*Recipe video is on my Instagram stories @Pastry_Tales

Yield 2.75 quart glass baking dish

Ingredients

7 oz ladyfingers (18-20 ladyfingers)

1/4 cup Marsala wine (You can use Rum, Khalua or Brandy) . For a non-alcoholic dessert you can use 1 and 1/2 tablespoons Rum extract.

1/2 cup hot espresso

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

3/4 cup heavy cream

8 oz. mascarpone cheese

3 large egg yolks

1 ounce chocolate (shaved)

cocoa powder (for dusting)

Directions

1.- In a small bowl mix espresso, 2 tablespoons Marsala wine, vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix and set aside.

2.- In a heat-proof bowl mix egg yolks, 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons of marsala wine. Place this bowl over a saucepan with simmering water and using a hand mixer or a whisk mix really well until it triples in volume for about 5-8 minutes. It will look foamy and creamy. Let it cool for 2 minutes.

3.-Add the mascarpone cheese to the egg yolk mixture and using a spatula fold the cheese really good into the egg mixture. It has to look smooth.

4.-In another bowl, whisk your heavy whipping cream until it reaches soft peaks. Add half the cream into the mascarpone mixture, fold it slowly and gently. Then, add the other half of the cream and keep folding until all is well combined.

5.-Now, dip half of your lady fingers into your coffee-marsala wine mixture and place it into the bottom of your dish. You might need to cut/adjust some of the ladyfingers so it fits properly in the bottom of your dish. Be careful when you dip your ladyfingers, dip both sides but do not make them very wet, it has to be a quick dip.

6.-Then, spread on the top half of your mascarpone-cream mixture. Shave some chocolate on the top. Place the other half of ladyfingers on the top (first dip them in the coffee-marsala wine mixture). Add the other half of the mascarpone-cream mixture. Finally, dust some cocoa powder on the top. That’s it! super easy. Cover your dish with a lid or plastic wrap and let it chill overnight or at least 6 hours.

Serve and enjoy! You can dust more cocoa powder on the top before serving if you want.