InvisiblePinkFood: Tiramisu cheesecake

Life is still cra-haa-zy! Painting the bachelor pad is still ongoing, I wouldn't mind too much if I never saw a paintbrush again. Last night I wasn't in bed until close to midnight, which for me is rather late when the alarm clock goes off at 6.30. After getting home from DIY hell (as I so fondly call it), there was still a book chapter that needed to be returned to copyeditors with comments (overhang from Old Job) and I think I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow. Today I had a rotten day at work (and that is the understatement of the century, had to call Culinary Consultant in the middle of the day for comfort and venting) and I was very pleasantly surprised when he suggested that we only do a quick round of painting and then head home early. So here I am, finally having a few precious moments to blog.

New Home is still amazing. I just wish I had a bit more waking time to spend here, but there will be time for all of that later. On Sunday we made spaghetti sauce from our 104 (!) tomatoes of the day. It takes a while to blanch that many tomatoes, let me tell you. But I'm loving it, they are the best tomatoes I've ever tasted (I might be a bit biased but I'm convinced they are sweeter than any other tomatoes I have ever had). Last Sunday, the Culinary Consultant's family came over and I got the opportunity to cook a big meal. Embarrassing hostess story, once I had my elaborate main meal on the table with all five different dishes to be served, I realised I had forgotten to serve the starter! Whoopsie... But it all turned out good, we had the starter with the evening meal instead. But I still don't understand how I managed to do that.

This recipe is the dessert from Sunday's meal. I wanted to make a tiramisu cheesecake, but didn't quite find any recipe which was the way I wanted, so I made this up based on several different tiramisu and tiramisu cheesecakes online. It turned out quite good I think, and guests didn't seem to mind it too much either.

Tiramisu cheesecake (serves about 8):
For the base:
100 g savoyardi (ladyfingers)
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp cream cheese

For the filling:
3 egg yolks
50 g sugar
2 tsp vanilla sugar
250 g mascarpone
200 g cream cheese
200 ml cream softly whipped
6 sheets of gelatin
2+2 tbsp strong coffee
4 tbsp marsala wine

a few squares of good quality dark chocolate or cocoa powder

The howto:
To prepare the base, crush the savoyardi in a food processor until small crumbs. Mix with the melted butter and cream cheese, and press onto the bottom of a loose base cake tin. Chill in fridge while preparing the filling.

Put egg yolks, sugar and vanilla sugar in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of gently boiling water. Beat over the boiling water using an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Let cool. Meawhile, mix mascarpone, cream cheese, 2 tbsp of strong coffee and the marsala. Soak the sheets of gelatin in cold water until soft (about 5 minutes). Add 2 tbsp strong coffee in a small saucepan. Squeeze as much water out of the gelatin sheets as possible and melt in the saucepan with coffee over mild heat until completely melted. Add the cheese mix to the egg yolks (the mix is quite runny at this stage) and add the gelatin in a slow stream while stirring the mix. Add the whipped cream. Let cool for a few minutes so that the filling starts to thicken a bit. Pour into the cake tin and chill over night. Melt chocolate and drizzle over the top or dust with cocoa powder.

The verdict:
This is certainly not the lightest of desserts with all that decadent cheese. But it didn't feel too stodgy either, I thought the texture was nice and light. You can adjust the flavours by adding more coffee and less marsala or vice versa depending on your preference. I originally wanted to put the ladyfingers in the bottom whole and soak them in coffee and marsala, but I just couldn't fit them into my round cake tin. If you are doing the cake in a square tin, you could add the savoyardi whole instead to skip one step of the preparation. Next time I might try that as I really like the coffee soaked savoyardi in regular tiramisu.

Cards of the day:
I continued to play around with my Stampin' Up Mixed Bunch and Blossom punch. I also wanted to try out the bright colours, so I made some cards with mirrored colours. The sentiments are from various stamp sets I have lying around. It was wonderful to get to craft a little bit, wishing I had time for more.