May 19, 2002 6 min read

When I was in high school, I went to Italy as part of my Latin class. It was a beautiful trip and an adventure I will always treasure as one of the best experiences of my life. We flew into Milan, where guards with guns patrolled the airport, and traveled throughout the country to different landmarks. We went to St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, visited the volcanically destroyed remains of Pompeii and saw the Colosseum in Rome, among other things.

During the trip, I had an encounter that changed my life.

I met Tiramisu at a little eatery in Venice during one of our group dinners. Tiramisu was beautiful and perfect, sitting there waiting for me … on my plate.

Yes, my plate.

The tasty Italian dessert say there, shaved and bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder atop it, waiting for me to taste. When I did, I discovered my favorite sweet treat. So lucky was I to find it at age 15.

Now, fast forward a few years, when the delectable treat started to gain popularity in Italian restaurants here in the U.S. I first discovered it while at the Italian Oven with a lifelong friend and co-worker who happens not only to share my love of Tiramisu, but food in general.

I was stunned and excited to see the dessert on the menu, and quickly ordered a piece. For a while, the Italian Oven’s Tiramisu gave me my fix.

Then, one day, I was hunting for food in my mother’s refrigerator when I found a tub of Mascarpone cheese. I curiously asked her what it was for.

When she told me it was to make Tiramisu, I was dumbfounded. There was cheese in that delicious dessert? Couldn’t be.

As petty as it sounds now, the thought that I was eating cheese and chocolate together sort of grossed me out.

That curtailed my Tiramisu craze for a little while, until I realized how senseless it truly was to stop eating something I loved because it contained odd ingredients. Soon, I was off again, eating piece after piece of Tiramisu (certainly not good for the hips) and singing it’s praises to the Tiramisu-less of the world.

Ok, maybe not the world, but to anyone who would stop long enough to listen to me.

My mom never did use the Mascarpone cheese, and I suspect it went bad in the fridge and had to be tossed out.

Now, given my love for cooking, one might think I’ve attempted to make Tiramisu before. Alas, I have not. While I am proud of my cooking abilities, my baking abilities leave something to be desired.

My cakes never seem to cook through, my icings never get light and fluffy and the end result is usually a gooey cake with hard-as-a-rock topping. Thusly, I’ve relegated myself to box mixes and icing from the can. And the end product inevitably ends up half wasted because my family gets tired of eating the same cake for a week.

I feel hopeless in the field of baking.

Buy my hopelessness was not all consuming. I found myself inspired one day to make something sweet. Tiramisu. Yes. That would be good.

I set about buying a tub of Mascarpone (which resembles a hybrid of cream and ricotta cheeses) and ladyfingers, the two essential elements for Tiramisu. These were the most challenging ingredients to find, but I ultimately located them at an Italian specialty store near work.

Then the fun began. I perused the Internet looking for Tiramisu recipes and combined several to come up with my own personal version of the treat.

I felt accomplished when my co-worker and food friend tried my Tiramisu and assured me that it passed muster.

It was work, I won’t lie to you. But isn’t there some saying about good things taking time?

Who knows? With your help, and the confidence from my Tiramisu victory, maybe I can bake after all. Offer me your tips and recipes for baking, and you could find your recipe in the paper. While I can’t make everything, I promise to try something new in the kitchen.

Send recipes to the Herald-Standard c/o Jennifer Harr, 8-18 E. Church St., Uniontown, Pa., 15401, or e-mail me at jennifer.harr@heraldstandard.com. Make sure to include your name and a phone number where you can be reached.

TIRAMISU

1 pound Mascarpone cheese

1, 14 oz. package of ladyfingers

1 cup boiling water, mixed with 2 tablespoons instant coffee and 2 tablespoons of Kahula or coffee flavored brandy

6 eggs, separated

6 tablespoons sugar

1 cup coffee flavored brandy

2 pints whipping cream, plus 2 tablespoons sugar

Cocoa powder for dusting

Make the coffee mixture and pour into a bowl. Quickly dip individual ladyfingers into the coffee and layer them in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. While they sit, put the egg yolks and sugar into the top of a double boiler over low heat. Whisk constantly for 10-12 minutes, or the eggs will cook. Make sure there is only a little water in the bottom part of the double boiler, or you’ll likely end up with sugar-laden scrambled eggs. Add in one cup of brandy, and continue to whisk for another 5 minutes.

Once that mixture is done (it should be slightly foamy), pour it into a bowl to cool. While it’s cooling, whip the six egg whites until stiff. Into the egg yolk mixture, add the Mascarpone cheese and blend. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites.

Whip the cream and sugar until stiff. (I found that the simplest way to whip cream is to use a metal bowl, and put that and the beaters into the freezer for about 10 minutes. The cream whips in no time.)

Top off the layer of ladyfingers with 1/2 the cheese mixture, followed by 1/2 the whipped cream. Dust a fine layer of cocoa over the top through a strainer. Dip and put in a second layer of ladyfingers. Add another layer of the cheese mixture and then the remaining whipped cream. Finish it off by dusting the top with cocoa powder. While making all the different parts of the Tiramisu is time consuming, nothing will seem longer than the hour you have to wait while this delicious dessert sits up in the fridge. Enjoy!