Melanie's Tiramisu

For September '08 Italian potluck

 

I Am Adoring Tiramisu
from I Am Grateful
Recipes & Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude
by Terces Engelhart with Orchid    (they're coming out with another dessert recipe book mid Oct08, Sweet Gratitude: A New World of Raw Desserts by Matthew Rogers, Tiziana Alipo Tamborra, it looks like a tiramisu made it on the cover)

 

 

makes a pan 20cmx20cmx7cm    (it actually pretty much filled a 25cmx20cmx7cm container - this is HUGE I'd half the quantities or even down to a third for a sensible sized desert, though the HUGE container looks pretty impressive!)

 

 

The night before
soak 850g almonds
soak 1.5cup cashews (or soak these in the morning if you are making this in the afternoon, almonds need about 4hrs extra soaking)
soak 15g dried irish moss (shake it out very well before putting it in the water, even once it has swollen up again, swish it around a lot - it can get quite a bit of sand on it, you don't want the sand on it) Give the irish moss a GOOD rinse after soaking overnight, make sure the soaked irish moss has no gritty bits on it before using in the recipe, discard the soaking water, you just want the seaweed.

For the cake
1.5cup well packed finely chopped dates (450g of seeded dates) (you need another 0.3cup for the chocolate mousse, so will need about 550g of seeded dates in total)
0.5cup coconut butter
2.5ml salt (used 1.25ml)
30ml vanilla (not quite sure what kind of vanilla, so I just used 1 bean)
850g of almond flour (I used 850g of unsoaked almonds, soaked them, then made the milk required later had lots of milk left over, and then used the leftover almond meal wet as the almond flour)
250ml cold-processed espresso (I did not have raw coffee, I only had 1tblsp on roasted coffee, I've never drunk coffee, so haven't bothered looking for it raw, and only had 20ml of roasted coffee in the house, put it in 250ml of cold water and let it sit for 2 days, looked dark brown enough to convince me, not sure if it would convince a coffee drinker though.  If there wasn't an Italian theme, a berry or chocolate sauce could work well instead of the coffee)

 

Puree the dates in a food processor.  To make a fine paste you may need to add a bit of water (I used a bit of the coffee)
In a mixer with a flat paddle at low speed, mix the date, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Add flour and mix at higher speed until well incorporated.  (I actually mixed date, coconut oil, vanilla and halved the salt in the food processor then added it to the almond meal by hand)
Separate into two equal portions.
Form an even layer on the bottom of the pan using one portion. Soak this layer with half of the espresso (125ml). Allow espresso to soak in (I scored the top of the cake layer with a 3cm grid, then poured on the espresso, it soaked in quickly.

 

For the cacao mousse
15g dried Irish Moss
360ml Almond milk
0.3 cups (heaped quarter cup) finely chopped dates (quarter cup + 1 teaspoon)
60ml Agave
30ml of vanilla (used 1 pod)
0.6ml (1 eighth teaspoon) salt (used a pinch)
80ml cacao powder
30ml lecithin
120ml coconut oil

 

Blend the soaked irish moss with 120ml almond milk, until dissolved, smooth and thick (this takes a while, if you check it before it is ready, you will wonder how it will turn into something edible...)
Add remaining almond milk, dates, agave,vanilla, salt and cacao powder, and blend until smooth
Add lecithin and coconut oil and blend until well incorporated.
Pour onto cake layer.  Set in fridge (30-60minutes)

Once set, layer the remaining cake portion on top of the mousse and soak cake with remaining espresso.
Return to fridge while you make the whipped cream....

For the whipped cream
540ml coconut milk (blend the flesh of one young coconut with enough of the coconut water to make up 540ml, if you're just a bit short, add a bit of water, if you're very short, open another coconut)
1.5 cup cashews soaked
150ml agave
30ml vanilla (I used 1 pod)
0.6ml (1 eighth teaspoon) salt (used a pinch)
30ml lecithin
160ml coconut oil

 

Blend all ingredients except lecithin and coconut oil until smooth.  Add lecithin and coconut oil. blending until well incorporated.
Pour onto cake and set in fridge (about 60min)

 

Garnish
Once set dust with cacao powder (about 2 tablespoons, is plenty, recipe says 4 tablespoons!)

Comments

[Gay]

Melanie's Tiramisu was utterly amazing! I typically don't eat desserts and I was completely impressed with this dish. I have heard only good things about the Cafe Gratitude book - the recipes work!