Tiramisu

I got the Evite. It's time for SUPPER CLUB! This month's theme - Italian! My chance to make tiramisu was finally here. For the longest time I thought tiramisu was a drink posing as a dessert. Seriously, one of my earliest memories of eating this dessert was having it in an Italian restaurant and not being able to eat it because it was drenched in alcohol. Since then I've had great tiramisu but never tried to make it because I assumed it would be too intense. But this month, I decided to brave the intensity for my supper club girls. The recipe is from Simple Pleasures and its easier than I thought it would be.

What you need: heavy cream (2cups), egg yolks (8), light brown sugar (1/3cup), vanilla extract (2tbsp), mascarpone (1cup), Nutella (3/4cup), brewed espresso or strong coffee (1.5cups), Italian lady fingers (36), unsweetened cocoa powder. Kahlua (1/4cup) is optional.

Pour heavy cream in a mixing bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Put in the refrigerator. Fill a sauce pan halfway with water and bring to a simmer.
In a large steel mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks, brown sugar, vanilla and 3 tablespoons of water. Set the bowl over a simmer water and whisk until the egg mixture triples in volumes and holds a soft peak, about 8 minutes. Remove the bowl from the water and place in ice water and whisk until the mixture is cool.
In a bowl, mix half of the above mixture with 1/3 of the whipped cream. Set aside. In another bowl, mix the Nutella and the remaining of the egg yolk mixture and the remaining whipped cream.
Pour the espresso or coffee in another bowl (and mix in Kahlua if you want to use it). Dip half the lady fingers in the espresso and use them to line the bottom of a serving bowl. Spread the nutella mixture evenly in the bowl. Dip the the remaining lady fingers in the espresso and put on top.
Cover with the mascarpone mixture. Dust with the cocoa powder. Refrigerate covered with plastic wrap until set, at least 4 to 5 hours.
Enjoy! This was definitely a success in our circle!