Simple Concept.
This recipe is surprisingly easy. It can be served almost immediately and takes
about an hour to make. Traditionally, lady
fingers – a sponge cake cookie – soaked in espresso coffee are used. Instead, the lady fingers are
replaced with thin slices of angel food cake and the custard is piped through a
rosette tip to create a lovely presentation.
It is then topped with Salted Caramel Walnuts.
Creating Harmony among the Ingredients.
There was a bit of difficulty conceptualizing this
recipe. The pumpkin Italian custard and
espresso soaked cake initially clashed.
It didn’t make sense on the taste buds.
Some recipes change the espresso to another liquid, but then the
contrast of the sweet cream and bitter coffee flavor would be lost. It needed something to bring the two ingredients
to harmonize.
Eggnog Always Makes
Things Better.
Since I was stuck on using espresso and pumpkin, something had to be added to connect the flavors
together. The answer – Eggnog. Mixing equal portions of espresso coffee and
eggnog gave the dish the distinguished taste it deserved. Eggnog was also added to the custard. Finally, it made sense. The bitterness of the espresso and the flavor
of the pumpkin came together reminiscent of a pumpkin spice latte. Topped with another layer of espresso-eggnog
soaked sponge, topped with more custard, and sprinkled with salty, sweet
walnuts, perfection is served!
The Recipe:
The Recipe:
Spiced Pumpkin Rum Tiramisu & Salted Caramel Walnuts
Makes 6 Servings.
Serve this dessert with a bold brew of Italian roasted
coffee. Be careful though, your guests
will never leave!
Salted Caramel Walnuts
5 oz. halved
walnuts
3 Tbsp. turbinado
sugar (pure cane sugar, i.e. Sugar-in-the-Raw)
½ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground
cinnamon
1/8 tsp.
ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp.
freshly ground black pepper
TO MAKE
SALTED CARAMEL WALNUTS:
(1) Heat a medium pan over medium heat until hot. Add walnuts and stir until hot and fragrant,
about 5 minutes.
(2) While walnuts are cooking, in a small bowl, combine
sugar, salt & spices.
(3) Once walnuts are hot and fragrant, add sugar mixture to
the pan. Stir continuously. Sugar should begin to dissolve over walnuts
and create a caramel. Cook and stir for
1 - 2 minutes. Do not allow the sugar to
dissolve completely. It should be sticky
and adhere to the walnuts while still in a semi-granule form.
(4) Allow the walnuts to cool completely before using. The sugar will harden and create a sweet
and salty coating on the walnuts.
Spiced Pumpkin Rum Custard
PART 1:
2 Tbsp.
espresso or strongly brewed coffee, cooled
½ tsp.
vanilla extract
½ tsp. rum
extract
2 Tbsp.
pumpkin, canned
16 oz.
mascarpone cheese
3 Tbsp.
eggnog
2 Tbsp.
powdered sugar
PART 2:
1 cup (8 oz.)
heavy whipping cream
4 Tbsp.
powdered sugar
½ tsp.
vanilla extract
½ tsp. rum
extract
¼ tsp.
cinnamon
¼ tsp.
nutmeg
Espresso-Eggnog
Mix
½ cup
espresso or strongly brewed coffee, cooled
½ cup eggnog
¼ tsp.
vanilla extract
¼ tsp. rum
extract
12 thin slices
of angel food cake, no more than ½” thick
TO MAKE PART 1, SPICED PUMPKIN RUM CUSTARD:
(1) In a small bowl, mix together espresso, vanilla &
rum extract.
(2) Next, take three sheets of paper towels and stack them
on top of each other. Next place the pumpkin
on the towels. Take three more sheets
and press on top to extract any excess moisture. Set aside.
(3) In an electric mixer, place the mascarpone, eggnog and
powdered sugar together. Beat on low
speed for 1 minute to incorporate. Next
add the pumpkin to the cheese mixture.
Turn mixer on low speed and slowly add the espresso & extract
mixture just until incorporated. Scrape
into a bowl and keep chilled in the refrigerator until ready to use.
TO MAKE PART 2, SPICED PUMPKIN RUM CUSTARD:
(1) In an electric mixer, with a clean bowl, add the cream,
sugar, extracts, and spices.
(2) Turn on medium, until almost stiff peaks (Just short of
whipped cream consistency).
(3) Next add PART 1 to the whipped cream mixture and beat on
medium speed just until combined, about 30 seconds. DO NOT OVER BEAT.
(4) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until ready
to serve. Can be made up to 24 hours in
advance to serving.
TO MAKE ESPRESSO-EGGNOG MIX:
(1) Mix espresso, eggnog and extracts together. Cover and chill until ready to use.
TO ASSEMBLE TIRAMISU:
Assemble the tiramisu directly on the plate(s) or platter you will be
serving.
(1) Place six angel food cake slices down on each
plate or serving platter.
(2) Working back to front, spoon approximately 2 tsp. of
espresso-eggnog mix over each slice of cake.
Then go back and spoon approximately 2 tsp. more of the espresso-eggnog
mix, working back to front. (If you add
all 4 tsp. at once, it will run off the cake.
It needs to be added to the cake in short increments to have maximum absorbency
of espresso-eggnog mix)
(3) Next, in a piping bag setup with a medium rosette tip,
pipe swirls of custard onto each cake piece, generously. Be sure to reserve some of the custard for
the top presentation.
(4) Place another thin slice of angel food cake on top of
the custard mix and offset it so the custard piping underneath can be shown.
(5) In the same manner to step (2), spoon 2 tsp. of espresso-eggnog
mix over the second layer of cake. Then
go back and spoon 2 tsp. more of espresso-eggnog mix.
(6) With the piping
bag, pipe a generous swirl of custard on the center of each top piece of cake.
(7) Sprinkle generously with Salted Caramel Walnuts.
Serve this dessert with a bold brew of Italian roasted
coffee. Be careful, though, your guests
will never leave!
~ Smacznego ~
*Ingredient Brands Used in Recipe:
Vanilla Extract: Watkins Madagascar Bourbon
Rum Extract: Watkins Rum Extract
Espresso Coffee: Gevalia Espresso Roast, brewed double strength
Canned Pumpkin: Libby's
Cinnamon: Saigon Cinnamon
Eggnog: Southern Comfort Tradition
No comments:
Post a Comment