The classic dessert gets a holiday twist with eggnog flavors and an opulent presentation. Begin making this one day before serving.
1 1/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon dark rum
4 tablespoons brandy12 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 8-ounce containers mascarpone cheese*
2 cups chilled whipping cream2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
7 tablespoons Kahlúa or other coffee liqueur
2 6.15-ounce or four 3.5-ounce boxes Champagne biscuits or Boudoirs (about 60 crisp ladyfinger cookies)*
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, finely ground in processor
Whisk 1 1/3 cups sugar, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup rum, 3 tablespoons brandy, yolks, and nutmeg in metal bowl. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water). Whisk constantly until mixture thickens and candy thermometer inserted into mixture registers 140°F for 3 minutes, about 5 minutes total. Remove bowl from over water. Whisk mascarpone, 1 container at a time, into warm custard until blended.
Using electric mixer, beat whipping cream, vanilla, 1 tablespoon brandy, and 1 teaspoon rum in large bowl until cream holds peaks. Fold in mascarpone mixture.
Bring 1 cup water to simmer in small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and espresso powder; stir to dissolve. Mix in liqueur. Submerge 1 biscuit in espresso mixture, turning to coat twice; shake excess liquid back into pan. Place dipped biscuit, sugared side facing out, around bottom side of 14-cup trifle dish, pressing against side of dish (biscuit may break). Repeat with enough biscuits to go around bottom sides of dish once. Dip more biscuits and arrange over bottom of dish to cover
.
Spoon 2 cups mascarpone mixture over biscuits; spread to cover. Sprinkle 1/4 cup ground chocolate over, making chocolate visible at sides of dish. Repeat with more biscuits dipped into espresso mixture, mascarpone mixture, and ground chocolate in 2 more layers each. Cover with 1 more layer of dipped biscuits and enough mascarpone mixture to reach top of trifle dish. Sprinkle remaining ground chocolate over, covering completely. Cover and chill overnight.
Gently press stem end of largest chocolate leaves around edge of trifle. Fill center with smaller leaves. (Can be made 8 hours ahead; chill.)
*Available at Italian markets, specialty foods stores, and some supermarkets.Makes 16 to 18 servings.
Chocolate Leaves
8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
40 assorted sizes of camellia leaves or lemon leaves, wiped clean
Gold dust* (optional)
Line large baking sheet with foil. Melt chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth and instant-read thermometer inserted into chocolate registers 115°F.
Brush chocolate over veined side (underside) of 1 leaf, coating thickly and completely. Arrange chocolate side up on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining leaves and chocolate, rewarming chocolate if necessary to maintain 115°F temperature. Chill leaves until firm, about 45 minutes. Starting at stem end, carefully pull back green leaf, releasing chocolate leaf; return leaves to same baking sheet. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep chilled.) Using small artist brush, carefully brush some leaves with gold dust, if desired.
*Available at cake and candy supply stores, or by mail from Jane's Cakes and Chocolates at 800-262-7630.
3 comments:
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004
From: "Dione"
Subject: Christmas recovery in progress
To: "Denise"
Can't remember if I told you that Scott's sister Cara made dinner this year. It's her dream to be a chef or a caterer someday so it's not like I'm forcing something awful on her. She had this whole Italian menu put together and on Christmas Eve or maybe the day before that, she IM'ed me that she'd found the dessert she wanted me to make.
Mind you, at that moment, I was just about to tear my hair out trying to get the house clean, gift albums finished, presents wrapped, etc. while Amanda was wrapped around my legs the entire time whining in high-pitched horror, desperately begging me for attention... and Cara IMs me that she wants me to make a seven-layer eggnog tirimisu trifle for dessert.
I said, "You're kidding right? You're kidding...I'm sure." She WASN'T and said I should probably start now. The recipe actually suggests that you start the day before. She told me later that she was, in fact, deadly serious... still makes me giggle. She sent me the recipe which I briefly scanned (just for laughs) and it had side-notes like "this ingredient can be found at Italian specialty stores". Isn't that cute?
I'd sort of already reached that point -- after sitting in a 25-minute traffic jam inside the mall parking lot a day or so before -- that point that even if I'd heard Target was having a 95% off of everything in the store sale, you still couldn't get me to leave the house. And she thinks I'm going to an Italian specialty store for mascarpone so that I can make a dessert with "opulent presentation"... I wish you could see me laughing...
To tell you the truth, I'm not quite sure that I'm ready to make anything that makes an opulent presentation... I, myself, prefer a dessert that ain't particularly attractive... I hate to feel guilty putting the spoon in... but I do have really cool Santa plates which shout I LOVE CHRISTMAS in fairly oppulent homey fashion, I believe.
Anyway, I had to look at that recipe again just now...the recipe found on Epicurious.com called for Champagne biscuits or Boudoirs... Right...maybe I have those in the cupboard...12 egg yolks...and I'm supposed to make it in my 14-cup trifle dish...Oh golly, I wonder if my 15-cup trifle will be okay? Hello...? Do YOU have a trifle? I don't have a trifle. How can I create an oppulent presentation without the proper trifle dish? This is a DISASTER!
Well to be honest with you... it never got to that point, probably because at that moment I had the voices of not one but TWO sisters in my head saying RELAX, you don't need to worry about all that stuff, they already love you... and so I stuck to the plan of making this incredibly simple hot fudge sundae cake... Darin used to make one really similar... you bake it at the last minute and it turns into a half-cake-half pudding thing and you serve it with vanilla ice cream (Breyer's vanilla bean). Really yummy, but not particularly beautiful. There's not a single carefully carved chocolate leaf to be found. (Cara loves it. She was thrilled.) I've made it a million times yet I managed to botch it up! I don't think Cara was a happy girl, but what are you gonna do? I guess I owe her a seven-layer tirimisu trifle.
Uh oh, I'm giggling again...
This is what I mean about you younger/older sisters trying to fake me out. I saw this pic and thought you actually made that dessert. Jeez, what a dork. I mean, I saw you pop out two miraculously gorgeous girls, so I thought you were capable of anything. Therefore, I didn’t question the photo. Phew, what a relief you went with the Hot Pudding Cake. My 7-layer dip photo is gonna have, like 14 distinct layers. You just wait! (Now I need help from middle sisters with computer photo-altering capabilities: If you have PhotoShop, I need you.)
Now when you say that my children are MIRACULOUSLY gorgeous are you implying that their father and I are butt-ugly or something? Of course you did actually witness them popping out which means you did actually see my ugly butt... dang, they are cute kids, aren't they?
Moving on... Wow, you actually thought I made that dessert? With all those gold-flecked chocolate leaves? That thing was so far from my reality that it didn't even occur to me to throw a disclaimer on there about the picture. Nope, anything I pour that much time and energy into better last a long, long time... this is probably why I make scrapbooks which I hope will get passed down thru the generations instead of chocolate leaves...
I think I'd throw a big hissy baby fit if anyone actually attempted to eat one of those leaves that I had labored long and hard over... oh no, I'd be in the kitchen wiping off each leaf and preserving it in the freezer for the next event... complaining loudly the whole time that nobody appreciated my hard work and it would have been so much easier to just throw on some chocolate chips and been done with it.
Nope I'd never make it in the wedding cake business. I'd be the crazy cake lady showing up at the reception with a gun in my hands: "Just hand over the delicate pastel fondant roses and nobody gets hurt."
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