Baking Beyond Borders: Dessert Week: Mary Berry's Tiramisu

Dessert week! Everyone's favorite week!

We decided that dessert week should be entitled Treat yo self 2018 (said in our best Tom and Donna voices). We each have a different idea of what our treat yo self days would look like but of course they would all include watching as much GBBO as possible. Two contestants definitely believe that dessert is way better than "real" food any day and would spend a whole treat yo self day baking and eating desserts (but of course having someone else clean up the mess because nothing says treat yo self like your own personal dishwasher/maid for the day). While the other contestant (the Ben of the group who we don't understand with the Batman costume on treat yo self day) would fill her day with chicken wings and more chicken wings because savory is life for her.

Tiramisu seemed like the ultimate treat yo self dessert because it's caffeine, liquor and mounds of cream all rolled into one dessert. Some of us knew that Tom and Donna would see our zerts as insta worthy while others knew that they would not be impressed with our pack of socks presentation (just go and watch the Parks and Rec Treat yo self episode if none of this is making sense to you and you can thank us later).

Tiramisu - Picture Courtesy BBC

All in all this treat yo self week included some serious brandy discussions as some of us weren't even sure what it looked like much less what it tasted like. We also wanted a professional chocolate temperer (don't worry I'm sure Paul Hollywood has given himself this title, he just wants to make sure no one else can take it by having everyone think its not a real word) this week at our beck and call because honestly it's just the worst. This treat yo self week will definitely never be forgotten as one contestant has promised to reveal a secret about her tiramisu in this post, which I'm sure will shock us just as much as Paul Hollywood continuing on GBBO without Mary Berry by his side (we knew his cutthroat nature could lead him down some slippery slopes but not so far as to leave the Queen of baking behind).

First Baker: Megan

Norman (the resemblance is uncanny)

My Thoughts: I realized this week after watching the first few episodes of GBBO Season 5 again, that I am Norman. This was solidified after watching the dessert week episode and seeing him throw cocoa powder around the outside of his tiramisu, staring at it and saying, "I'm surprised at how good it looks." He has a that'll do (I cant help but think of the farmer in Babe every time he says this and I love him even more for it) attitude that I feel like I have a lot of time in my bakes (sometimes I do let the perfectionist Luis in me take over and things go horribly wrong). At each step of making this tiramisu, I pretty much thought that'll have to do because I refuse to make it again. First, when my cake came out of the oven and it was about as tall as a pancake so nearly impossible to cut in half, I thought that'll have to do. Next, I thought that'll have to do when I realized that I only had a very short serrated knife to cut the cake with (also knowing I can barely cut a straight line with scissors), and while looking at the hack job I had done on my cake afterwards. The that'll do's continued as I covered every surface in grated chocolate (worst idea ever as chocolate melts immediately while grating it), pieced together my broken cake layers in a too large square pan, had no sifter for my cocoa powder on top so clumps ensued and microwaved my chocolate to temper it (at that point I was pretty much in full on Norman mode just thinking eh I'll throw on my adorable old man Norman smile and they'll let me slide by another week).

Ingredients including that pesky Brandy that there were a million different brands of at the store, my arch nemesis - grated chocolate, my cake hack job, and a dessert that would be way better for treat yo self day than tiramisu

Result: My favorite thing about this tiramisu is the treat yo self that I piped out of my poorly tempered chocolate and really the rest is very much a that'll do effort (plus coffee, liquor and a tiny amount of chocolate are not my idea of a treat yo self dessert).

Fake Paul and Mary Thoughts: The judges thought that mine definitely had a homemade look to it and could have been neater. They thought that the sponge was thoroughly soaked and that it had a delightful flavor. They wanted a little more coffee flavor and less brandy though for sure.

Average Taste Score: 8

Average Appearance Score: 7

Second Baker: Stephanie

My Thoughts: Well first of all, I could not stop singing Macklemore's "Downtown" song during this bake. You know (actually, I'm sure you don't know since if you're reading this blog you're probably way more civilized and upstanding than I am and don't listen to terrible pop music), the line that says "There\s layers to this [stuff] player, Tiramisu, Tiramisu." So I was head bobbing along trying to make all of these layers somehow turn out. I borrowed pans for this bake from a friend, only to find out that one of them was too big for my small Bosnian oven. (Another appropriate moment to insert the face palm emoji). So I had to make a double batch of sponge to be baked in two separate rounds. Sponge must be in the rabbit family because there was sponge everywhere, which is a much more enjoyable problem to have than last week's flour fiasco. (Also, why is it so much more satisfying to call it sponge than cake?? Craig might have made fun of me a few times for that. 'Would you like to try the leftover sponge?' 'Uh, I'm not sure why you're calling that but yes, please give me some cake.') There was more math involved this week as I determined down to the gram and milliliter how to divide the layers, and how to cut the sponge out of it's original sheet pan state. Chocolate tempering is not for the weak, or the impatient, but if you're really treating yo self, then you should get someone else to do it for you.
Overall after I pulled my Tiramisu out of the too-small, wrong-style, square-ish pan, I was pleasantly surprised with the overall look and decided I could maybe be a brick layer in my future life. (hah!). Aside from sponges that were a tad on the thin and over soaked side (I refuse to admit to sogginess, may it never be so!) because of no self-rising flour, I thought it tasted exactly as it should and was a very delicious Tiramisu. I'm very pleased!

Ingredients, pan size struggles, sponge multiplying all over my kitchen, and more pan issues as my tiramisu explodes over the top of my dish.

Result:

My "Instagram husband" helping me get the best lighting for my pictures, and the finished product!

Fake Paul and Mary Thoughts: Overall this was a top bake in the eyes of my judges. They oohed and aahed over the taste of the cream and the overall cake, but said there could have been a better balance between amount of sponge and amount of cream (not that they were complaining about the cream level!) In his best Paul impression Craig shared that the sponge was a perfect level of moist, but my Mary (and I) thought it was a tad on the soggy side. When I took it to church the next day it was devoured with wide eyes and nods of approval through full mouths.

Average Taste Score: 8

Average Appearance Score: 8.75

Third Baker: Devin

My Thoughts: I was determined to do better this week. I read the recipe throughout the week and started collecting things I would need, like a better understanding of what heck I'd be doing. So, I re-watched the GBBO episode where they made tiramisu. I admitted that I watched the episode to Megan and Stephanie but what I didn't admit, was that after seeing the struggle of cutting the sponge several times, I just went and bought four different pans and called it a day, so surprise! I felt like a badass and to be honest, I needed all the help that I could get because... MY TIRAMISU WAS STILL AWFUL!

My Official Frosting Tester

Result: "Oh... this was supposed to be tiramisu? It tasted like an uninteresting cake that I wouldn't waste my calories on." I'm paraphrasing but a judge said that in real life to my face. She may be my Paul Hollywood.

Fake Paul and Mary Thoughts:
Paul - "I don't know what this is, but it's not tiramisu." (Walks off, possibly disgusted.)
Mary - "Good sponge, nice even layers, good look overall but there's no brandy or coffee flavor. And I need my brandy to deal with him... (Mel whispers something to Mary) YOU CHEATED??? We'll need to deliberate."