Buon Giorno Friends!!
I am soo excited about these little dessert cups.. I've been seeing jars filled with delectable goodies all over Pinterest since the first day I joined. Just coming from two weeks of baking and graduation preps, I had a few ingredients leftover in my fridge that I wanted to use up.
In my pantry I had these canning jars that I bought at the hardware store, intending to can plums.. but the jars unused were just waiting for me to wash the dust off and putt off no longer there use. So voila.. perfect timing and an even more so perfect strawberry and syrup infused dessert choice for these mini's.
"Strawberries from my garden"..
These are Alpine strawberries. An intense flavored runner less berry that grows large and has much fruit. My healthy strawberries come to you with a little companion planting of marigolds. I love marigolds for there many uses. They are perfect for warding off pests, but they also keep the flesh healthy. I'm not sure exactly why.. I wish I had studied more botany, but when I first started growing marigolds and calendula it was to make a skin soothing tincture. Marigolds contain natural salicylic acid, and help to heal bruised skin. I use to make the tincture and leave it in the refrigerator.. just for a few days at a time.. for a soothing tonic. Again, not a botanist or chemist here.. but I did work in the skincare industry for quite a few years. Many of our high priced items had salicylic acid in them for toning, healing blemishes and minimizing pore size. There ya go.. you should all be growing Marigolds or French Calendula Flowers!
Back to my recipe.. :)
After all these years of blogging my family recipes, I realize I don't have an actual recipe for Tiramisu here at Dalla Mia Cucina. As I was perusing my own recipe posts, I noticed that I have a picture of a holiday dinner with all the yummy food items, including a dish of heavenly tiramisu, but no recipe. And even now this isn't a traditional Tiramisu, but many of the layer elements are here and can be used in your own tiramisu cake.. or any party cake where you want to impress your guests and family with a dessert that will leave them coming back for more.
Here in this recipe I'm giving you what I think is the most important element of this classic Italian dessert.. the Génoise Sponge. Not just any sponge, a genoise sponge originating in the city of Genoa. Some call it a genoese sponge, no matter, it's all good and perfect!
What makes this sponge unique is that it uses no leavening. The volume and airiness of this cake is derived from whipping air into it with beaters. This all takes place at the beginning stages, first warming your eggs and sugar over a warm water bath, beating it and making it light and frothy, then putting it on an electric beater stand and whipping it till the "ribbon" stage. Alternating with the addition of a soft wheat flour, in this case cake flour, and melted butter. This crumb is firm and open and holds up wonderfully to sugar syrups and espresso. YUMM!! You can imagine where this is going.. right??
After I cut out my little cake shapes to fit inside the glass jars, I douse them with the marsala espresso syrup, then layer with the mascarpone cream, topped with macerated strawberries, adding another sponge layer, another dousing.. topped with chantilly cream and let soak up in the refrigerator for 3-5 hours. When I took the lids off, I smoothed the cream and sprinkled a generous topping of grated chocolate. Good quality.. of your choice! This isn't traditional.. traditionally in a cake form I would use a good quality unsweetened cocoa powder.
I hope you try this recipe.. I know you'll love it, especially the Genoise.. And if not this particular recipe.. definitely make dessert in these individual sized glass jars!
...and the recipe!!
