Semifreddo cake a'la Tiramisu

A few days ago, I was asked to prepare a Tiramisu... of course I will do it! my pleasure! But... it's summer.. it's so hot outside... and Tiramisu has a lot of cream which tends to melt... I found a brilliant, refreshing and delicious solution... ;) 

Recipe comes from: http://www.kwestiasmaku.com/desery/semifreddo/torcik_semifreddo/przepis.html but there are a lot of my private changes, as this recipe skips some more or less obvious activities. 

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs 
• 1/2 glass of sugar 
• 250g of mascarpone 
• 4-5 drops of vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon of lemon peel 
• 1-2 packagings of ladyfingers 
• 50-70 ml of chocolate/amaretto liqueur or a couple of drops of almond extract 
• cocoa and instant coffee (for sprinkling every tier) 

Optional ingredients - for a strawberry sauce: (I skipped that part and added caramel sauce): 

• 500 g of strawberries (either frozen or fresh) 
• some sugar for the taste* 
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour melted in 2 tablespoons of water 
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice 

*start from 2 tablespoons, taste, add more.

Preparation:

Strawberry sauce:

1. Defrost strawberries if frozen. Put in a pot, add sugar, boil for 7 minutes. Sieve. 
2. Add flour, boil, add lemon juice, boil. 

Semifreddo:

1. Take a loaf pan, put baking paper inside, so that some of it sticks out of the loaf pan. Put it in the freezer. 
2. Peel the lemon, squeeze, to get the juice, put aside. 
3. Separate egg yolks from whites, put in two different (quite big) bowls. 
4. Mix yolks with sugar on the highest rotation power of the mixer, till it gets smooth. 
5. Keep mixing - add mascarpone, vanilla extract and lemon peel. 
6. Beat the whites (around 7 minutes) 
7. Add whites to yolks. Stir gently. 
8. Take the loaf pan out of the freezer. 
9. Put the first tier of ladyfingers inside. Add some liqueur/almond extract*. Put some cream, sprinkle with cocoa and instant coffee. 
10. Repeat all the steps from 9 - ladyfingers, liqueur/extract, cream, cocoa+coffee. 
11. Put the foil on the top and put the cake into the freezer for at least 8 hours. 
12. Max 30 minutes before giving the cake to your guests, take as many portions as you need and put them in the fridge. The rest of the cake remains in the freezer. 
13. Add some sauce if you wish - caramel, chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, etc. 
14. Bon Appetit!

Tiramisu

Gourmet sensation. Always, in every variation :)

Recipe from this website, but changed, to fit a springform pan.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 packs of ladyfingers
• 300 ml of strong espresso
• 120 ml of Amaretto syrup
• 8 egg yolks (in a room temperature)
• 8 tablespoons of sugar
• 500 g of mascarpone (cold)
• cocoa (bitter one, for baking), to sprinkle the tiers and the top

Preparation:

1. Prepare yolks. They need to be in a room temperature.
2. Take a bowl. Prepare espresso, mix with Amaretto syrup in the bowl. Cool down.
3. Take a metal bowl, put yolks inside, add sugar and using a mixer, mix on its highest rotation for at least 8 minutes till you get thick, fluffy and light substance.*
4. Using a tablespoon, add one of mascarpone to yolks, mix (average rotation) till smooth, then add another, etc. till all the mascarpone is added. This cream needs to be thick and fluffy.
5. Take a springform pan, ladyfingers and all the bowls. 
6. Take 1 ladyfinger, put for 2 seconds in coffee-Amaretto mixture(2 seconds for both sides of a ladyfinger**), put in the springform pan. Repeat till you get one full tier of ladyfingers on the bottom of the springform pan.
7. Sprinkle it with cocoa, using a sieve.
8. Put the yolks-mascarpone cream on it (do not worry that cocoa mixes with the cream)
9. Put another tier of ladyfingers, cocoa, cream.
10. Repeat all the steps, till all the ingredients are gone. The top is the cream and cocoa.***
11. Put in the fridge for at least 3 hours (entire night is perfect, especially if the cream isn't thick enough)
12. It may stay in the fridge for few days. But I don't think it will ;)
13. Bon Appetit!

* This is the most important part of making a good Tiramisu. While beating, it is advisable not to move the mixer too often. Beaten yolks need to be thick, fluffy, bright. If they aren't - add special powder that will stiffen, consolidate it (in Poland - śmietan-fix). If you don't have such powder and the cream is wet, with water and is more like a liquid (which is bad) you can either use it - but then Tiramisu needs to stay in the fridge for the entire night (even though it won't fully fix it, there will be a problem with taking it out of the springform pan and cutting a decent piece to put on a plate) or prepare the cream from the very beginning - advisable. 

** It needs to be done quickly, otherwise ladyfingers will crumble.

*** It is possible to make 3 tiers out of this recipe. But I do not recommend it. With 3 tiers, there are too many ladyfingers and too little cream. 
It is better (both if it comes to its appearance and the easiness of taking it out) to finish on 2.