Living in C Major

Fourth brother likes Tiramisu, so I’m going to make one for him today! There are thousands of Tiramisu recipes on the net I’m not sure that which one can be relied on. My friend, Mark told me that I can get “Instant Tiramisu mix” from the Supermarket; it’s cheap, easy and fast. However, I would love to make Tiramisu from scratch! First thing to do is to make the LadyFinger. I failed. Gosh, my friend will laugh at me if he sees this. I don’t like it too sweet and too soft. Too much sugar? Not enough flour? Hmm.. It looks ugly also. By the way, Tiramisu is nicely resting in my fridge now and I hope it won’t turn into a soggy mess tomorrow.

How I make ugly flat round shape LadyFinger

FYI, LadyFinger is light and sweet sponge cake roughly shaped like a large finger. Usually, 4 inches (10cm) long and 1 inch (2.5cm) wide. First, I mixed 60g plain flour with 30g corn flour. I separated 4 egg whites and egg yolks.

I beat egg yolks with 30g sugar until thick and pale. Then, I beat egg whites with 30g sugar until stiff. I gently folded 1/3 of the beaten stiff egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, mixed well. Continue to fold the rest into the mixture, mixed well. Sifted in the mixed flour and gently folded the flour into the mixture.

I spooned the batter in a pastry bag without tip *I was wrong here*, a tip should be fitted! I squeezed out about 30 LadyFingers (I turned extra LadyFinger batter into a small rectangular cake). Another mistake is that I should grease and flour the baking sheets. Oh, I didn’t dust them with powdered sugar too. I preheated the oven to 180°C and baked at middle level until golden brown, 5-6 minutes.

Things that I must remember next time
*Fit tip and pipe 4 inches long and 1 inch wide LadyFingers.
*Grease and flour the baking sheets with butter and flour.
*Remember to leave enough space between each LadyFinger for them to expand.
*Before baking, dust the ladyfingers with powdered sugar. Bake until slight golden brown will do.
I’m curious why some LadyFinger recipes added corn flour but some don’t. So, I searched the net a while and I found out that corn flour contains less gluten than wheat flour and it is used in combination with other flours to make breads, or for breading items for frying. When baking, substituting corn flour instead of wheat flour will result in heavier bread. If you just need corn flour for breading, you can use regular flour instead.