Tiramisu, or The Redheaded Stepchild



This is not what I wanted.  When I set the full-sheet entremet tiramisu for the party, I'd planned on piping the remaining mascarpone mousse on top with a St. Honore tip to give give it texture and sprinkle the cocoa powder over it to create depth (I can see it clearly in my head).  Cut into rectangular bars, with a coffee fluid gel and cocoa nib tuiles, it would be really pretty for the lunch party.  But, when I went in to work, the mousse that I'd left in the cooler for piping wasn't set.  It wasn't liquid either, rather, it moved slowly from the center of the container to the side when tilted.  This meant that the set frame in the freezer would just ooze out into a gooey mess when thawed.  That's when the panic set in.  I needed 38 desserts in 3 hours and I had to start from scratch.  Luckily I had some sponge cake in the freezer, but I needed to make a mascarpone cream from scratch.  My mascarpone mousse recipe would have taken too long to set.  So, I whipped something up and piped it into the ring molds so that it would set faster in the freezer.  Unmolding them, I held my breath and prayed that they wouldn't be thrown back at me (well, at the waitstaff, who would then come after me).  Since I used the time remaking the dessert instead of making the accompaniments, I had to use what I had on hand (the fluid gel didn't take too long to make).

Although this final dessert wasn't my vision, it was well received.  Better than well received.  And though I'm not exactly proud of it, I still stand behind it.  We surprised each other, Tira and I.  Don't worry, I'm still working on on vision.

Components: sponge cake, coffee syrup, mascarpone cream, cocoa powder, chocolate coffee bean, coffee fluid gel, chocolate soil.

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