One of my favorite gifts to give is a dinner party… especially for men. I never know what to get them, really and I do know that the way to make just about any man happy is to make him a good meal! It’s also a lot more personal. I love that at a dinner party you truely get to spend quality time with the people you love. It’s a favorite birthday gift, but this year I decided to add a dinner party gift to both my brothers-in-law for Christmas.
The way I make I try to make it an extra special gift is to ask them to pick a country and I will design a dinner with that country in mind. My brother-in-law, JR, picked Italy for his country this time around, so he and my sister came over last Sunday and we had ourselves a nice little dinner party and a fun game of cards (Quiddler). So we started with a Lobster Risotto, then moved onto Spaghetti and Meatballs (recipe soon to come) with garlic bread and finished things off with giant individual Tiramisu Trifles! And if do say myself, everyone was pleased!
This trifle recipe is simple, the recipe is easy to follow, it’s a bit less expensive than most recipes you will find and it’s egg free (I did this for time’s sake , not for allergy sake, but hey, if it works for you great!). Some of the cost is cut down because it is a mixture of cheeses, half Mascarpone cheese (a mild Italian cream cheese) and half American cream cheese (which is less than half the cost of Mascarpone). Also, making the cake portion with a box mix instead of buying traditional lady fingers gives the trifle a fun different texture and adds in some savings as well.
To make my Angel Food Cake, I am just using a simple box mix… which involves this flour mix and water, so easy. But, if you prefer you can
Add the required water from package instructions.
Mix.
Bake in a square pan like this or in an angel food cake pan.
I start the process of breaking the cake apart by making some cuts. But the real work will come with breaking apart with my fingers.
Remove and break apart as you place in glasses.
Start with one bar of softened American cream cheese.
One 8 oz. Mascarpone cheese. This is like an Italian cream cheese that is slightly less tangy and a bit softer.
Add in the Mascapone.
Add in confectioner’s sugar.
Add in cream
The cheese mixture should be nice and smooth and fluffy now.
To make real whipped cream add cold whipping cream or heavy cream into the bowl of a cold electric mixer, start the mixer going on med/high with the whisk attachment until foamy. Add in confectioner’s sugar and beat until a whipped cream forms. Careful not to over whip turning your mixture into butter 🙂
Make some espresso. If you don’t have an espresso machine, you can buy some instant espresso powder and brew some that way or just make a cup of very very strong coffee.
Espresso has this natural head of foam on top… If you don’t have a machine, don’t worry about it.
Start by adding in a bit of cake and some espresso, enough to soak the cake.
Now some cheese mixture. When completing this step, be sure to get the mixture to all the edges of the glass effectively sealing off the layer… this way, when you place the cake on top the espresso will settle into the cake in that layer instead of sinking to the bottom.
Next a bit of whipped cream… and repeat… In this size glass I am able to do three layers.
As the glass gets larger, the amount I am putting in fills in a larger space so I am using more. Just be sure the cheese filling kind of seals off the layer below it so the espresso is able to really soak into the cake.
Top with a good amount of whipped cream and some chocolate shavings.
Tiramisu Trifle
4-8 (depending on size of glasses) ingredients:1/2 prepared Angel Food Cake (mix and water)
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 8 oz. package Mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup plus 3 Tbs. Confectioner’s sugar
1 pint heavy whipping cream, divided
1 cup prepared espresso, cooled
chocolate shavings for garnish
For cheese layer – combine softened cream cheese, Mascarpone cheese, 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream and 1/3 cup Confectioner’s sugar in an electric mixer and beat on med/high with the paddle attachment until smooth and fluffy about 3-4 minutes. For the whipped cream layer – Place the remaining heaving whipping cream in the cold bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat on med/high until foamy. Add in 3 Tbs. Confectioner’s sugar and continue beating on high until a whipped cream forms. (About 2 minutes) *Careful not to over beat. For the cake layer – Prepare per package instructions and allow to cool fully before using. Break apart with fingers until you have pieces roughly the size of quarters. To build – Line up 4 large glasses or 8 smaller glasses for ease of use. Add in cake, drench with a couple Tbs. espresso, add 2-3 Tbs. cheese mixture (being sure to touch all sides), add in 2-3 Tbs. whipped cream. Repeat process until you reach the top of the glass. Top with remaining whipped cream and sprinkle with chocolate shavings. Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours before serving. Remove from refrigerator about 20 minutes before serving. Enjoy!