Vanilla and Chocolate Tiramisu, or My Sister's Favorite Dessert

     Well, we are almost another circle around the sun.  How time flies.  This holiday season was a busy one, but actually not too onerous.  It was broken into pieces with a trip to Alaska to visit my sister, where we literally had a 5 day house party with multi course meals each night and a revolving guest list.  Dinners included fondue (cheese and a round robin of different breeds of deer---yes, we did head to head comparison), crab feed and a venison roast.  There was homemade bread and 100 year old sourdough pancakes.   But that was Thanksgiving and oh so long ago.
     Here we are at Boxing Day, and as a reprieve, Bryce and I drove to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge and looked for birds.  There were many.  And it was peaceful and quiet.   The sun peeked through and I was grateful for hat and mittens.  That sort of experience balances the hectic.
Yesterday was another meal punctuated by several great items--king salmon, crab cakes, and single malt whisky from Nova Scotia.  But the commentary around the dessert made a post necessary, as there were requests for the recipe.  It was only then that I realized this was my sister's absolute favorite dessert.  Who knew?
     I know this harkens back to the 90's, and I know there are plenty of versions of it.  Some not so great. I wanted to channel the idea from a Tiramisu cake from our local Bakery Nouveau, which is has layers of chocolate sponge between coffee buttercream.  But I didn't want a chocolate bomb.  My vision was alternating layers of vanilla and chocolate sponge.  And then I wanted a billowy layer of dairy/cream---what exactly is that layer called?  It's not exactly a custard, nor whipped cream, oh who knows.  I also didn't want a coffee bomb, and I wanted to taste the rum.   I didn't want a huge 9 x 13 pan of this stuff as it seems.....less formal and a bit overwhelming.  This was Christmas dinner after all and I wanted a bit of a celebratory dessert.  Indulgent but not over the top.  So I went with an idea from Smitten Kitchen for individual puddings, layered in glasses.  But no recipe really satisfied me completely.  It ended up being a riff from multiple sources to create this.  There are multiple steps here, but they can be broken up, done ahead and assembled altogether up to 24 hours in advance.  So, busy, but not too onerous.  Just like the season.

Individual Vanilla and Chocolate Tiramisu

serves 8-10, depending on size of container

Chocolate Sponge (I used this one)

Vanilla Sponge ( Here is one, but I used the Hot Water Sponge Cake from Richard Sax) (see notes)

2 c. coffee

6 T Rum (divided)

4 egg yolks

1/2 c sugar

1/4 t kosher salt

1 lb mascarpone cheese

2/3 c cream

Bittersweet chocolate to shave--1-2 oz chunk should do it. 

2-3 T cocoa, for sifting

1.  Make the chocolate and vanilla sponges.  These can be done ahead of time.  I froze mine and then thawed and used them on the day I assembled.  

2.  Make coffee and let cool, add 4 T Rum and place in a fairly flat bowl or pie plate).  

3.  Beat the egg yolks for 2-3 minutes until light colored, add the sugar and salt, continue to beat until it is thick and light lemon colored.  Best to err on the side of longer than shorter, as you really need the structure from this.  Add remaining 2T rum.  Beat.  Add the mascarpone and beat until well mixed, approx 1 more minute.  Set aside.  

4.  In another bowl with the dirty beaters, beat the cream until stiff.  Fold this into the egg/mascarpone mixture.   

5.  Assembly:  Have ready your glass jars.  (I used stemless wine glasses, and then today I used 1/2 pint mason jars.  It all depends on what size serving you want. ) 

6.  If the cake is over 1/2" thick (my vanilla cake was), cut into 1/2-3/4" thick vertical layers, and dip quickly into the coffee mixture.  My chocolate cake was in a sheet pan, and I used a glass and cut out rounds to fit my glass.  These were also dipped into the coffee mixture.  I did this one by one as I needed them, but you could work ahead.  

7.  The order is this:  vanilla cake in the base, you can use pieces.  A layer of 2-3T of cream.  Chocolate shavings.  A layer of chocolate cake, another 2-3T cream, chocolate shavings.  A layer of vanilla cake, more cream and then cocoa sifted on top.  If using a smaller container, like the 1/2 pint jars, it would be one layer of chocolate, one layer of vanilla, but the idea is the same.  

8.  Once assembled, cover and chill for up to 24 hours.  

Note:  I have seen recipes using pound cake and the usual is lady fingers.  I could have made lady fingers but I find the sponge cake works great.  But I would not use the pound cake:  too rich.  The sponge cakes are simple, not too sweet and fairly sturdy.  My audience found them excellent.  

The other thing I see is Marsala and not Rum.  Or Brandy.