Sake and Matcha replace coffee and Kahlua in this delectable green tea dessert
I absolutely love tiramisu and am always experimenting with new versions of this delicious dessert. Walking through Central Park I was captivated by the beautiful cherry blossoms exploding throughout the park. It’s as if these trees are screaming to be let out after a long, cold winter. The pink and white blooms look so beautiful against the bright blue sky and sprinkled on the ground after they fall. Spring is my favorite time of year. A season of hope for new things to come.
The cherry blossoms reminded me of a delicious sweet, dry sake that I had tasted a couple of weeks ago. The sake is called Kizakura”Hana Kizakura” and it is made from a yeast extracted from cherry blossoms. The result is a lightly sweet, dry sake that reminds you of walking through a cherry orchard. This sake is the perfect Spring/Summer aperitif and can also be used for sake martinis. You can purchase the sake here through TIPPSY SAKE. I decided to develop a recipe for matcha tiramisu using this sake. The matcha tiramisu is light, aromatic and is perfect to serve in the Spring and Summer. Matcha Tiramisu is quite simple to prepare and is a no bake dessert that requires time in the refrigerator. This makes it ideal to serve when you have company coming over.
Making Zabaglione
Fill a sauce pan with an inch of water and bring the water to a simmer. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a heat proof bowl and place over the sauce pan. Make sure the heat proof bowl is not touching the water, it needs to be over the water. Beat the mixture until pale yellow and triple in size. This will take around 8-10 minutes. When the egg yolk mixture is ready, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool slightly while you beat the heavy cream in a separate bowl. Once the heavy cream is beaten into soft peaks, fold the whipped cream into the egg mixture. Be careful not to deflate the cream, you want to gently incorporate the two.
What Kind of Matcha Should I Use?
There are many different varieties of matcha available. I love the matcha from tea forte. It’s stone ground, smooth and bright and works perfectly with the creaminess of the tiramisu. There are flavored matcha as well. Adagio teas makes a delicious chocolate matcha that is great for sprinkling on top of the matcha tiramisu. For this recipe I mixed the matcha with water and sake to dip the ladyfingers in. The best technique is to mix the matcha with a little boiling water to form a paste and then add the rest of the boiling water and sake. This will help to incorporate all the matcha into the liquid.
Matcha Tiramisu
Equipment
- 8×8 square pan
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks
- ¾ cup granulated sugar divided
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup marscapone cheese room temperature
- 30 ladyfinger cookies
- 1 cup water boiling
- 3 tsp matcha divided
- ½ cup sake sweet and dry
Instructions
- fill sauce pan with 1 inch of water and bring to a simmer.
- add egg yolks and ¼ cup of sugar to a heat proof bowl that can sit on top of the sauce pan with water. Do not let the bowl touch the water, it should be over the water.
- whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow and triple in size. About 10 min.
- remove from heat and let cool slightly
- whip heavy cream and remaining ½ cup sugar until soft peaks form. Do not over beat.
- whisk marscapone in egg mixture
- gently fold half of the whipped cream into marscapone mixture then gently fold in the rest. Be careful not to deflate the whipped cream. Place in refrigerator until ready to assemble cake.
- in a seperate bowl mix 2 tsp matcha with 1 tablesppon of water to make a paste then add remaining cup of water and stir well. mix in sake.
- dip ladyfingers quickly in matcha and sake and line them in the bottom of the 8×8 pan
- spread half the marscapone over the ladyfingers and repeat with a second layer of ladyfingers dipped in matcha and sake and the rest of the marscapone.
- Let chill for 1 hour and then sift remaining teaspoon of matcha on top of tiramisu
- chill for another 2 or 3 hours until set
