I love all type of cheese cake. Although I have not tasted lots of different cheese in this world, or in Malaysia, but so far there isn't any cheese cake that I dislike. The only thing that stop me from it is the cost. Great cheese cake in Malaysia are usually made from imported cheese, they are bloody expensive although it's taste super awesome. I used to be satisfy with the local cheese cake as long as they are tasty and not so costly, but not so until I learn how to make this Tiramisu.

I'm not sure about you, but whenever I try to look for simple Tiramisu recipe over the internet, all of them are consider too troublesome for me. And most of them are using different type of ingredients that are usually hard to find or quite costly. I'm a lazy guy, and I don't like the idea of spending half a day in the kitchen producing one type of food. So after a few tries in making Tiramisu using the standard way, I found this simplest way that doesn't need too much of ingredients, not so time & effort consuming, but with great taste! Of course, you can add any ingredients you want to make it better in your own way, but my target is to make something that can be called Tiramisu and the taste is awesome.

Now, let's get started! These are the list of ingredients that I used for a more tasty Tiramisu. You can get from any AEON Big and Cold Storage outlet.

1. Ingredients

My Standard Tiramisu Ingredient List

Ingredient	Unit/Grams	Estimated Price	Remark
Mascarpone Cheese	250g	RM16	I prefer Gusto Dolce brand although it's not that cheap. But the cheese texture is super awesome.
Whipped Cream	125g	RM8	-
Icing Sugar	1 or half tablespoon	RM5	You can go for white sugar. But icing sugar is easier to mixed in when you mix them later.
Vanilla extract	1/4 tablespoon	RM2	-
Rum	1 or half table spoon	N/A	Traditional type of Tiramisu use Rum. If you don't have it, you can replace with any wine.
Cocoa Powder (For Topping)	Any amount	RM10	I use Van Houten Cocoa powder. The taste is fine, not so bitter and the cost is quite reasonable for me.
Lady Finger Biscuit (For Base)	10 pieces	RM10	For RM10, you can get any lady finger biscuit pack that has more 20 pieces. Unless you go for much expensive brand. Otherwise, you can use any type of biscuit, crush into tiny pieces and place on the bottom of the Tiramisu.
Dark Coffee Powder	2 or 3 tablespoon	N/A	Any brand of coffee powder you prefer.
Total Estimated Cost: RM51 (Exclude Rum)

The list above is more standard, especially if you want a better taste. But for me, I also go for a much more simple list because it's easier to get those ingredient and less costly.

My Simple Tiramisu Ingredient List

Ingredient	Unit/Grams	Estimated Price	Remark
Mascarpone Cheese	250g	RM11	Tatua Mascarpone Cheese is another choice for Mascarpone. My experience is just fine with it, I'm not super satisfy with its texture thou.
Whipped Cream	125g	RM8	-
Icing Sugar	1 or half tablespoon	RM5	You can go for white sugar. But icing sugar is easier to mixed in when you mix them later. You can also exclude this if you don't want to taste any sweetness in your Tiramisu.
Cocoa Powder (For Topping)	Any amount	RM10	I use Van Houten Cocoa powder. The taste is fine, not so bitter and the cost is quite reasonable for me.
Lady Finger Biscuit (For Base)	10 pieces	RM10	For RM10, you can get any lady finger biscuit pack that has more 20 pieces. Unless you go for much expensive brand. Otherwise, you can use any type of biscuit, crush into tiny pieces and place on the bottom of the Tiramisu.
Any Coffee Powder	2 or 3 tablespoon	N/A	You can also use instant coffee or any coffee available..
Total Estimated Cost: RM44

In case you are using the simple ingredient list, do not worry about the instruction below if you are lack of certain ingredient. Just skip any ingredient that you are not using and proceed.

2. Preparation

Now when you have all the ingredients ready, you need to follow with the preparation below before you start whipping and mixing anything. So follow the checklist below and make sure you have everything ready.

1. Make a cup of coffee with your selected coffee powder with a cup of 300ml water. Add in the Rum (optional) after you done making the coffee. Then, pour the coffee with Rum into a flat plate and let it cool down.
2. Take the mascarpone cheese out from the fridge about 10 to 15 minutes before you start making it so that it's easy to mix and fold when it's about room temperature.
3. That's it! Get ready to do cake making.

3. Steps

1. Start with whipping the cream. If you are using a whipping machine, set it to medium speed and whip roughly 3 to 5 minutes, or until it is soft and sticky. Mix in the vanilla essence about 1 minute after you start whipping the cream. You need to process the cream until it's not so creamy and when you turn over the whipping container where the cream is, it won't leak out like cream. Careful not to beat too much because when it is over beaten, it became much more creamy and you can't use it anymore.
   
   
2. Mix in the mascarpone cheese and icing sugar and start whipping again. This time, you just need to make sure the cheese and icing sugar are well mixed with the cream. Remember, the cream will not be so smooth if you over whipping it. So as long as the cheese and icing sugar is mixed, and you no longer see tiny pieces of sugar on the surface, then it's done.
   
   
3. Get your container ready and place the plate that contain the coffee & lady finger biscuits beside the container. Make sure the coffee is cool off and not hot anymore so that your lady finger biscuit will taste more solid later. Now, you need to dip the lower part of the lady finger biscuit into the coffee for 2 seconds and quickly turn to the other side. You just have to make sure the lady finger biscuit had absorb a certain amount of coffee. Then, place it at the bottom of the container. Repeat the same step for each lady finger biscuit until you cover the bottom of your container with lady finger biscuit.
   
   
4. Add a layer of well mixed cream, mascarpone cheese and icing sugar on top of the lady finger biscuit in the container. You need to distribute the mixture evenly on the surface so that the entire layer is flat on the surface. Also, watch out on how much mixture you had after you adding into the container, because you might need to add another layer of lady finger biscuit after dipping into the coffee and add extra layer of mixture on top of it. It's better to have at least two layers of lady finger biscuit and cheese mixture so that you get more taste in a single bite. Unless you are using a long rectangle container so you don't have enough ingredients to add another layer.
   
   
5. When you had used up all the ingredients according to the steps above, now you can pour the cocoa powder on the surface of your (going-to-be) Tiramisu and try to distribute to the entire surface evenly as well. Best to have food powder grading tool so that the cocoa powder will be separated nicely.
   
   
6. Close the container cover and put into the fridge for at least 4 hours, and voila!
   

Now you can take the container out from the fridge, open up the cover and take a nice picture of it or just devour on this easy and simple Tiramisu with great taste.

Something not right?

- If the cream mixture is not smooth, or the texture is kind of like tiny pieces in it, it's either you had over whipping the cream or you might want to consider trying other brand of mascarpone cheese. I tried several type of mascarpone cheese, one of them always give me this texture.
- If the lady finger biscuit doesn't have much taste in it, you probably want to dip into the coffee longer before you putting into the container. Just becareful not to dip too long.
- If you can't really get even a soft bite on the lady finger biscuit, as it is too soft to the extent that your tongue can easily dissolve it, it's either you had dip the lady finger biscuit into the coffee too long, or the coffee is not cool enough.