Pink Drunken Tiramisu!

        The idea of a pink (champagne) tiramisu has been on my mind for weeks now. Ever since I came home with a packet of Biscuits Roses de Reims from The Essential Ingredient weeks ago. They reminded me of the savoiardi (or lady finger) sponge biscuits which just inspired me to make this dessert. Watching last week's Italian Food Safari (featuring tiramisu) just made me want to do this even more! Now, sometimes when I come up with ideas I find out that it's not really an original and that it's already been done out there (I just wasn't aware or was only subconciously aware of it). I havn't come across this anywhere yet so hoping that it's an Angie original, for now anyway =).

        This is actually what inspired me most about my version of the tiramisu. I've read that these biscuits were designed to be dipped into champagne and eaten as they are. Unfortunately my budget doesn't allow for French Champagne so Italian Sparkling is the closest I can get. Before starting my project I dunked one of the biscuits into a glass of sparkly and had a taste. I think that they got a little too soggy while I was trying to get that "perfect shot" =D. I thought it didn't taste too bad but I was more eager to construct my dessert with sparkling wine infused biscuits!

        So this is what went into my tiramisu, minus the rosewater as I was going to put a few drops into the cream but realised I didn't need it in the end. In the top right hand corner there is a jar of Lindt Dark Bittersweet Couveture chocolate - Ryan had a taste of this and couldn't keep his hand out of the jar! It is absolutely divine to eat!

        For the cream/marscapone mixture I followed this recipe for tiramisu from the SBS website.

        I used 1/3 of all measurements as I only intended to make a small tiramisu. Don't understimate the cream!

        I thought that green pistachios would look gorgeous with my pink biscuits and also to add a little bit of a crunch to the dessert.

        Soaking my biscuits in the sparkling wine. I soaked them far too much longer than they should have been. Mind you this is my first time making tiramisu, and taking photos while you are cooking is hard!

        Layering pistachios in between was a last minute decision as I thought it might create a bit of interest in between the layers of marscapone and sponge. Once all the layers were done I wrapped it up and popped it into the fridge to set.

        And this is what happened when I tipped the bowl upside down onto a plate. I really underestimated the amount of cream needed so there's a few patches of sponge showing through. I topped it with the remainder or the crushed pistachios and grated over some of the couverture chocolate.

        It was very heavy with wine, a simple dip would have been fine as the wine would have absorbed through it while it set in the fridge. Don't underestimate the soaking power of these babies. With the cream being on the light side the sponge was quite overpowering, more cream may have helped to tone it down a bit. It probably could have done with double the amount of cream, which would have meant a bigger bowl too. I didn't really have any square containers and bought these square plastic bowls specially for my dessert. I didn't like the idea of using a round/oval/shallow dish because I wanted to show off the layers when you cut into the tiramisu and didn't have anything deep enough at home.

        All in all for my very first go at this, I think it went a-okay! Ryan was so eager to try it, we actually had it not very long after dinner which suprised me as we're usually very bloated after eating (blog entry on that to come soon). I couldn't make this any earlier even though I had everything ready, once you pop the cork off a bottle of sparkly you've gotta drink it all! A Friday night in was perfect, though there's still half a bottle in the fridge - all bubbles gone now =(.