Alcohol Free and Egg-less Tiramisu

With New Year’s around the corner, I can’t just not ring it in without the help of dessert, now can I? That wouldn’t be too fair especially considering that it is my absolute favorite dessert. Being underage, I can’t exactly drink so this was the perfect vegetarian and virgin twist the classic Italian dessert, Tiramisu! The combination of creamy custard, strong coffee and moist cake is a gastronomic experience in itself which will leave you wanting more and more until you finish the entire tray!

Alcohol Free and Egg-less Tiramisu

By mohini

Skill Scale: Moderate
Serving: 12-15
Cook Time: 2h 00 min

Ingredients

For cake:
milk - 1 cup
powdered sugar - 1 ½ cup
flour - 3 cup
sprite - 1 can
unsalted butter - 2 sticks
baking soda - ¼ tsp
baking powder - 1 tbsp
For custard:
milk - 1 quart + 1 cup, (use either 2% or whole; do NOT use skim milk)
vanilla custard powder - 1 cup
sugar - 1 cup
cream cheese - 8 oz softened original, (thawed)
cool whipped top - 8 oz
For coffee syrup:
1 ½ cup - water
instant coffee powder - 1 tbsp
sugar - 1 tbsp
Optional:
Cocoa powder
Chocolate shavings

Instructions

Cake:

Preheat oven 350⁰ F
Thoroughly grease 2 9x13” cookie sheets
Melt 2 sticks of unsalted butter in a pan
In a big bowl, mix the sugar and milk together
Whisk both of the ingredients
Add the melted butter to the bowl and whisk
Set bowl aside
In another bowl, add flour, baking powder and baking soda and sieve the ingredients 2-3 times to incorporate air
Add the sieved flour, baking powder and baking soda to the bowl containing the sugar, milk and melted butter
Mix all of the ingredients together
Add a can of sprite to the bowl and thoroughly mix the ingredients and make sure you have a batter like consistency
Evenly pour the batter into the 2 greased cookie sheets and place in your oven on the upper-middle shelf
Increase the temperature to 400⁰F and bake for 10-12 minutes
When the cake looks golden, turn the oven off and leave the cake inside to cool for 15 minutes. **if the cake browns too much, then leave the cookie sheets inside but open the oven doors
After the cake has cooled for 15 minutes inside the oven, take it out and cool it on your counter top for 30 minutes-1 hour (depending on the weather) [See picture below]

Custard: (while the cake is being baked, you can make the custard)

Boil 1 quart of milk in a heavy-bottom saucepan
Keep the flame on low after boiling the milk
Mix 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of custard powder together and mix together until there are no lumps in the mixture
Add the custard mixture to the boiled milk and thoroughly stir together
Turn off the flame once it thickens and you see the custard forming
Add sugar to the custard and continue stirring for about 2 minutes. **If you add the sugar before you turn off the flame, there’s a high chance of the custard burning but if you add the sugar after you have turned off the flame, it easily dissolves due to the temperature of the custard
Set aside and cool completely for 30 minutes-1 hour [See picture below]
In a bowl, whisk the softened cream cheese and add to the custard
Mix properly
Add cool whipped top to the custard & cream cheese mixture using the cut-and-fold method

Coffee Syrup: (while the cake and custard are cooling, you can make the coffee syrup)

In a small pan, mix water, instant coffee powder and sugar together and boil
After boiling, set aside to cool

Assembling the dessert:

In a deep 9x13” tray, place the cake from the 1st cookie sheet. **If your cake is too big, cut the edges of both of the cakes to fit the tray accordingly
Evenly coat it with about ½ of the coffee syrup to keep it moist
Layer about ½ of the custard on top and spread evenly
Tap the tray to set the layers
Place the 2nd cookie sheet’s cake on top of the custard
Evenly coat it with the remaining coffee syrup
Layer the remaining custard on top and spread evenly
Tap the tray to set the layers evenly

Optional: