Hello friends.  Last night I made my first Biscuit Savoie.  I don’t have any photos as of yet, but I’d like to share the events as they unfurled.  So…my brother in law has requested, for his birthday, (which is conveniently right around Christmas) a “Tiramisu Cake”....now my experience with Tiramisu is that it is a wet and mushy, soaked lady finger and custard affair that you scoop into a bowl or glass…but I’m always up for a challenge.  I went to the pie and pastry bible and found Rose’s recipe for Tiramisu tart, and figured I could bake a sponge type cake, make a syrup with coffee and Marsala wine, and use the custard between the layers and ... well…pray for the best.  I thumbed the cake bible and decided the biscuit savoie (spelling?) would be my best choice.  So…I set off to bake.  There was a lot of activity in my apartment…decorating of christmas tree, music, telephone…and I wasn’t focused…and well…I forgot to add the water and the vanilla. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  It was in the oven already.  So…wasn’t sure what to do.  Would they be ok anyway?  or should I start from the beginning (something I am famous for).  I waited until they emerged from the oven…and they looked…well…a little sad.  I wasn’t sure what they should look like since I never made them before, but years of experience told me they…were…well…not good.  So I started again.  As the evening gets later and later (and we are heading toward midnight)...I tend to well…shed some clothing, and end up baking in rather odd outfits.  Last night is was a T-shirt that says “it sucks to be me” red underpants, and argyle socks that were half falling off.  I remade the biscuit and they came out perfect…high and fluffy.  But the first batch didn’t look all that bad on second thought…so what to do with them?  I pulled some frozed mousseline out of the freezer….chopped it up with a big knife so it would defrost quickly, made some syrup to soak the cakes, and threw together a quick layer cake.  At about 2 AM I had a good night slice of this cake…and well…not so bad.  I probably could have used them, because after the syruping they were pretty much ok. I do have beautiful, high, even layers, though, for my tiramisu cake that I will be assembling tonight…details and photos to follow. 

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Dear Bill, it is great to hear your Biscuit de Savoie story!  I have forgotten the water on the yolks so many times, and it really affects the volume.  The same for Golden Genoise.  Glad you decided on Biscuit de Savoie for Tiramisu, it is the RIGHT cake to use.  It is the right flavor, and it soaks tremendous amount of syrup/coffee/marsala without becoming mush.

OK…so here’s how the Tiramisu went.  I made 2 cups of syrup (the amount recommended for the Biscuit).  I Used 2 cups of water, The amount of sugar called for in the syrup for the biscuit recipe (Since the cake is not that sweet and the sugar in the syrup is part of the sugar), triple the amount of marsala and coffe powder called for in Rose’s Tiramisu tart recipe (Since that recipe is only 2/3 cup syrup)...and well…I hope I got it all right.  Then I made double the amount of marscapone custard called for in the Tiramisu tart recipe…and I asssembled the whole thing. I have a 3” high expandable ring that I use for this kind of thing…so I trimmed and soaked the layers, and stacked them up with the custard between them, in the ring (which wasn’t quite tall enough (I put a parchment collar around the top of it. )  Sprinkled the top with cocoa and put it in the fridge.  It is very very tall…and well…we’ll see how it all turns out.  I may not have photos of this one…we’ll see. If it works well…the next time I do it I will use 2 biscuit layers and 1 1/2 times the recipe for the custard.  That should fit in the ring mold perfectly.  We are having a big crowd tonight…so more is better (if the thing actually tastes good…it is an experiment).
I will report back on how it all went.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

Fantastic story Bill and the cake sounds wonderful - you do realise now that you will have to wear your ‘lucky’ red underpants EVERY time you make Biscuit now to appease the baking gods hehe

The cake looked beautiful and everyone loved it.  My sister took some photos, and when things calm down she will e-mail them to me and I will post them.  I was concerned about the sweetness level because I wasn’t sure exactly how much sugar I should use in the syrup…and…I’ve only tasted tiramisu once (didn’t really like it)...so I wasn’t sure what it should taste like. 

It ended up very very tall…and quite impressive.  This one is a keeper.

I always try to appease the baking gods in any way possible.  When I was a kid in summer camp (10 million years ago) I had a camp counselor who used to say red underwear brings good luck.  I guess he was right.

Bill, I love your story- starting over, staying up late to finish, eating the less-than-perfect version, and especially the outfit, very festive!  Next time I launch a new or tricky baking project, I’ll have to give a little more thought to my outfit…

How did you manage beating the whites and yolks separately?  For the cocoa souffle roll, I borrowed a friend’s mixer and had two going, one for the yolks and one for the whites.  When I made biscuit layers, I cheated and whipped the whites first, then processed the yolk mixture as fast as I could. 

Very much looking forward to the photos!

Julie:
I have two bowls for my mixer….best investment I ever made.  I did the yolks with the paddle (sorry Rose…I know you suggest the whisk attachment…but the paddle did work fine for me)...and then I did the whites with the whisk in the other bowl just before I folded them in.  I found that this worked really well…and was pretty easy. My Sister Called to tell me that she brought the left over part of the cake to her Aunt-in-law on Christmas day…and they devoured the rest.  I’m really pleased how this all turned out.  Rose…you and your Recipes rock!  Sis did take pictures and she will e-mail them to me when she gets a chance…will post them soon!

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

Ah, yes of course, two bowls for the mixer.  I have been mulling over whether to get a second bowl for my current mixer or to take the plunge and upgrade to a KA, perhaps this will spur me to action.

Happy New Year!

I vote for the Kitchen aid…Nothing like it…sooooo worth the money.

That’s quite a story Bill. I’m glad it turned out well in the end. Can’t wait to see your pics.