This recipe is from the January issue of the popular e-magazine, The Vegan Culinary Experience (Did I mention it’s free? No seriously.). Chef Jason Wyrick is not only the founder of the e-magazine, but he is also the mastermind behind this insanely indulgent, dairy-free dessert.
Here are some of Chef Jason’s fun and helpful notes on this decadent chai vegan tiramisu …
Presentation
Lay a cinnamon stick on top of the plated tiramisu and garnish the edge of the plate with a bit of extra cinnamon and cardamom and the top of the tiramisu with a few chocolate chips or cacao nibs.
Time Management
Start the sweet cream before making the ladyfingers because the sweet cream should finish chilling about ten minutes after the ladyfingers come out of the oven. Of course, you can save about twenty minutes of labor and a lot of clean-up by doing the cake instead of the ladyfingers.
Complementary Food and Drinks
Serve this with a cup of cinnamon spiced coffee.
How It Works
The ladyfinger recipe is a basic sponge cake recipe with extra flour and cooked long enough to become a cookie instead of a cake. For the sweet cream, the fat of the soy cream cheese carries most of the flavor as well as giving the cream a flavor reminiscent of mascarpone cheese. The tofu binds everything together and the agave nectar and soy creamer add sweetness while keeping the cream from becoming too dense. The agar agar provides the final binder, ensuring that the sweet cream has a little stiffness to it. The spice mix added to the top is a powdered mix of basic masala chai spices.
Chef’s Notes
I’m torn between the traditional coffee and rum tiramisu and the chai tiramisu as to which is my favorite!
Interesting Facts
The Italian name for ladyfingers is savoiardi. Tiramisu is a recent invention in the culinary world, probably dating from the early 1970s.
- 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tbsp. of baking powder
- ¼ cup of finely ground turbinado sugar
- ¼ tsp. of salt
- 2 servings of prepared EnerG Egg Replacer
- 1 cup of soy creamer
- ¾ cup of sweet agave nectar
- 2 tbsp. of canola oil
- 1 ½ cups of soy cream cheese
- 8 oz. of firm silken tofu
- ½ cup of sweet agave nectar
- ½ cup of finely ground turbinado sugar
- 1 ½ tsp. of agar agar
- ¼ cup of soy creamer
- 2 cups of strongly brewed black masala chai
- ½ tsp. of ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp. of ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp. of ground cloves
- ¼ tsp. of ground fennel seeds
- 1 ½ tbsp. of cocoa powder
- Whip all of the sweet cream ingredients together in a food processor until they are thoroughly combined.
- Simmer this on a medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Chill it for at least an hour.
- Combine the dry ingredients together.
- Prepare the EnerG Egg Replacer in the ladyfinger section.
- Mix this with all the wet ingredients.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry mix.
- Load a pastry bag with the batter.
- Pipe the batter into 3” long, 1” wide cookies, leaving about a 1” space between each cookie.
- Bake these on 350 degrees for 18 minutes.
- Option: Do not pipe the batter, but fill a rectangular cake pan with the batter about 1” high and bake the cake for 25 minutes.
- Brew the chai tea.
- Mix the spices together and set them aside.
- Dunk each ladyfinger in the chai tea for about 3 seconds.
- Line the bottom of a baking dish with the lady fingers.
- Lightly brush them with a little chai.
- Spread about ½” of the sweet cream on top of the lady fingers.
- Repeat this process, making another layer of lady fingers and sweet cream.
- Sprinkle the spice mix over the top layer of sweet cream.
- Chill the tiramisu for at least 30 minutes.
