Vegan and Gluten Free Tiramisu

It was Toby's birthday last week so I made tiramisu because he is coffee crazy as you all know. I found this recipe on Green Vegan Living which was actually good timing because I had just received some Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour in the mail. This was my first time attempting tiramisu but I think it was pretty good. Toby certainly enjoyed it and that's the important part.

Vegan and Gluten Free Tiramisu from Green Vegan Living

Lady Fingers

2 cups Bob's Red Mill all-purpose baking flour

1 T. baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 c. agave

1/2 c. maple syrup

2 T. canola oil

1/3 c. apple sauce

1 T. vanilla

3/4 c.soy milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350. 
2. Measure out all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Create a small hallowed “bowl” in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients from around the outside of this hollowed bowl, until everything is evenly mixed in. 
3. Using a rubber spatula, transfer into a greased glass baking dish (9" x 13") and place in the middle of the oven on the center rack. 
4. Bake for 25 minutes. After baking, place on a cooling rack and loosen the edges. 
5. After it has cooled for about 15 minutes flip the cake over onto a cutting board and cut into 1" x 3" pieces. 

"Cream" Geanna's recipe asked for yogurt but I borrowed the idea from insomanic chef and used vegan sour cream instead.

8 oz. vegan cream cheese 

1/4 c. vegan sour cream (instead of yogurt)

1/4 c. vegan cream

2 T. liquor/liqueur of choice (I copied her and Frangelico)

1/3 c. powdered sugar

2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 t. cornstarch 

1/2 t. xanthan gum

1. Bring heavy cream to a boil in a small sauce pan and then dissolve the xanthan gum and cornstarch into it. Allow it to cool to room temperature. 
2. Combine the thick cream mixture with all the other ingredients above and beat well. 
3. Put the mix in the fridge to set for several hours.

Sauce

1 c. strong coffee

3 T. liquor/liqueur of choice  (I used kirsch)

3 T. agave nectar

Combine these ingredients and put in the fridge to cool.

Assembly

1. Dip the lady fingers into the coffee sauce and let it soak up the moisture for a couple of seconds. 
2. Layer these in the bottom of a glass trifle or baking dish until the entire base is covered. 
3. Using a spatula, spread the "cream" evenly over the lady finger base. 
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 at least once more, depending on how big your dish is.
5. Sprinkle unsweetened cocoa powder over the top, completely covering the top. Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour to let the flavors meld together.

It is quite time consuming to make, so I spread it out over two days by making the lady fingers on one weeknight  and the rest on a saturday. Next time I would spread it out even more as I didn't allow enough time for the lady fingers to soften and absorb the coffee before serving.  So instead of making it in advance Toby thought the coffee flavour was too subtle initially so we added more of the leftover coffee sauce to it which I think resulted in a slightly bitter flavour which I wasn't a big fan of but then I dislike coffee. We did have one tiny peice left on the sunday and it was defintely superior: softer cake and with a stronger flavour.

 I made a basic T stencil to decorate it.

Excuse this photo, I used a phone camera in a dark pub: