Tiramisu - Olive Garden

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 (8 inch) sponge cakes
• 3 ounces strong black coffee or to taste instant espresso, prepared
• 3 ounces brandy or 3 ounces rum or 3 ounces other liqueur
• 1 1/2 lbs cream cheese or 1 1/2 lbs mascarpone, at room temperature (mascarpone is available at some italian specialty food stores and some gourmet food stores.)
• 1 1/2 cups extra finely granulated sugar or 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• to taste cocoa powder, unsweetened

Recipe

• 1 cut across the middle of the sponge cake to form two disks, about 1"-1-1/2" thick, each.
• 2 blend the coffee or espresso and liqueur together.
• 3 sprinkle the bottom half of the cake with the coffee liqueur blend, enough to flavor it strongly, but don't saturate the cake so much that it will collapse.
• 4 mix the cream cheese or mascarpone with the sugar and beat the cheese until the sugar is completely dissolved and the cheese is light and spreadable.
• 5 spread the bottom half off the cake with half of the creamy cheese, in a fairly thick layer.
• 6 set the second half of the cake on the bottom half and repeat the process ~ sprinkle the coffee/liqueur blend and spread with the remaining cream cheese.
• 7 put the cocoa powder into a wire strainer and coat the top layer of cream cheese completely with cocoa.
• 8 refrigerate the cake for at least two hours before cutting and serving.