I’ve been a tiramisu fan for quite some time, but I can’t say I’ve never met a tiramisu I didn’t like. My main complaint with tiramisu is that it is often overloaded with sugar. I have a sweet tooth (I promise), but sweetness is not the only component of a great dessert. This recipe was part of a challenge that required all of the components to be made from scratch. While that isn't necessary, it does give you a chance to play with the flavors of all or any of these parts. Tiramisu has only a few key ingredients (sugar, cream, coffee, wine), and each of those is as likely as the other to usurp complete control of the dessert if you let it. I love tiramisu’s traditional coffee and marsala flavors but I wanted to veer just a few degrees off. So I coated my ladyfingers with coffee and hazelnut liquor and I flavored the mascarpone with Rainwater Madeira, which if you’ve never tried, is a soft, semi-sweet aperitif that I find complements many kinds of desserts. The natural nuttiness in the Madeira coupled with the lush sweetness of the hazelnut liquor makes for a flavor-balanced pairing. If you wanted to make everything yourself (ladyfingers, mascarpone, etc.. you can look at the much longer version of this recipe on my site.)

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