OK, not to toot my own horn, but TOOOOOT, this is the best tiramisu you well ever put in your pie hole. It is both rich and light. It is sweet, but not too sweet. It has both coffee and rum in it.

This tiramisu made the 60 year old former CEO of my company do a high kick. In the office. In front of people.

I made this bowl of deliciousness last week for the Hub's birthday. My husband is not into birthdays. He would be happiest if everyone would pretend like he doesn't have one. But he is married to me, poor guy, so that's just not going to happen. I agree to keep his birthday low key. I make him this sign to go on the wall (if you get the reference, you are my new best friend) and make his favorite dessert.

Which will now be your favorite dessert.

It requires no actual cooking, just stirring and assembling. And the stand mixer does the actual stirring.

Need I say more?

the goods:

6 egg yolks. If you have a weird thing about not eating raw eggs, you might be able to use an egg substitute, but I have no experience with that. Just buy nice fresh eggs.
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup good rum. If you wouldn't drink it, don't put it in your food. This is true of all alcohol recipes ever.
1-1/2 cups brewed espresso, cooled. I use that pretty silver Italian espresso maker pictured above. It makes exactly the right amount. If you don't have one, just brew really strong coffee
16 oz mascarpone cheese at room temperature
30 (plus or minus) Italian ladyfingers. Actual amount will depend on your vessel of choice. For me, I use about 3/4 of a 14 oz package
1/4 cup cocoa powder

how to:

STEP ONE: Using the whisk attachment on your Sir Mix-a-lot, whisk the egg yolks and sugar for about 5 minutes.

The mixture should be thickened and light yellow, like this.

Lower speed to stir and add 1/4 cup rum, 1/4 cup espresso, and mascarpone. If you were impatient and didn't let your mascarpone come to room temperature, you may get liquid sloshed all over you (not that I know this from experience or anything). Just break up the cheese a bit with a spatula and gradually increase the speed to medium (6). Whisk until the mixture is thickened like whipped cream. If you don't do this, you will have tirami-soup. Trust me. Just keep whisking until it's thick. It could take 2-5 minutes. It should look like this.

STEP TWO: In a shallow bowl, combine remaining rum and espresso (try not to drink it yet). Grab a clear bowl. I like this trifle dish myself, but any clear dish (like a 9x13 baking dish) will do. And I guess it doesn't have to be clear, but the real visual appeal of this dish is being able to see all the dreamy layers.

Take each lady finger and dip each side quickly into the coffee/rum concotion. Then place in a single layer in the bottom of your dish. Repeat until you have a full layer. It is perfectly acceptable to snap a lady finger in half to fill your dish. I did.

Then spoon on some of that amazing espresso cream on top. My dish makes 4 layers, so I used 1/4 of the mixture per layer. A 9x13 will only have 2 layers, so you can use half your mixture. Just take a guess.

Turn your dish a quarter turn and repeat. Think of it kind of like a basket weave. You'll run the first layer vertically, the second horizontally, to give your dish some stability. Repeat until you've used all of your ingredients.

If you have leftover rum/espresso, pour it into a glass over ice, add some creamer, and thank me later.

STEP THREE: Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. It's cruel, but necessary.

STEP FOUR: Right before I serve, I use a find sieve and sprinkle on the cocoa powder. If you do this before you refrigerate, little condensation droplets might form on your plastic wrap and drop onto your cocoa powder, and then it won't look as pretty.

Wipe any extra cocoa that ends up on the sides of your bowl to make it pretty.

I'm telling you, you'll never be able to order this at a restaurant again because yours will be better. The stuff you order out is either dry, because it's been sitting around too long, or wet, because it's been sitting around too long.

We ate all of this in less than 24 hours. That was probably like 4,000 calories each or something stupid (I haven't actually done the math). Just go for a run the next day. Or don't. Whatever.