Sheet Cake with Mascarpone and Coffee with Almost Angel Food Cake by Alison Roman

The most dreamy trip of my life was in Italy in May 2019. My husband, Jordan, and I traveled from Milan to Cinque Terre, Florence, Siena, Assisi, and then to Rome. It was our first international trip as a couple, and my first international vacation ever. Everything about Italy felt like a storybook coming to life, from the countless Tuscan red poppies dotting the countryside, to the winding cobblestone streets, to the culture of ‘one more cappuccino, please.’ The food took my breath away as many times as the ornate ceilings of cathedrals did. I ate far too much (yet still not enough) burrata, bucatini, and basil. I’m not much of a dessert person, but Italy swayed me to eat at least one serving of gelato a day. And perhaps the best dessert we had on the trip was tiramisu. 

Ah yes, tiramisu. A sponge cake doused in strong coffee, layered with creamy mascarpone, sugar, and cocoa powder. The coffee hits the taste buds at the same time as cocoa powder sticks to the roof of your mouth. It somehow embodies Italy in a way few foods can. When I saw Alison’s version in Nothing Fancy, I knew I’d have to wait for just the right time to bake and savor this dish. As this project is winding down, I chose to make this dessert for the most ardent Italy-lovers I know: my in-law’s. They’ve lived in Italy for months-long sabbaticals, and know it like a second home. The perfect dessert for their recent visit was Alison’s tiramisu. 

The dessert starts with baking Almost Angel Food Cake, which I chose to make gluten free. Similar to angel food cake, the life of the cake comes from thoroughly whipped egg whites and sugar that grow light, foamy, and highly voluminous. A mix of dry ingredients get sprinkled and folded in until mixed, doing your best not to knock the air bubbles out of the batter. I chose to swap all-purpose flour for gf all-purpose and a half teaspoon of xanthan gum per cup of flour. I noticed no negative effects of this swap. I then had to let the cake cool completely. 

Meanwhile, I whisked together Mascarpone, sugar, and egg yolks. I also sprinkled cocoa powder on the bottom of my 2 quart baking dish. I brewed some extra strong coffee and combined it with whiskey. By the time this was done, the cake was ready to go under construction. Using a measuring tape, I measured out 8 x 8“ squares of cake and used a bench scraper to cut them.

I laid the first square of cake in the baking dish, then spooned a third of the coffee and whiskey mixture over the top. The liquid quickly seeped into the cake, as if being soaked up by a sponge. I spread out half of the mascarpone mixture and repeated the entire process. After sprinkling more cocoa powder at the very top, I placed the dessert into the refrigerator to chill. Alison says it needs four hours in the refrigerator, but my crew was restless, and I let them have at it at around the three-hour mark. 

This dessert was a lot of fun to make (anytime a tape measure gets involved, you know it’s a good time). It was also just as delicious as a piece of authentic tiramisu. I have no suggestions for making this better. Just be ready to want to eat far more dessert than you probably should.

180 and 181 recipes cooked, 44 to go.

Cocoa Banana Bread by Alison Roman

I came back from my trip to Cincinnati to find 5 overripe bananas sitting on our kitchen counter. So ripe that they were hours away from needing to die in the trash can. I can’t stand food waste. I’ll force myself to eat leftovers for several days past when I should because I hate throwing food away. So I grabbed my cookbooks, searching for an emergency banana bread recipe, and what do you know, Alison’s Cocoa Banana Bread calls for exactly 5 overripe bananas. 

This chocolate banana bread turned out more like a dense chocolate banana cake, which I was thrilled about. From my first childhood memories, I requested chocolate cake with banana slices and Cool Whip frosting for my birthday every year. The bread tasted like a more sophisticated version of my childhood birthday cakes. However, I’m not sure Alison intended that. 

Past experience tells me that banana bread is dense and moist (I tried to resist that word). This recipe called for ½ cup of cocoa powder, which simultaneously gave this bread a strong, but not overpowering, chocolate flavor AND made the batter more tightly packed and somewhat dry. Perhaps the greater reason it turned out drier than expected is because I used All-Purpose Gluten Free flour instead of regular All-Purpose. My friend Margaret tells me that different flours have various hydration levels, so this could easily have altered the end results. 

All this to say, that while the bread was more like a dense cake, it still tasted delicious. My favorite parts were the raw-sugar crust and the sliced banana on top. I’d never tried baking with a raw sugar crust and was delighted by how easy it is to do. Simply grease the inside of a baking pan, sprinkle raw sugar (Demerara or Turbinado) over every side of the pan, and tap out any excess that doesn’t stick. What results is a crunchy sweet exterior in place of what is normally a boring part of banana bread - the sides. This crust meant every bite had something special to offer. And the banana on top, not only did it look fancy, but the sugars in the banana crystallized while baking and the whole thing became slightly gooey, which gave the bread another textural layer. 

The prep time was rather minimal, though I did need a stand mixer. You can make this without one, but your poor hands will be exhausted by the end. The suggested oven time is 90-100 minutes. I took mine out at 80 minutes, and next time, I’ll try 70 because perhaps that will make it less dry. 

11 recipes cooked, 214 recipes to go.