Happy Birthday, Mr. Hawthorne!

In addition to a lovely Tourte Milanese, Mr. Hawthorne, of course, got a delicious birthday cake. One of our favorites - Tiramisu.

Ingredients for the cake: 4 eggs 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup flour 2 TB cornstarch 2 cups heavy cream 1/3 cup powdered sugar

First, I sifted the flour and cornstarch.

Oh, look. 2 double yolks! How very exciting.

Beat the eggs over simmering water at high speed with 1/2 cup sugar for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and beat until tripled in volume - about 3 minutes.

Resift flour/cornstarch mixture over eggs and fold in.

Pour into buttered 9 x 13 pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

While the cake is baking, prepare the syrup. In a small saucepan, bring to a boil 1 cup of water and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Remove from heat.

And stir in 2 TB freshly ground coffee.

And 1 TB vanilla.

When the cake comes out of the oven, pierce it with a fork at 1-inch intervals, then drizzle coffee syrup over top.

Next, I melted 5 TB semisweet chocolate with 3 TB water.

Spread chocolate over cake and refrigerate until set - about 20 minutes.

I cut the cake into 24 squares and placed in my bowl.

Now, for the whipped cream. Of course, you could use Kewl Whup, and if you did, I'd have to whup yo ass. 2 cups heavy cream 1/3 cup powdered sugar juice of one lemon Beat at high speed until stiff.

Spoon in whipped cream in center and add more cake squares.

Plop more whipped cream on top.

Then, I melted about 4 TB sweet chocolate and drizzled over top.

CanIjusttellya how decadent this is?

Very simple, easy to make. Even though I'm a lemon lover from way back when, I was at first skeptical to have the lemon with the chocolate. Didn't sound like a combination I would like, but, trust me, it works. Whipped cream, coffee, chocolate. This is a very light dessert. Absolutely delicious. And everyone will think you're the smartest thing on the block!