Desserts – Don's House of Fine Patisseries

August 5, 2026August 14, 2026

Making Tiramisu Layer Cake — Photos

Since I don’t care much for coffee, I have perhaps tried tiramisu once or twice in my life, although I am struggling to recall said occasion(s).

That being said, I was very interested in a “quick tiramisu” (here’s my archive) I saw being made on a “30-minute meal” TV show. The “easy shortcut” of using a store-bought loaf cake as well as the recipe in general completely captivated me, and I decided that I must make it. Of course, I sidestepped the defining shortcut of the recipe by realizing that “I know how to make a loaf cake!” (loaf cake recipe here). As such, I make my own loaf cake “in-house” for this recipe.

This last part being said, in this post I won’t show the making and baking of the loaf cake for two reasons:

The recipe and this post are still predicated on the shortcut of using a loaf cake commonly available in many (although presumably hardly all) grocery stores’ baked goods department(s); and,
The making and baking of my plain cake in loaf form has already been highlighted elsewhere on this site.
- Incidentally, I therefore recommend, such as in the case that you have your own favourite “plain” or “vanilla” loaf cake recipe or other favourite loaf cake, that you use the loaf cake that you like.

For the record: Yes, I indeed licked the utensils and the bowls used for the coffee cream and whipped cream. 👨‍🍳

Making the tiramisu cake:

First, I baked a plain vanilla loaf cake earlier in the day, and I let it cool:

Plain loaf cake baked earlier in the day

Also, cream cheese was taken out soon after baking the cake so that the cream cheese could warm up to room temperature or thereabouts:

Later, when I was beginning to make the tiramisu layer cake, all the ingredients — loaf cake, cream cheese, milk, instant coffee crystals, icing sugar, whipping cream, and cocoa powder — were taken out:

Water was quickly drawn into a kettle to boil to make the strong coffee:

The kettle was plugged in and turned on, so as to boil the water:

While the water was boiling, instant coffee crystals and a measuring spoon were taken out:

Two teaspoons of instant coffee crystals were measured out:

The instant coffee crystals were transferred to a heat-proof measuring cup:

Coffee crystals transferred to measuring cup

At this point, the kettle of boiling water was brought to the measuring cup, and water was transferred to the measuring cup:

I noticed that I poured out three ounces of boiling water instead of two ounces of water:

Ooops! A bit too much water was added … but don’t worry, it’s not a disaster

A bit of commentary: The thing to remember here is that in this case, a fixed amount of instant coffee was used instead of fresh espresso, so the water is doing two things: While the water is dissolving the instant coffee so that it distributes more evenly than the dry powder alone would, the coffee taste and intensity in the final product come from the fixed amount of two teaspoons of instant coffee in the recipe, and obviously not that the crystals were dissolved in three ounces of water instead of two). And, secondly, the water is also affecting the liquid balance in the recipe to smooth out the cream cheese in the mix; since a bit too much water was added to dissolve the otherwise fixed amount of instant coffee, the amount of milk added in the upcoming step was reduced. (Were fresh espresso be used instead, the liquid balance issue would remain; however, an even stronger coffee flavour would be brought to the dessert, which may be either a good or not so good thing, depending on your perspective and preference — or what you might want to do with the extra ounce, like top up your own cup of espresso! 🙂 )

The hot strong coffee was placed in the freezer to cool it down quickly:

Hot coffee placed in freezer to cool down

The package of cream cheese was opened with a pair of scissors:

The cream cheese was transferred to a mixing bowl:

An electric beater was brought over in order to cream the cream cheese:

The cream cheese was creamed with the electric beater:

Milk and a measuring spoon were taken out:

As mentioned earlier, one less tablespoon than specified in the recipe (to compensate for the extra water added to the instant coffee crystals) was measured out:

Milk measured out and added to mixing bowl

… and the milk was transferred to the bowl with the creamed cream cheese:

The milk and cream cheese were briefly mixed with the electric beater:

Icing sugar and a measuring cup were taken out:

Icing sugar was measured out:

The icing sugar was transferred to the bowl with the cream cheese mixture:

The cream cheese mixture and the icing sugar were blended together with the electric beater:

Icing sugar blended into cream cheese mixture

The cooled coffee was taken out of the freezer:

The cooled coffee was transferred to the cream cheese mixture:

Cooled coffee transferred to cream cheese mixture

All the ingredients were mixed again with the electric beater, and a couple of spoons were used to scrape the edges of the bowl:

Ingredients mixed, using spoons to scrape edges of the bowl

The cream cheese, milk, icing sugar, and coffee mixture was put aside for a few moments.

Another bowl and some whipping cream (237mL, about a cup) were taken out:

The carton of whipping cream was opened:

The whipping cream was transferred to the bowl:

The electric beater was brought to the bowl with the whipping cream:

The whipping cream was whipped using the electric beater …

Whipping cream whipped with electric beater

… until I had stiff peaks in the whipped cream:

A bowl scraper / spatula was taken out, and the bowl of whipped cream brought over to the bowl with the cream cheese, milk, icing sugar, and coffee mixture:

Whipped cream brought over to cream cheese / coffee mixture

The whipped cream was transferred to the bowl with the cream cheese, milk, icing sugar, and coffee mixture:

Whipped cream added to cream cheese / coffee mixture

The whipped cream was gently folded into the cream cheese, milk, icing sugar, and coffee mixture, henceforth called the “coffee cream”:

Whipped cream folded into the coffee cream

The bowl of coffee cream was put aside again for a few moments.

At this point, the cooled loaf cake I baked earlier was taken out:

I sliced the loaf cake horizontally along its length with a sharp knife about an inch above its base:

Slicing loaf cake horizontally along its length

Loaf cake sliced horizontally along its length

The loaf cake was sliced horizontally along its length again with the sharp knife, creating three layers of cake:

Loaf cake sliced horizontally along its length again

The base slice was placed onto a removable tray for a poultry / meat transport container (see below):

A layer of coffee cream was transferred to the sliced cake:

The coffee cream was spread over the whole surface of the cake slice:

Coffee cream spread over the slice of cake

The middle slice of cake was placed on top of the coffee cream:

Middle slice of cake placed on top of the coffee cream

More coffee cream was transferred to the top of the middle slice of cake, and spread over the whole surface of the cake:

Coffee cream spread over middle slice of cake

The top of the cake was placed on top of the coffee cream:

The rest of the coffee cream was transferred to the cake, and spread over all surfaces:

Balance of coffee cream spread over whole of cake, top view

Balance of coffee cream spread over whole of cake, side view

Here’s the empty bowl from the coffee cream:

Cocoa taken out:

Cocoa powder sprinkled onto the cake directly from the container of cocoa:

The cake and tray were lowered into the container:

The lid was placed on the container with the cake:

The cake was placed in the fridge to gel the coffee cream:

Later when the coffee cream had largely gelled in the fridge for a few hours, a couple of slices were cut off the cake, ready to be served for dessert!

Mom is over the moon with this cake, effectively having declared it her new favourite dessert!

(And, I’ve been asked to bring it to the next church potluck I attend, along with my pulled pork!)

July 28, 2026July 28, 2026

Making Date Squares — Photos

This recipe was developed and added to my collection of recipes as a result of chatting with an online AI chatbot discussing church culture, during which the chatbot listed at one point some typical desserts to be found at church potluck luncheons. It listed the item which is the subject of this post as “Matrimonial Squares”. My interest was piqued because I did not know what “Matrimonial Squares” were, as well as said name telling me nothing of what the dessert was. As such, I bemusedly asked whether it was a dessert to be typically served as part of a wedding feast, or if there was something somewhat more prurient to them along the lines of being considered an aphrodisiac! I got a response along the lines of their description — date squares! — and how the name was a florid and traditional name meaning how well all the parts “marry together to make an ideal dessert”, an absolutely church-safe name. 🙂

Incidentally, this recipe is vegetarian tending toward vegan if you use margarine (as I did) instead of butter.

This batch was the second batch made at the cottage during my holidays, and will likely be served at the lake association BBQ later this week.

Setting up:

First, I decided to take out all the ingredients:

Although I actually did this a little later, now is a good time to preheat the oven:

An 8″ x 8″ baking pan and a piece of paper towelling were taken out:

Paper towelling and baking pan taken out

The paper towel was taken over to the tub of margarine, and some margarine was scooped up with my hand and the paper towel:

Paper towel taken over to tub of margarine

The paper towel and margarine were taken over to the baking pan:

Paper towel and margarine taken over to the baking pan

… and the margarine was slathered onto the surfaces of the baking pan:

Margarine slathered over all surfaces in the baking pan

The baking pan was put aside.

Preparing the date filling:

Dates and a knife were taken out — in this case dates I had been keeping in the freezer, hence the fuzzy condensation on the bag:

The dates were pitted:

At this point, I took out a kitchen scale and a bowl, and set the reading to zero with the bowl on the scale …

… so that I could weigh out the required amount of pitted dates, which I kept on pitting until I had enough pitted dates:

At this point, I should have chopped the dates up a bit, but I forgot, and no matter.

The pitted dates were transferred to a pot:

Transferring the pitted dates to the pot

Water was measured out:

The water was transferred to the pot with the pitted dates:

Transferring water to pot with pitted dates

Lemon juice was taken out:

The lemon juice was measured out:

The lemon juice was transferred to the pot with the pitted dates and water:

Lemon juice transferred to pot with pitted dates and water

A burner on the stove was turned on to medium heat:

The pot of pitted dates, water, and lemon juice was placed on the burner:

The pitted dates were largely left alone for the next several minutes, although I kept an eye on the pot and occasionally stirred it.

Making the oat crumble base and topping:

Flour was taken out:

Flour was measured out:

The flour was transferred to a mixing bowl:

Oats were taken out:

Oats were measured out:

The oats were transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour:

Oats transferred to mixing bowl with flour

Brown sugar was taken out:

Brown sugar was measured out:

The brown sugar was transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour and the oats:

Baking soda was taken out and measured out:

The baking soda was transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour, oats, and brown sugar:

Salt was taken out and measured out:

The salt was transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour, oats, brown sugar, and baking salt:

Another bowl was placed on my kitchen scale, and the display set to zero:

Bowl placed on scale and tare weight set

Margarine was measured out:

The margarine was transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt:

An electric mixer was brought to the mixing bowl:

The ingredients were mixed thoroughly:

The ingredients in the bowl were roughly divided into two parts:

Ingredients in bowl divided into two parts

Mounting the date squares:

About half of the oat crumble mix was transferred to the baking pan:

The oat crumble base was spread out over the whole surface of the baking pan:

Oat crumble spread over base of baking pan

The oat crumble base was flattened with an egg flipper:

At this point, after having only occasionally glanced at and stirring the dates in the pot on the stove, I took the pot off the stove, the mix having turned into a nice jammy consistency:

Cooked date filling with a jammy consistency

The cooked date filling was transferred to the pan with the oat crumble base:

Cooked date filling transferred to pan with oat crumble base

The date filling was spread roughly evenly over the base with a spoon:

The rest of the oat crumble was transferred on top of the date filling:

Second half of oat crumble transferred to baking pan

The oat crumble topping was spread roughly evenly over the date filling:

I gently patted down the topping with my hand; note that I said “gently”:

Gently patting down the oat crumble topping

Baking the date squares:

The pan was placed in the preheated countertop oven, and a timer was set to about 35 minutes:

Baking pan placed in countertop oven and timer set to 35 minutes

When the baking was finished, the baking pan was taken out of the oven and placed on a cooling rack:

Once cooled (I did move the cooling along by placing the pan in the fridge for a while), the whole large date square was removed from the pan. Yes I tasted the bit of the base that was left behind: It was yummy!

Large date square removed from baking pan

I began cutting the large piece off-center, with a goal of cutting a 5 x 5 grid for a total of 25 pieces:

Cutting the date squares, starting from off-centre

Three more slices were made, in order to have five long bars:

The cutting board was rotated 90 degrees so as to continue with four more cuts, to have a total of 25 squares:

… and since I implied that I still had a few leftover from last week, and that I outright suggested that this batch would be placed on a dessert table at this week’s lake association BBQ, I bagged up the freshly-baked date squares, and placed them in the freezer for later in the week:

And yes, of course they’re yummy — I got to taste a bunch of crumbs while I was cleaning up!