Last month was Mr. Scout’s birthday, and I wanted to make him a special birthday “cake”…the end result did not disappoint.

❤︎

I hate lemon meringue pie.

I’m sorry, but I’ve never had one that’s even remotely appealing to me. The lemon filling somehow always tastes too sweet and too puckeringly in your face, while the meringue on top has the most I’m-autistic-and-I-ain’t-eating-that-shit texture.

Now, Mr. Scout loves lemon desserts, and has sometimes opted for a lemon meringue pie on his birthday, which yours truly has genuinely tried to make palatable to the both of us. On one hand, I subscribe to the notion that one should always get the dessert one wants for their birthday, whether it’s a traditional cake or cupcakes or even cookies. On the other hand: bleaurgh.

Most of the time I had previously made anything lemon pie~like, I tended toward the tarte citron style, with a smaller, shallower shell, filled with a tangy but buttery lemon curd, and more of a toasted Italian meringue on top. C’est si bon!

However, that’s most decidedly not a lemon. meringue. pie.

This year, I bit my lip & asked Mr. Scout what dessert he’d like for his special day, as making birthday sweets is truly one of my favorite things to do, whether they’re my thing or not—I even try to have fun w/ it, sometimes pretending I’m in a competition for the best whatnot, and I had better blind-bake that crust better than I ever have before!—and he simply chose something lemon flavored, leaving me with a ton of options!

I very quickly settled on a lemon tiramisu I had bouncing around in my head—or a lemon~misu, if you will—and tried to work out how to make it not only delicious, but impressive enough for a birthday, and not so difficult that I’d be cursing like a sailor on leave by the time I finished.

Oh, that was such a cute thought!

I bought the zillion ingredients I needed a few days ahead of time, made a lemon simple syrup (one cup of sugar + half of a cup of water + half of a cup of lemon juice) & a large batch of the aforementioned tangy but buttery lemon curd (from the charming and very helpful Miette cookbook) the night before, had everything else waiting in the fridge, and figured I’d just throw the whole thing together somewhere between birthday breakfast and birthday dinner.

Have you figured out yet that I kinda go overboard for birthdays? And have you also figured out that my particular flavor of ADHD means I’m never entirely prepared for everything I’ve dreamed up??

Despite their simple appearance—and the fact that I genuinely believe anyone can make one—tiramisu is really not something that is thrown together.

❤︎

Before I did anything, I made the mascarpone filling by whipping heavy cream and a small amount of powdered sugar to soft peaks, then chucking in an equal amount of mascarpone—in this case 200ml of each main ingredient, along with only a couple Tbs. of powdered sugar. Then, I whipped all of that to firm peaks, being very careful not to over~whip it, and took out a square glass baking pan.

Beginning with store~bought ladyfingers, I soaked each one in equal parts of the lemon simple syrup and limoncello, because a tiramisu without coffee and alcohol is no more than a one~note trifle. Also, I’m allergic to coffee, so that’s out, and who would want lemon coffee anyway?! Anyway, I lined the bottom of the cake pan w/ the ladyfingers, gently pressing them together without smashing the holy hell out of them.

Next, I used half of my lemon curd, and spread a thin layer of that carefully over the ladyfingers. I followed that with half of my mascarpone mixture, and then repeated the whole process, licking my fingers w/ gusto as I went along.

What? You ain’t eating at my house! Don’t you worry what I do in my kitchen!

Finally, I smoothed the top layer of whipped cream and mascarpone, getting the desired, perfectly smooth surface needed for the final touch: a combination of dehydrated lemon powder mixed with a wee bit of powder sugar, and sprinkled over the top.

I popped that surprisingly huge sucker into the fridge to work its tira~magic, cleaned up an absurd number of dishes—why do the number of dishes so often seem inversely proportionate to how simple of a presentation something is?!—and promptly collapsed.

Don’t worry…I woke up in time for dessert. And I had a happy and grateful birthday boy to celebrate with.