Celebration Dessert

This dessert was actually made for New Year's Eve, but would work just as well for a Valentine's Day dinner. I struggle with dessert for only two. Especially when you want the presentation to be a little bit better than some cookies on a plate. I was looking for a dessert that said "special occasion", but was small enough to not overwhelm only two people. So I decided on my favorite pre-made tiramisu from Trader Joe's. But when I went to Trader Joe's to buy it, they were out. Damn.

So Plan B was this dessert. Tiramisu inspired, but nothing like tiramisu at all really. It was EXACTLY what I was looking for, though. You see, my husband likes vanilla cake with vanilla frosting for his birthday cake. And vanilla pudding and vanilla cookies the rest of the year and, well, you get the point. So I was looking for a tasty vanilla pudding to satisfy him with some coffee soaked pound cake to satisfy me. And I wanted the presentation to be pretty so I layered it in a wine glass. And so that is exactly what this is.

The recipe I used started here. But as you can see, my dessert ended up nothing like that one. Here's what I did: I used an almond pound cake mix I had in the cupboard. Once it had baked and cooled I cut it into cubes and put a few in the bottom of the wine glass. I then drizzled on about 1/4 cup instant coffee (split between the two). The next part is where I actually used the recipe I linked to a minute ago. I topped it off with a their delicious pudding mixture (so, so good). Then let it refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.

The end result really was surprisingly good. I like to be a from scratch baker, but I'm not embarrassed to go the easy route sometimes. This was definitely one of those times.

Oh, but next time I wouldn't use an almond pound cake. At least not from a mix. The almond flavor was was very fake tasting and a little too strong.