It's kind of an Italian cheesecake...

Ingredients

1 1/2-inch-thick layer of génoise or purchased sponge cake

1/4 cup strong hot espresso coffee

2 tablespoons sugar

9 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 pounds mascarpone cheese (room temp.)

1 1/2 cups chilled whipping cream

Equipment

room in your freezer to freeze the torte

9-inch diameter springform pan (sides 2 1/2 inches high)

waxed paper

electric mixer

large metal bowl

medium-large sauce pan (bowl needs to sit on top)

chilled metal bowl and beaters (to whip cream)

the usual: bowls, spoons, whisk, spatula, scraper...

Instructions

If you wish, line the bottom and sides of the springform pan with waxed paper (so that the torte will be easier to remove). Line the bottom and sides with a layer of génoise. Dissolve the sugar in the espresso and cool. Brush over the cake.

Combine the egg yolks and 1 cup of sugar in a large metal bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk until it the mixture feels just warm to the touch, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the bowl from over the water and, using an electric mixer, beat the mixture until it is pale yellow and tripled in volume, 5-6 minutes. Fold in the mascarpone cheese. Whip the cream into stiff peaks using the chilled bowl and beaters and gently fold it into the yolk/cheese mixture. Pour the mixture over the génoise and smooth the top with a spatula. Cover it with plastic and freeze until firm, about 6 hours.

Mmmmmm...you can serve this with a delicious espresso sauce, or my favorite, caramel sauce. You could brush the génoise with Framboise instead of espresso and make a fresh raspberry sauce for the top. Try sifting cocoa over the top. You could dress this up a lot of ways.

Mascarpone cheese is an Italian dessert cheese which is kind of like a cross between cream cheese and sour cream. It's usually available in specialty stores; for you Blacksburgians, it's actually available at Kroger's. If worse comes to worst, you can make a substitute by mixing cream cheese and sour cream: 1 lb cream cheese combined with 1/2 cup whipping cream and 5 tb sour cream. 1 3/4 cups of this mixture is about equal to a pound of mascarpone.