If you're lucky enough to have a Costco membership, there's a good chance you're already familiar
with the store's incredible bakery section — which is home to all the breads, muffins,
pastries and sheet cakes you could ever dream of. Weirdly enough, however, you'll need to
go elsewhere to find one of Costco's very best baked desserts.
Venture beyond the bakery section and head for the refrigerated section and you'll soon
find Costco's own tiramisu cake. Now, if you've ever made tiramisu at home, you'll know that
it can take a long time to bake. To start with, you have to track down some Italian
ladyfinger cookies, brew some espresso, dip the cookies in the espresso, make an egg-yolk
based whipped mascarpone cream, and layer everything on top of each other — and it's
still not quite done after all that work, because you then need to chill it for hours
before you can dig in. Honestly, who has the time?
Well, fear not — because, thanks to Costco, you can get your hands on a ready-made tiramisu
whenever you feel like it. This massive cake weighs in at 2 ½ pounds and costs $15.99,
which probably works out as cheaper than a home-made tiramisu, if you factor in the cost
of the alcohol and the fancy Italian ladyfinger cookies used in a traditional tiramisu recipe.
Buying one will save you a lot of time, too, so you can focus more on actually eating the
dessert instead of the hustle and bustle of making it — and cleaning up afterwards.
Even better, if you don't feel like dealing with the madness of the Costco parking lot,
you can use Instacart to get tiramisu delivered right to your door. And who doesn't love dessert
on demand?
“So good."
If you're a little inexperienced in the ways of the tiramisu, it's never too late to take
a crash course. Today, tiramisu is a well-loved dessert that you'll find in Italian restaurants
all around the world, but tiramisu as it's now known didn't really spring into popularity
until the 1980s. In its homeland, however, the dessert has been enjoyed for far longer
— for example, celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich says that she ate a version of the dessert
as a child in Italy. Her grandmother would serve zabaglione, an Italian custard, topped
with a splash of espresso and dried bread or cookies. It wasn't quite the same as what
you'll find in your local Italian restaurant, though, since the dish served in restaurants
today tends to be a lot more complicated. Still, her grandma did call it tiramisu, and
the dish generally lends itself well to customization. Bastianich even says she's seen more than
200 different versions of the dessert.
"And Jesus wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer."
Costco's tiramisu cake is definitely of the modern variety. It features layers of cake
sandwiched with a drizzle of coffee, whipped cream icing, and a mascarpone and cream cheese
mousse. The cake is also pretty generously-sized, so it shouldn't have any trouble satisfying
your sweet tooth.
But if all this still doesn't strike your fancy, then don't worry too much — because
the giant tiramisu cake isn't the only jumbo-sized dessert at Costco. The store is obviously
famous for its bulk-sized foods, and the dessert category is no exception. They have giant
Costco pumpkin pies that weigh an incredible 58 ounces and serve up to 12 people. Costco
also serves up a 5-pound cheesecake, a huge 7-pound chocolate cake, as well as a 5-pound
pumpkin spice cheesecake that's available on a seasonal basis.
Excess isn't for everyone though, and sometimes you need a dessert that won't take up space
in your refrigerator. Luckily, Costco offers a smaller option for tiramisu lovers who don't
want to devour an entire cake by themselves. Each tiramisu cup holds an individual 3-ounce
serving of tiramisu custard made with mascarpone and dusted with cocoa. Of course, each pack
of tiramisu cups comes with six cups, because let's face it — modesty and restraint may
be fine enough qualities, but this is Italian cooking we're talking about here.
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