thinking about a layered dessert
GM and I went to a cute little French restaurant in Mountain View last night, it was good. We got the 1/2 duck in citrus sauce and the herb-crusted lamb rack. The best of the side dishes was the thin-cut potatoes baked with cheese and béchamel, and the delicately sweetened beets. The beets reminded me of really good baked yams. Anyway, on the dessert menu was a raspberry tiramisu which sounded very good, so I asked the girl if it was espresso flavored like an Italian tiramisu. Sadly she said yes, it was, so we got some really good chocolate mousse instead.
But now I'm playing with the idea of making a non-espresso tiramisu (which will really be some sort of trifle, I think). Have you made a tiramisu or eaten enough of them to tell me what are the really important parts? I think I'd like to soak (or just dip) the ladyfingers in Bonny Doon Framboise and layering them with a dark chocolate custard. When I've made trifle before I've used cake, rather than ladyfingers, so any advice on making/soaking ladyfingers would be helpful too.