La Villini Restaurant – Chef Frank Catania

La Villini Restaurant
288 Larkfield Rd. • East Northport
631-261-6344
www.lavillini.com

    Upon graduating from Johnson & Wales Culinary 
Institute in 1987, Frank was chosen for a paid internship where he worked for three months at Harrah’s Hotel in Lake Tahoe.  After completing his internship he returned to Long Island where he worked in various restaurants.  He opened his first restaurant, La Villini in 2005. 
Almost a decade later, Frank has become a successful restaurantaur. It is not uncommon for Mr. Catania to surprise his patrons with new and unique dishes. La Villini remains to be a popular restaurant in East Northport and is pleased to share with you his passion for making desserts with his popular Tiramisu Cake recipe.

Tiramisu Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups- Mascarpone cheese
1 cup + 4oz- Heavy cream
10 oz- Dry Marsala wine
2 cups + 3 tbs- Sugar
1 tsp- vanilla extract
1 cup- Cocoa powder
1 tsp- Ground cinnamon 
2 packages- Lady Fingers
2 cups- Warm espresso
Preparation:

    In a mixing bowl, combine Mascarpone with 2 cups of sugar, Marsala wine, 1 cup of heavy cream and vanilla extract.  Whip combined ingredients until stiff peaks form and set aside. 
    In a separate bowl, combine espresso, remaining sugar and heavy cream.  Quickly soak Lady Fingers in warm espresso mixture and transfer to layer 
bottom of 9-inch springform pan. 
    With spatula or pastry comb, layer one inch of cream mixture over Lady Fingers evenly.  Sprinkle cocoa powder over layer of cream.  Form another layer with Lady Fingers followed by cream mixture.  Sprinkle cinnamon and more cocoa powder to finish cake.  When l
ayering is complete, refrigerate cake for at least one hour before removing ring from pan. 
    For decoration, line edges of cake with Lady Fingers and serve.