tiramisu ladyfingers! where do i get them!

[janathema]

it might be common everywhere else but it sure isn't in singapore. i'm going to try to mega supermarkets that has loads of imports but does anyone know where to get ladyfingers in singapore? do i always have to use a glass bowl? hat about plastic ones? or small cups like those sold in restaurants? how do i line the ladyfingers?

[Nicholas]

Hey hey!
From singapore eh!
You can get them at Tanglin Mall's Market Garden. They are located in the biscuit section. That's were I got them the last time.
Taking 132 from Far East Square will get you there, about 3-4 stops.
I should think carrefour will have them in stock too. You can even try Cold Storage, or Market Garden at Raffles City.


You can line them in just about anything, when it's soaked, its abit more malleable.

[janathema]

thanks so much for replying!

i tried carrefour at ps today and couldnt find ladyfingers sponge cakes. instead i found ladyfingers biscuits. when i went to the section where they place their breads and stuff, i found a something... cake fingers which from carrefour. i was wondering if it's the one but it's so stiff and round edged! not what i saw online... how do ladyfingers look like really?

[KeeperOfTheGood]

Hey oh



I always thought that 'lady fingers' were a dryed egg foam <sponge> (as oppsed to eclair which is dryed foamed egg whites). Shaped usually like a finger, rounded at top and bottom. Homemade would be whatever shape you cut them or moulded them to be.

[Nicholas]

Funny story: I got in to an amusing arguement with a friend that they were called sponge fingers, and not lady's fingers, as those were the green vegetables. I apologized when I realized that sponge biscuits were also known as ladyfingers.

It's either sponge biscuits, or ladyfingers sponge cakes, whatever the manufacterer decides to label it.
Either way, it's definitely in the biscuit section, and not the bread section.

It comes in a pack, and if I recall, comes in 1 or 2 neat rows of ladyfingers, some sugared, or some plain.

Like what keeperofthegood said, they appear hard and finger shaped,
They seem unlikely to be in a dish like tiramisu, but once soaked, they become soft, like sponges.
What you saw was probably it.

[janathema]

i actually found it! it was so freaking stiff i was kinda apprehensive. cuz it was described online as something really soft. well.

OH! i can't believe i actually found it!

well. i guess only asians will argue with you about ladyfingers. cuz if you ask a bloke about it, they go with tea. not sambal balachan.

they are ladyfingers all right. show him the packaging!

[janathema]

by the way, why would they name something so freaking hard sponge? they're so hard they can crack.

[KeeperOfTheGood]

Hey oh


LOL janathema, dried beans are still called bean

Read some of these, the last on the list is the first to try. Use a large whisk, and if you can find to buy, use a prctice golf ball in the whisk. Chef challenged us n class, two teams, one on an electric mixer, the other by hand. I was the one by hand an lost miserably. So, I learned to do this by hand.

http://www.freerecipe.org/Dessert/Ba...s/Sponge_Cake/

The last recipie, if you cook it longer at lower temp, the final cake is dry and hard. There are probably tweeks that the mass producers do to get the 'store' product to be the way it is, but if you were doing this at home, this is where you would start.

Oh, here is a pic of the golf balls, just so you know what i mean. They really work and sell for about $5 canadien for a dozen. They really get the air incorporated into egg whites. Don't work for whipping cream though. Tends to collapse it

[janathema]

i think this is a no brainer but... how do i split the ladyfingers into two lengthwise when it's so hard?

[Nicholas]

You can split them in two either soaked or unsoaked. If unsoaked, try using a knife, it should make less of a mess.

[momoreg]

A homemade ladyfinger is spongy and soft, whereas the ones you buy are crispy. The crispy ones hold up better in a tiramisu, but the soft ladyfingers are perfect for lining the perimeter of a charlotte or cake.

[janathema]

thank you so much guys. i'll be making the tiramisu coming end this week. i hope it turns out fine!

[Nicholas]

Hope you'll enjoy making it, as much as eating it after!

[KeeperOfTheGood]

Hey oh

Yes, and do share the recipie that you used and all the ups and downs. I've read a half dozzen and there seams to be several camps on this dessert in terms of what it is.

Enjoy