Best Tiramisu

This recipe has taken me years to perfect and i'm not going to lie, some of it comes down to the dunking of the biscuits, so i can't guarantee yours will be exactly right, but i'll give as many tips as i can! To me, a good Tiramisu has perfectly moist (not too dry and not too soggy) biscuits, firm and set marscapone creme, good chocolate to cream ratio. Above all, it is rich enough to satisfy my creamy dessert craving and not too sweet so I can keep going back for more. The cream sets best over night or two if you can hold off, so you should make it ahead of time .

The recipe makes 8-10 servings. I normally use a smaller dish plus a couple of cups so i can dig into those before serving to guests.

Ingredients

500 g sponge/savoiardi fingers

500 ml cold strong black coffee (espresso if you can otherwise 7 tsp of instant)

10 tbs Marsala or coffee liquor

6 eggs, separated

12 level Tbs caster sugar

500 g good quality marscapone

100 g dutch cocoa (or as much as required to cover each layer)

Method

Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks. Now, beat the egg yolk and caster sugar until mixture becomes thick and creamy (about 5-7 minutes - see picture 1). Then add the marscapone to the egg yolk mixture, a spoonful at a time, until smooth and incorporated and then gently fold in the egg whites.

Mix the coffee and Marsala in a shallow bowel and briefly dip your sponge fingers in the coffee, soaking both sides once and then a second for the sugary side (in the first picture the sugary side is the lighter side). Arrange these in a layer on the bottom of your dish - you can use anything you like - cups, serving dish, glasses, even a pan, anything that you're happy to stick in the fridge. Pour over the marscapone mixture and then dust with a generous helping of the cocoa. repeat until the dish is full and your mixture has run out. Top with another generous dusting of cocoa and set aside in the fridge for at least 4 hours - best overnight.

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Tips

If you use creme fresh, the mixture will be too runny. spend the little extra and buy marscapone.

This tastes better 2 days after you make it because everything has had time to set!

Always beat egg whites before you beat egg yolks. My mum once told me the natural enemy of stiff egg whites is fat, so you don't ever want to get egg yolk or any fat in the egg whites, which means you need to really clean the beaters before you start beating the egg whites. Alternatively, if you start with egg whites, you can go straight to the egg yolks and there's no need to wash the beaters. Yes i'm lazy but you're now welcome :)

#Tiramisu #Italian #Dessert