Tiramisu

I've been reading about coffee based foods and while Tiramisu has been a favourite for some time I have never taken the effort to learn how to make it.

Last week I made my first one - and it was good. Saturday I made a second one. It was also good.

So tonight I made a third - and remembered to keep the camera around.

And thus I now present - The Tiramisu at the end of the Universe!


Forgive me the dramatic photo - I'm pretty chuffed about the way these have been working out and I have been using that particularly fine Nicaraguan coffee that I mentioned at the beginning of the month as part of the base liquor.

The recipe I chose seems to be a fairly traditional one:

• 250g of mascarpone
• 4 eggs (separated)
• 5 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 cup of marsala
• 3 shots of espresso
• 5 savoiardi (lady finger biscuits)
• cocoa or drinking chocolate for dusting.

Measure out the marsala and pour into a flat dish with the espresso. Place the savoiardi into the flat dish to soak up the liquor, turn the biscuits as required then list them carefully into a 2-litre deep dish. You may double the number of savoiardi if you wish but after my first tiramisu (which had double the number) Mrs Grendel gave strict instructions that SHE prefers more marcarpone and less savoiardi.

I'll leave you to guess what I prefer. . .

Separate the egg yolks and whites. Beat the whites until they are still and form peaks. In another bowl, cream the egg yolks and the sugar together before adding the marscarpone. Beat until smooth. Fold the egg whites into the marscarpone mix and then pour this over the savoiardi.

Dust liberally with cocoa/drinking chocolate then chill for 2-3 hours.

Like trifle this gets better on day two, but has rarely made it that far in our house.