Tiramisù

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This tiramisù was a big success! Although the recipe says it feeds 6-8, it's so rich and creamy we ended up getting about 10 serves out of it, probably more. It's one of those extremely decadent deserts which require 30 minutes of recovery time after eating.

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Tiramisù

12 savoiardi biscuits (aka ladyfingers or sponge fingers)

500g mascarpone

250g crème fraîche

2 eggwhites

Cocoa, for dusting

Coffee Syrup:

200 ml long-black-strength coffee

50g caster sugar

50 ml brandy

25 ml amaretto

Zabaione:

2 egg yolks

60g caster sugar

25 ml marsala

1. For coffee syrup, stir coffee and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves (2-4 minutes). Add brandy and amaretto, stir to combine, then set aside to cool slightly (5-10 minutes).

2. Lay savoiardi on a deep tray, spoon over coffee syrup and set aside until absorbed (5-10 minutes).

3. Meanwhile, for zabaione, whisk yolks, sugar, marsala and 1 Tbsp water in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until pale and thick (around 5 minutes), set aside to cool.

4. Whisk mascarpone and crème fraîche to combine, then fold through zabaione. 

5. Whisk eggwhites in a separate bowl until soft peaks form, then fold through mascarpone mixture.

6. Lay half the soaked savoiardi in a 25cm-diameter serving dish, spread half the mascarpone mixture over and dust with cocoa, then repeat. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours for the flavours to develop, then serve dusted with extra cocoa. 

A few notes:

I'm not sure how big traditional savoiardi biscuits are, but I ended up using around 24 ladyfingers instead of the 12 recommended. Because I doubled the amount of biscuits, I also doubled the coffee syrup to go on them. Next time I make this recipe, I'll use a double quantity of biscuits again, because I think otherwise the mascarpone and crème fraîche would overpower the dish, but I'll only use 1 1/2 portions of the coffee syrup - my tiramisù ended up tasting quite alcoholic!

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* Recipe taken from Australian Gourmet Traveller, May 2011 edition. 

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