Tiramisu
Tiramisu
Ann Morris
Tiramisu is a light Italian dessert, made of sponge fingers/cake soaked in brandy/liqueur, Marsala (a fortified wine) and coffee mix and layered with Mascarpone cheese and chocolate. It is quite delicious, light and an excellent end to any meal. The word Tiramisu means ?cheer me up? or ?pick me up?, because it has two stimulants, coffee and cocoa.
Serves 6
Ingredients
175 ml. ( 6 fl. oz.) black coffee of good quality (If using Nescafe type coffee, make it strong)
3 tsp. brandy or Kahlua
3 tbsp. Marsala wine (fortified Italian wine, like Madeira or English sweet sherry)
8 trifle sponge fingers or ladyfingers* or Savoiard biscuits or any plain sponge
250 gm. (8 oz.) mascarpone, a thick, intensely rich Italian triple cream dessert cheese.
284 ml.(10 fl. oz.) double cream (lightly whipped)
4 level tbsp. icing sugar (sifted)
50 gm. (2 oz.) plain chocolate, grated (use good quality, strong chocolate)
2 tsp. cocoa powder (optional)
Instructions
Mix together the coffee, Marsala wine and brandy.
Place 4 trifle sponges in a serving dish and pour over half the wine-brandy-coffee mixture.
Mix together the Mascarpone, cream and icing sugar. Spoon half of it over the trifle sponges.
Place the remaining trifle sponges on top and pour over the remaining coffee mixture.
Top with the rest of the Mascarpone mixture and smooth the surface. Sprinkle over the grated chocolate and chill for at least 2-3 hours before serving.
Chill for 3-4 hours.
Dust with cocoa powder just before serving.
Notes
*Ladyfingers are finger/baton shaped light sponge cakes that are made from sponge cake batter that has more flour than most sponge recipes, to make the batter thick enough to pipe. They can be served with ice-creams, other soft desserts and made into dishes like Tiramisu and Trifle sponge pudding, a very popular English dessert. They are easily available ready-made from most supermarkets in UK. If you can?t find them, look for a recipes on the internet.
