Tiramisu

 

I made this today for Andrew's sister's son, Alex's 18th birthday dinner party. The theme of the party was "Little Italy".  I adapted a recipe from the "Italian Food Safari".  The tiramisu turned out to be nicely creamy but yet light in texture. Everyone at the dinner party, liked it. I am not a fan of rich tiramisu, and I must say even I liked this one. :-). Very happy indeed with it.

Ingredients - Serves 10-12p
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
500g mascarpone
50ml Masala
1 tsp whisky
30 savoiardi biscuits
1 large hot coffee
4 tbsp organic cocoa
4 tbsp freshly ground coffee
Zest of 1 orange
50g hazelnut chocolate, grated finely (dark chocolate preferred, but I ran out of it today).

Italian meringue
45ml water
110g caster sugar
125ml egg whites (whites of 4 large eggs)

Place the egg yolks and caster sugar in a mixing bowl, and whisk on high speed until pale to almost white and fluffy. Add the mascarpone and, on a medium speed, whisk until it starts to thicken but smooth. Be sure not to overmix as you may split the mascarpone.

Add the liqueurs and mix until just combined. (You may adjust the quantity of liqueur according to personal taste.)  Place to one side and make the Italian meringue.

Add the water to a clean, grease-free saucepan, then slowly add the sugar, making sure that all the grains get wet. Place over a medium heat and bring to soft ball stage.  ( you can see lots of "bubbles" at this stage)

Making sure that your mixing bowl is completely grease-free, add in your egg whites and whisk on high speed until white and fluffy. As your egg whites reach medium peak, start to slowly add your hot sugar. Do not add sugar any sooner. ( A chef told me this would not overcook the egg whites, the sugar can go up to 120 deg and the egg whites would be fine). Once all the sugar has been added, continue to whisk until the Italian meringue has completely cooled. It would have stiffened such that when you turn the bowl upside down, the meringue would not fall. The meringue would start to look nice and glossy by this stage. Italian meringues are very stable and hold its form for a long time. Note: Use castor sugar otherwise you may get a grainy meringue instead of a smooth one.

Take your Italian meringue, and carefully fold into the mascarpone mix. Feel the mix "airing" as you fold. Taste and adjust the amount of liqueur if necessary.

Take your sponge finger biscuits, and soak in the coffee (add with 20ml of the masala) quickly, one at a time. Give the biscuits a light squeeze to remove any excess coffee. (Do not soak the biscuits all the way through.  There should still be a little portion in the middle that has not been soaked in the coffee so that there is still a little texture to the bite.)

Line the bottom of a serving dish packed with the biscuits. (I used a large pyrex round bowl, as I wanted the lid to cover for "transporting" the tiramisu). Sprinkle the top of the biscuits with cocoa evenly.

Using a large spatula, spoon in 1/2 of the mascarpone mix and level. Sprinkle with the ground coffee evenly.

Add another layer of coffee-soaked sponge finger biscuits.  Sprinkle again cocoa. Spoon in remaining mascarpone mix and level.

Cover the bowl tightly with cling film. Place in the fridge, and allow the tiramisu to become firm enough to cut, minimum 4 hours. ( I was told it is even better if left overnight to allow the flavours to develop)

Just before serving, sprinkle evenly with orange zest, then grated hazelnut chocolate and finally, the freshly ground coffee.

Note: In future, I will add lemon zest to the mascaporne/meringue filling. And try using sambuca/strega instead of masala.

Tip: For achieving light meringue and mascaporne mix, use stainless steel mixing bowls. Or glass, but not plastic. The steel bowls helps the "airation" process.
Bon Appetite!