This was intended to be the dessert for a dinner party/gossip session that we had planned to go to tonight; however, a combination of Dave working late and not feeling well meant that we stayed home and enjoyed it ourselves instead.

As a first attempt at making tiramisu it wasn’t bad. The recipe (see below) came from Tamasin Day-Lewis’ (Daniel Day-Lewis’ big sister) book “Good Tempered Food” and it was to be my first recipe from this book. The recipe differs from many others that I’ve seen in that it starts off with a zabaglione base. I’d never made zabaglione before…

Making the zabaglione turned out to be fairly easy. I wasn’t able to get it to what I would call a “firm” consistency - mine would only go as far as holding soft peaks. Unfortunately, I then had extreme difficulty persuading the mascarpone and espresso coffee to blend into the zabaglione. In hindsight, perhaps I should have let the mascarpone warm up slightly before trying to fold it in? By the time I had persuaded it to incorporate I had knocked quite a lot of the air out of the mixture and there was no need for me to beat the mixture to “lighten the cream” as Tamasin instructed as the mixture was very liquid. At this point I nearly threw it all away but decided to persevere in the hope that it would set up in the fridge. Even if it didn’t set, it would still be tasty mush - the zabaglione/marscapone mixture tasted fabulous!

The actual construction of the Tiramisu was very easy. I couldn’t find a rectangular dish of the right size, so I used a fairly roomy square dish and just decided to cut the biscuits down to size. After a few false starts with the espresso machine, I finally managed to persuade it to make me three strong cups (I am at a loss to understand why the machine has to be turned to the steam icon to make espresso, rather than the little cup icon!!!) which I used to dissolve the caster sugar and Marsala for soaking the biscuits. Soaking the biscuits was really fun! The Savoiardi biscuits soak up liquid voraciously so I had to replenish the soaking liquid with another cup of espresso.

I despaired when I poured over the first layer of cream. It was very fluid and I had to pour over slightly more than half to get it to cover the biscuits which meant that there was barely any cream covering the top layer of biscuits. I despaired even more at this point. At least it looked the part after I sifted over the cocoa powder. I then covered it with clingfilm and banished it to the fridge while I alternated between sulking and worrying about whether the cream would set.

Happily for my ego, when I took the tiramisu out of the fridge tonight the cream had set reasonably firmly! As you can see from the picture above, it isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it tasted very good indeed. I would probably make this again, but next time bring the mascarpone up to room temperature and possibly beat it a little to loosen and make it easier to incorporate. I’d probably also make just the zabaglione aspect of the recipe as it looked and smelt delicious.

Tiramisu

- serves 6

1 organic egg
3 organic egg yolks
50ml white wine
2 tsp Amaretto di Saranno (almond liqueur)
50ml Marsala, plus 2 tbsp for soaking the biscuits
100g vanilla sugar
225g mascarpone cheese
1 tsp espresso coffee powder
3 small cups hot espresso coffee
1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
175g Italian Savoiardi biscuits
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Put the whole egg, the egg yolks, white wine, Amaretto and the 50ml of Marsala in the top part of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. The top pan should not touch the water simmering in the bottom pan.

Whisk for about 5 minutes until the mixture thickens. Once it is firm and fluffy, remove the top pan and carry on whisking for a few minutes more.

Add the vanilla sugar and whisk until dissolved.

Gently fold in the mascarpone and the teaspoon of espresso powder. Beat everything together for another minute or so to lighten the cream.

Mix together the cups of hot espresso, caster sugar and the remaining 2 tablespoons of Marsala in a dish deep enough to soak the biscuits. Dip in the biscuits so that they absorb the liquid but do not start to break up.

Cover the base of a large shallow rectangular dish with a layer of soaked biscuits, laid tightly in the same direction. Pour over half the cream mixture.

Add a second layer of biscuits placed at right angles to the layer below. This helps to hold the Tiramisu together when you serve it. Cover with the rest of the cream.

Sift the cocoa powder thickly over the surface.

Cover and chill in the fridge overnight.