By Marie Muccio
A festive tiramisu is sure to be a showstopper this Christmas and a centrepiece on your dinner table.
With only three weeks until Christmas, I’m skipping dinner for this issue and going straight to dessert.
Tiramisu is Italian for pick me up! And it sure does, with a hit of espresso coffee and the unmistakable hazelnut taste of Frangelico liqueur.
What makes this even better is my added layer of dark chocolate. If this doesn’t lift you up and get you into the festive spirit then nothing else will.
So what is tiramisu exactly? Well in a nutshell it’s a coffee & liquor flavoured dessert. The main ingredient calls for Italian biscuits, savoiardi. They are like a sponge, perfect for soaking up the coffee. The biscuits are soaked in coffee and sprinkled with hazelnut liqueur. The soaked biscuits are then layered in a trifle dish and then layered with dark chocolate and sweet cream. If you’re making this for the kids then you can leave out the liquor.
You can make this dessert ahead because it actually tastes better after all the flavours are left to marry in the fridge overnight. It’s one of those desserts that gets better with time.
I top the tiramisu with some fresh cherries but you can also use canned cherries or any other fresh berries. It adds a nice festive touch.
To make this dessert epic, the trick is to make sure you really get those biscuits completely soaked in the coffee! The result will be an incredibly moist and decadent dessert!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas! Stay full and stay safe!!
Ingredients
- 400 g Savoiardi Biscuits
- 500 ml Good quality espresso coffee sweetened
- 2 tbs Frangelico liqueur Optional
- 200 g Dark chocolate
- 4 Eggs at room temperature
- 100 g caster Sugar
- 800 g Mascarpone
- Extra grated chocolate for decoration
- Fresh cherries for decoration
Method
- Pour the prepared coffee into a deep dish and submerge the biscuits and leave them to soak for a few seconds. Transfer to a deep glass serving dish or trifle dish. Repeat until the bottom of the dish is lined with the coffee soaked biscuits.
- Drizzle over 1 tbs of the liquor if using (see note).
- Place the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Make sure the water does not come in contact with the bottom of the bowl. Stir until melted and smooth.
- Pour the melted chocolate over the biscuits using a spatula to ensure it evenly coats the biscuit.
- Separate your eggs and place the egg yolks in a bowl of an electric mixer together with the sugar. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the eggs are pale and fluffy. Gently fold in the mascarpone.
- Using a clean bowl, whisk your egg whites with a good pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. It should continue to hold its shape after you remove the whisk.
- Transfer a spoonful of the egg whites to the yolk mixture and fold through. Repeat until all the egg whites are combined.
- Spread half of the mixture over the biscuits then arrange another layer of coffee soaked savoiardi over the cream (with another drizzle of liquor) then top with remaining cream mixture.
- Grate over some extra dark chocolate and top with cherries. Place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours but preferably overnight.
Mrsfoodiemumma – Marie Muccio, foodie, wife, mum of three and loving granddaughter – inspiring you to get excited about food!
For many more family favourite recipes check out my food blog at mrsfoodiemumma.com. You can also follow along on FB and IG @mrsfoodiemumma
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