Tiramisu cake....

Anyone from an Italian family will have experienced the pleasure of a tiramisu.  The creamy, velvety texture and the unmistakeable coffee and liquor flavour hit.   It is, quite frankly, the quintessential Italian dessert.

However, it has never been one of my strong points.  I've never really been able to master it, and well, my last attempt perhaps a year or so ago, resulted in an outcome that I was less than pleased with.

But, not to be defeated, I set out to try again, but this time with a recipe that is only slightly different to it's original counterpart.  It seemed much more fail-safe. And guess what, it was!  I'm not sure why it's called Tiramisu Cake - there is no baking required, but I'm happy to say the result was much better than my previous attempt!

Here is what you'll need;

200g chocolate, chopped
3 eggs, separated.
60ml of liquor of your choice (I chose baileys, but you could use the traditional marsala)
250g mascarpone
150g Italian sponge finger (I used the savorardi type)
125ml strong black esspresso coffee
cocoa power to dust

1.  First, line a cake tin with baking paper.  Then melt your chocolate by placing the chunks in a bowl and placing that over a saucepan of simmering water.
2.  Whilst the chocolate is melting, beat the eggs yolks, with marsala until pale and creamy, then add the mascarpone and beat until smooth.  Add the melted chocolate and stir until mixed.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are stiff, then fold them into the mascarpone mix.
4.  To assemble the cake, place a layer of the sponge fingers in the bottom of the cake time and then drizzle with half of the coffee.  Pour the mascarpone mix on top, add the remaining fingers (you may need to snap some to fill the gaps) Drizzle the rest of the coffee and cover with cling film and leave for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Carefully remove from the cake tin and dust with cocoa powder!
'Buon Appetito!'

xx