Hello again! Today I would like to present you with one of my favourite desserts. It is an Italian classic and fit for any occasion.

There are a lot of variations on the recipe, the one that I do is a basic classic one, with the only addition of a bit of alcohol (amaretto) to the mix. In Italy there are a lot of disputes whether or not tiramisu should be with alcohol or not, and with which alcohol (Amaretto or marsala). Probably nobody knows with certainty which was the very first tiramisu, but I like the version with a bit of amaretto, fell free to leave it out or replace it with an Amaretto syrup if you are doing it for kids.

What do we need?

– 4 eggs

–  500 g (1,1 lb.) mascarpone cheese

– 100 g white sugar (or 110 g of brown sugar)

– 300-350 g (about 25-30 biscuits) ladyfingers

– 1 cup of very strong coffee, espresso if you have it

– cacao powder (unsweetened)

We will start by separating the eggs.

Whip the yolks with the sugar until the mixture becomes light and airy and the colour lightens up, then add the mascarpone cheese and mix it well together.

Beat the egg whites to a very stiff foam and the gently fold in the egg-yolk and mascarpone mixture.

If you have a copper bowl don’t hesitate to use it (but don’t forget to blur out your reflection if you take photos of it to put online).

Take the coffee and mix it with the amaretto.  Put the coffee in a wide bowl. Get the tray in which you will be doing the tiramisu. very quickly dab the ladyfingers in coffee on both sides and the put them next to one another on the bottom of the tray.  Don’t let them soak to long in coffee or they will melt away, 2 seconds on each side is normally enough.

When you have the bottom of the tray covered in ladyfingers add some of the egg-mascarpone cream, enough to cover the ladyfingers under about 1 cm (1/2 inch) of cream. Then add another layer of ladyfingers and another one of mascarpone-cream, and if you have enough cream left, also do a third one. Put the tiramisu in the fridge over night or at least for a couple of hours and serve.

I like adding the cacao powder direct for serving, so that it doesn’t soak up too much liquid.

And enjoy! Again with a nice glass of lemonade or good Italian whine (brunello di Montalcino would be my recommendation 😊 )