Tiramisu

The recipe for this tiramisu has come straight off the top of my head and, having never made it before using a recipe, I apologize for it being slightly unconventional.  I made a first attempt at it a couple of weeks ago for a friend who came to stay with me but was not totally happy with the result as, in my opinion, it was a bit too mild and needed more booze to make it taste nicer.  I'm sure that not everybody would agree with me on this but it is my recipe and I will make it the way I like it (and just imagine me sticking my tongue out at the screen as I wrote that because that is what I felt like doing).  I was not planning to make another attempt at the recipe as soon as this but my manager caught me looking miserable at work on Friday after I had been having quite a rough week and made me promise that I would do something fun this weekend.  Making my own recipe for tiramisu may not be exactly what she had in mind for me to do but cooking and then blogging about it really makes me feel better, if I have the time to do it.

This is a very simple recipe, it doesn't even require any cooking so I would recommend it for anyone who is not too confident in the kitchen but wants to make a tasty dessert.  Or for anyone who is confident in the kitchen but just wants to make something simple, after all, just because you are good at cooking, doesn't mean you have to make the most complicated things all the time.

Ingredients:

250g tub of mascarpone

300ml double cream

100g golden caster sugar (though normal caster sugar would be fine too)

100ml Baileys

1 packet of trifle sponges

1 cup strong black coffee (I brewed mine in a cafetiere but you could also use a coffee maker or instant coffee if you really have no other choice)

75ml coffee liqueur such as kahlua or tia maria

dark chocolate for decoration

Method:

• Layer the bottom of a square dish with the trifle sponges and pour the coffee and coffee liqueur over them so that they soak up the liquid
• Put the cream and mascarpone in a large mixing bowl with the sugar and Baileys and whisk with an electric whisk until it is thick, like the consistency of whipped cream.
• Spread the cream mixture evenly over the trifle sponges
• Grate the dark chocolate with the spiky side of the grater to make a sort of chocolate dust on the top of the tiramisu.  Then just stick it in the fridge to cool and it is ready to serve.  Told you it was easy.

I only made this tiramisu with one layer of trifle sponges because I was using quite a wide and shallow dish.  Traditionally they have two layers, the recipe for this would be the same except that you would keep half of the soaked trifle sponges to one side, then put half of the cream mixture on the first layer, then the rest of the sponges, then the other cream layer.