Tiramisu is, despite being simple, a tricky dessert. Lots of people claim to have the best recipe and don’t want to reveal their secret. However, in my opinion, Tiramisu is the one dessert one can’t really claim to be the king of, as tastes widely vary. How much coffee to use? Whether or not to add egg whites? Oooo or Marsala or Amaretto or Rum or Grand Marnier? And who on earth decided to add fruit to Tiramisu? That is just wrong. Is it? I’m sure every italian grandma would shake her head with disapproval.

I have yet to try an actual italian home-made Tiramisu and am longing for one of my italian friends to make me a one ala Nonna. Come to think of it, I don’t really know many italians. Damnit. Well, I guess until then I am stuck making my own. My preference: a medium amount of coffee (due to the fact that I actually don’t like coffee… ), egg whites, Marsala, and no fruit pieces. If I may say so, it has improved drastically since my first attempt a couple years back. My secret ingredient: lemon zest and juice. Go ahead and try it out, let me know what you think!

Tiramisu

serves 6-8

You’ll need

500g Mascarpone
80g Icing sugar
Marsala
1 packet of Vanillin sugar
1 lemon, zest and juice of at least half
3 egg whites
1 packet of ladyfinger biscuits (ca. 100g)
3 tbsp espresso
Cocoa powder

1. Mix the mascarpone, icing sugar, vanillin sugar and 4 tbsp of Marsala until smooth. Stir in your lemon zest and juice of half the lemon. Taste and adjust by adding more lemon juice. Chill in the fridge.
2. Line a gratin dish with a layer of lady finger biscuits. Mix the espresso with 3 tbsp of Marsala and a bit of water (I don’t really like coffee to penetrate my Tiramisu, but again this is a taste thing, feel free to adjust the coffee/marsala ratio to your liking).
3. Drizzle each ladyfinger with the espresso/marsala mix, so that the whole length of each biscuit has a tad of liquid. But don’t overdo it, otherwise you will have a quite watery tiramisu.
4. Now beat your egg whites until stiff. Fold into your mascarpone mixture.
5. Once folded in, spread your mascarpone cream evenly over your lady finger biscuits.
6. Cover with cling film and chill over night. Before serving, dust with cocoa powder. Simple, great for making in advance, and so tasty.

Rating: 9/10

I’m not going to say it’s the best Tiramisu, I mean how can a non-italian judge, but I think it’s fair enough to say it’s pretty damn good for a Swiss attempt 🙂