It’s been a while since I last posted as the summer’s been busy so far.

However, this weekend I had a little down time and therefore the chance to make something to share with you, a strawberry tiramisu – well, sort of anyway.

There’s no alcohol or coffee in this tiramisu and as I wanted to a light ‘tiramisu’ it’s made with mascarpone as well as quark. I also decided to have just one layer of lady fingers, so I guess it’s not like tiramisu at all expect that it’s as yummy as an actual tiramisu.

The below recipe came about, when instead of plain quark, I bought a vanilla flavoured quark by accident in an English supermarket. If you can’t get vanilla quark where you are, just add some vanilla essence and another table spoon or two of sugar.

It’s very quick to make but does need to sit in the fridge for at least an hour for the lady fingers sponges to soak through.

For a tiramisu with 6 portions you’ll need:

• 500g ripe strawberries
• 3 Tbsp caster sugar
• 250g mascarpone
• 250g vanilla quark
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 100g lady finger sponge biscuits
• the juice of one small orange

Cut the strawberries into quarters (or, if they are very small, halves) but leave a good handful aside uncut for decoration. 

Using a balloon whisk, whip the mascarpone and quark together with the sugar and lemon juice, then fold the strawberry pieces into the cream. Don’t worry if some of them break – they will give the tiramisu a pink tint, which is lovely.

To assemble, lay the lady fingers in a shallow dish in one even layer and pour the orange juice over them. Spread the strawberry cream over them and leave the dessert to set for at least an hour in the fridge. 

Decorate the tiramisu or each individual portion with the strawberries you left aside earlier before serving.