Tiramisu for in the morning – yes, please!

I know it’s rich and rather fancy to have tiramisu in the morning but sometimes you need an extra ‘pick-up’ and that’s what tiramisu is all about. 

A translation of tiramisu would be along the lines of ‘ pick me up’ or even ‘wake me up’ and the name must have been given due to the hit of espresso you get from the espresso soaked sponge fingers.

I can not face alcohol that early in the day though, so I have made this tiramisu without any alcohol and instead have added a layer of chocolate chunks for a little extra sweetness…

For 8 portions you’ll need

• 500g mascarpone
• 3 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp almond essence
• 50g chocolate
• ca 260g sponge lady fingers
• ca 500ml strong espresso
• cocoa powder to dust
• a square tin of around 22cm

Start by separating the egg whites from the egg yolks.
Whisk up the egg whites with an electric whisk until stiff.

In another bowl whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, again using your electric whisk, until the mixture becomes a paler colour and fluffy. Add the mascarpone and almond essence and briefly whisk the mixture to create a smooth cream.

Add the whipped egg whites and, using a balloon whisk gently fold them under – at the end you may want to swap the balloon whisk for a spatula. Using both utensils makes it easier to ensure that the egg whites combine with the cream yet don’t break up too much.

Using a big knife chop up the chocolate into small chunks.

Pour the espresso into a shallow dish, such as a soup plate, and soak the sponge fingers in the espresso by laying one side of the biscuit in the espresso for a few seconds then turning it over to let dip the other side in. Work quite quickly here as though you want the sponge fingers to get moist you do not want them soggy to the point where they fall apart!

Lay the soaked sponge fingers next to each other to line the bottom of the tin and once you have create the complete layer sprinkle it with 3/4 of the chocolate chunks (leaving the last 1/4 of the chocolate chunks aside to decorate the finished tiramisu). Top the chocolate covered sponge fingers with half of the mascarpone cream.

Then soak the rest of the sponge fingers in the rest of the espresso and create another layer of sponge fingers on top. Top this second layer of sponge fingers with the rest of the cream.

Dust with cocoa powder and the sprinkle with the chocolate chunks you left aside earlier.

Cover the dish with cling film and leave to set in the fridge for at least 5 hours.