This lemon curd tiramisu is a fresh tangy delightful dessert! Just writing about it makes me smile. This dessert happened just one day while wanting to do a tiramisu which is not coffee based.
The recipe is super easy. Serves 12. Depending on the dish you use, you may have a bit of leftover of the lemon curd or mascarpone mix.
Ingredients
For the lemon curd
- 3 eggs
- The zest of 2 lemons (previously washed)
- The juice of the two lemons
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 1/2 cup of butter
For the tiramisu
- 500 g of mascarpone
- 400 ml cream to be whipped to soft peaks
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- savoiardi (or sponge fingers biscuits), 1 to 2 packet (20-30 biscuits)
- Almond flakes
- Sugar syrup. You only need about 1/2 cup here.
- a few tablespoons of a liquor (fruit based) if desired.
Tip: if you don’t have any sugar syrup, dissolve 1 cup of white sugar in 1/4 L of water in a saucepan (roughly 1 cup), let it reduce until syrupy, it will keep for month in a glass bottle. You can make larger batches. You can use it for a number of desserts, cocktails (ti’punch for example) or sorbets.
Method
For the lemon curd:
Melt the butter with the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan. Add the lemon zest. In the meanwhile, beat the eggs slightly in a large bowl. Once the butter is melted, slowly transfer the liquid hot mixture to the eggs while whisking continuously. The mix will start thickening, transfer back to the saucepan and place on low heat until it thickens but without reaching boiling point. Transfer to a clean bowl. The mixture will thicken further when cooling down. If you have cooked the curd too much and got a little bit of scrambled eggs, pass it through a sieve.
For the tiramisu:
- Choose a dish wide enough and tall enough to enable the layering. At least 12 cm high to allow for consistent layers.
- If you have a kitchen Aid or similar, it is time to get it out, if not, a whisk will work perfectly. Mix the mascarpone and egg yolks until smooth and fully combined. Whip the cream to soft peaks, adding the sugar slowly towards the end. Combine first 1/4 of the whipped cream with the mascarpone, then combine the rest.
- In a deep plate, mix 1/4 cup of hot water with 1/4 cup of sugar syrup and our chosen spirits (2 tbsp).
- The bottom layer is made with the savoiardi. One at the time, place a biscuit in the syrup mix for 5 seconds until moist but not crumbling ad transfer to the bottom of the dish. Repeat to cover the bottom, you will most likely need to cut the biscuits to size to fit the corners or fill up the voids.
- Cover with mascarpone, about 1.5 cm thick. Now, add a layer of lemon curd (1 cm thick maximum).
- Repeat the biscuit layering stage making sure you soak them before placing them down. If you run out of the soaking liquid, make a new quantity. Add a layer of mascarpone, then a layer of lemon curd. This second layer of lemon curd can be thicker (up to 2 cm). Now place the remaining of the mascarpone mix on top in a little dome structure, using a round knife or chop stick , lightly swirl through the mascarpone layer with the lemon curd right underneath.
- Toast some almond flakes in a frypan or under the grill (don’t forget them!) and place on top of the tiramisu. Don’t forget that this steps makes the dessert happen!
Tip: if you have too much mascarpone mix, place in ramequins and cover, keep in the fridge, it will make a nice little treat for someone in the coming days. Lemon curd keeps in the fridge in a plastic box for a week or so.
