I was on a mission, or a conquest. I wanted to make and eat a delicious tiramisu. But what do you do when you don’t like or drink coffee and cannot enjoy this world renown italian dessert in its original version?
I was well decided to give it a try and bought half a kilo of mascarpone from my Italian grocer. The previous times I had bought mascarpone, I went nowhere close to a tiramisu. I just kept using that mascarpone for other things, often radically different. That way I discovered that mascarpone makes a great cake icing: the taste is light (much lighter than butter cream), a bit tangy, and in terms of practicality, it is super easy to spread. If you want to know more, follow this link.
Back to my tiramisu tale (yes, we are getting there). Since I was not going to convert to coffee overnight (I did try a couple times without much success), I browsed through a number of recipes to get a bit of background to the dessert and made up my mind: it was going to be a lemon curd tiramisu!
Here it is!
The execution is super simple, no need to be a great cook, so get some mascarpone and some savoiardi (sponge fingers) and get going!
There is room for changes to adapt to taste. Tiramisu recipes, even the coffee version, are very versatile. I ended up also doing a small coffee tiramisu for my husband who loooooves that dessert and his coffee!
A few tips:
- Tiramisu recipes also contain cream, the ratio can be adapted if you don’t have exactly the right amount;
- You may use alcohol or not. If not, you will need a sugar syrup to soak your biscuits in. I make 1/2 L to a litre at the time and keep it in a glass bottle. Alternatively you can find some ready made versions in some deli or specialised shops.
- Do not forget the almonds, they make the tiramisu by bringing this added crunch and taste.
My lemon curd tiramisu, the concept:
The recipe can be found on its own page (lemon curd tiramisu). Here below is the concept:
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.
