Ingredients:

350 ml. cream

250 gr. mascarpone

250 gr. sour cream

500 gr. fresh strawberries

3 egg yolks

8 tablespoons of sugar

Chocolate powder (hard to say how much exactly)

Savoiardi (sponge fingers): quantity depending on the backing dish/biscuit size

STEP 1

Start by cutting strawberries into little pieces, put them in a pot with 4 tablespoons of sugar and cook for 10 minutes. After that separate the juice from the flesh with a strainer; you should obtain as much juice as flesh.

STEP 2

While the strawberries are cooling down take the cream, add one tablespoon of sugar and mix it with a whisk. When you get whipped cream, put it into the fridge.

STEP 3

Mix the 3 egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of sugar and whisk in a bowl. When the mixture is firm, add another tablespoon of sugar and mix it for another 3 minutes. Now add the mascarpone and the sour cream, use the whisk to mix them perfectly until you obtain a tasty, creamy mixture. Sometimes it is necessary to add a little milk cream to obtain a more creamy mixture; it depends on the brand of mascarpone and sour cream which you are using. As always put the obtained cream in the fridge.

STEP 4

Now, to prepare the strawberries cream, take the strawberries pulp out of the fridge. Add to it 4 tablespoons of whipped cream from step 2 and mix it very slowly until all the mixture is perfectly blended. When ready, put it back into the fridge.

STEP 5

Subsequently, mix the rest of the whipped cream with the mascarpone cream – be careful to mix it gently with a spoon. Continue till you get a homogeneous substance. Remember to put it into the fridge – any operation with creams must be done at the fridge temperature.

STEP 6

In the next step we have to prepare the base of the baking dish. Dip the sponge fingers (2-3 per time) in the strawberry juice prepared before in step 1. Wait a while to be sure that the biscuits are well soak and lay it on the bottom of the baking dish. Repeat the operation to fill the entire bottom. Pour more juice on the biscuits in the dish, do not worry if there is a lot of liquid on the surface as it will be absorbed by the sponge fingers further.

STEP 7

Next you can start to lay the half of mascarpone cream on the biscuits. When you are done, spread a generous dose of chocolate powder on the layer. Grab the strawberry cream you made in step 4 and spread it on the chocolate powder. Continue with another layer of chocolate powder and subsequently put the rest of the mascarpone cream on top. Finally, put the last layer of chocolate powder.

Leave the strawberry tiramisù in the fridge for 24 hours before having it.

NB: DON’T LEAVE THE TIRAMISU’ IN THE FREEZER, THIS OPERATION WOULD DAMAGE IT. If you need to conserve it you could put it into the freezer after the 24 hours it has been in the fridge.

NBB: The best wine to taste with tiramisu is a good “passito” (raisin wine) like “Vin Santo” or “Zibibbo”. If you want an Australian wine, you could try “The Last Straw” from Turkey Flat Vineyards.

Andrea Mandorli, FCE Class