It’s December, the month of food! This month, Heather Corker of Corker and Mills catering brings us a tasty dessert you just have to try – it’s not as complicated as you might think!

For the coffee, booze, biscuit, chocolate and cream lovers – meet Tiramisu. Tiramisu is like dessert royalty. It has it all.  Eating Tiramisu is not for the faint-hearted (or lactose intolerant) – it most definitely fits the description of a “taste explosion”. When the Italians do food, they don’t hold back.

While this trifly dessert may appear to be as intense and complicated to make as it is to  taste, Tiramisu is incredibly easy to bring together and the finished product always, always,  puts on a good show. And it will make the host/hostess  (i.e. you) look like a culinary god(dess).

What you’ll need: 

• 300ml Double Cream
• 300ml Whipping Cream
• 250g (one tub) Mascarpone
• 75ml of Madeira (or Marsala)
• 5 Tablespoons of golden caster sugar
• splash of vanilla extract or flavouring
• 300ml strong coffee – made with 2 tablespoons of coffee granules and 300ml of boiling water
• 175g (one package) of sponge fingers
• Chunk of dark chocolate
• Cocoa powder for dusting

Bringing it all together:

Put the creams, mascarpone, Madiera, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk or beat together until the cream and mascarpone have completely combined and the consistency is like a thick whipped cream.

Now its time to get your serving dish nearby and ready to use!

In a separate, shallow, dish pour some of the coffee and dip your sponge fingers in, turning over in the coffee so that they are completely soaked, but not soggy (work quickly! True to their name, sponge fingers are very spongy and will soak a lot of liquid up very fast).

Layer the soaked sponge fingers into your dish until the base is completely covered. Then, layer on half or part of the cream – completely covering the fingers. Grate dark chocolate over the cream mixture – to your own, personal, desired amount – and then dust with a little bit of cocoa powder.

Then, repeat the process, ending with the cream layer on top!

Chill this dish.  Tiramisu is best made the night before, in order to let the flavours set and mix together in all sorts of wonderful ways.  Tiramisu will keep up to 2 days in the fridge.

Enjoy. This goodness goes quickly – I almost didn’t get a picture before it was gone!