Tiramisu

Method

• step 1

  Make up a pot of expresso coffee and add the 5 teaspoons of castor sugar. Allow to cool.

• step 2

  Separate the egg whites and yolks into two separate bowls.

• step 3

  Whisk up the egg whites, adding the 5 tablespoons of castor sugar in gradually until they form lovely stiff meringuey peaks.

• step 4

  Whisk up the egg yolks until they are thick and creamy and about triple the amount they were (this can take a good 5/10 mins of whisking, but worth it)!

• step 5

  Add the mascarpone cheese to the beaten egg yolk mixture.

• step 6

  Then combine that with the egg white mixture.

• step 7

  You should have a lovely creamy mixture, not too runny or too thick. Then add the Masala to the mixture - enough to suit your tastebuds. For me it is a good few tablespoons!

• step 8

  Now get a large rectangular bowl roughly 20cm by 30cm and 5cms deep.

• step 9

  Place a thin layer of the cream mixture on the bottom, then dip your biscuits into the cooled coffee, one at a time, and place a layer of biscuits across the bottom of the dish. Add a cream layer, then another biscuit layer, continue and then finish with a cream layer. Dust the top with cocoa. Place in the fridge to set for a few hours or cover and freeze straightaway and just get it out a few hours before you need to serve it.

• step 10

  I can get about 3 layers of biscuit in this size dish but you may find with thicker sponge fingers it may be less. Try your local Italian deli for the Pavasini bisucits. Plus I have made it in the large foil trays you can buy and frozen it for parties too.