Tiramisu

There are no words to describe tiramisu when it's been made with the correct ingredients. In fact, the literal meaning of Tiramisu, which is "pick-me-up", is bit of an understatement. Tiramisu is a desert worthy of a special occasion: neither making nor eating it may be rushed.
Ingredients:
Chocolate Zabaglione Custard
- 140 gram dark chocolate
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (40 ml) castor sugar
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) Marsala (sweet Italian wine - we used Lombardo Ambra Garibaldi Dolce Marsala)
- 4 egg whites
Mascarpone-coffee mixture
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Moccona instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water
- 250 gram Mascarpone cheese (we used Tatua soft cream cheese, available in New Zealand supermarkets)
Cream
- 300 ml cream
Base
- 125 gram Italian Lady fingers / Boudior Biscuits / Dutch Langevingers / Sponge fingers
- 2 x 1/4 cup Marsala wine
Method
You will need a rectangular dish, approximately 220 x 120 mm (we use a Pyrex loaf size dish).
- Melt the chocolate, preferably in a container over boiling water.
- In a double boiler, beat the egg yolks and castor sugar together until very smooth. Whip eggs and sugar mixtuer vigorously for a few minutes over the heat, until the mixture have reached the ribbon stage. (Ribbon stage is when you can use your whisk to write a figure 8 on the surfave of the egg mixture.) Take care not to boil the mixture.
- Fold the cooled, melted chocolate into the zabaglione. Leave to cool down.
- Mix the coffee and mascarpone together.
- Whip the cream until it forms peaks.
- In separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until it forms stiff peaks, and then fold it into the cooled down zabaglione.
- Place a layer of ladyfingers in the bottom of the rectangular dish.
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup of Marsala over the biscuits to moisten them.
- Spread half of the Mascarpone-coffee mixture over the biscuits.
- Follow with half of the chocolate-zabaglione and then with half of the cream.
- Repeat the with a second layer of biscuits, moistened with 1/4 cup of Marsala, the rest of the coffee-cream cheese, the rest of the chocolate zabaglione and then the rest of the cream.
- Cover and let it set overnight in fridge.
Optional: sprinkle roasted slivered almonds over the cream-on-top.