Sophie Grigson's Tiramisù with San Marzano

End your dinner party on a high note and serve up this luscious Tiramisù with San Marzano.

📝 Ingredients

• 500 g mascarpone
• 100 ml espresso or very, very strong cafetière coffee
• 2 tablespoons Licore di San Marzano or Marsala or Strega or rum
• 2 tablespoons grappa, or Corretto Coffee-Infused Grappa, or brandy
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 egg whites
• 2 pinches of salt
• 70 g caster sugar
• 20-24 savoiardi biscuits or ladies’ fingers/sponge finger biscuits
• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• You will also need a 28cmx 20cm baking tin or dish

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Get your mascarpone out of the fridge and give it plenty of time to come back to room temperature. Make the coffee and let it cool. Then stir in the San Marzano, marsala, Strega or rum and the grappa or brandy. Pour into a shallow dish and set aside until needed.
2. 2Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and voluptuously thick. Beginning with just few tablespoons at a time, whisk in the mascarpone bit by bit. Wash and dry your whisk well then whisk the egg whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks. Stir a tablespoonful of the whites into the mascarpone mixture to loosen it, then fold the rest in quickly.
3. 3Spread about a quarter of the mascarpone mixture over the base of the tin or dish. One by one, dip the biscuits into the coffee, turning once, shaking off excess and then arrange them in neat, serried ranks on the first layer of mascarpone. Spread half of the remaining mascarpone mixture over them. Dust with cocoa.
4. 4Repeat these layers once more, finishing with a blanket of cocoa. Cover the top of the dish with a layer of greaseproof paper or baking parchment and then wrap in clingfilm. Slide into the fridge and resist checking on it for at least 6 hours, better still until the next day.
5. 5Either serve it from the dish, scooping out helpings with a big spoon or cut it into neat cubes using a knife dipped into very hot water. Lift each one out carefully with a fish slice and slide as neatly as you can onto individual plates.
6. 6Concessionary Tiramisù: For those times when some of you want a dessert with alcohol, some of you don’t. Leave the booze out altogether but keep a bottle of San Marzano or Marsala to hand. Serve the tiramisu and drizzle a little of whichever one you have over the tiramisu for those who want something more impactful.