the best tiramisu recipe ever

This is my favourite dessert. Ever. I'm sure I must have been Italian in another life.

I've had a few requests for this recipe now, so thought I would share it here. It will mean I won't break out in a sweat if I lose the recipe again either! 

This recipe comes from Stephanie Alexander & Maggie Beer's Tuscan Cookbook and is the only version I will make now. It's truly divine. I'm one of those people that will only use the BEST ingredients for this as well. So make sure you use the proper Italian saviordi sponge fingers, good quality coffee - not instant (I make a brew of Illy), chocolate with a high cocoa percentage like the Lindt 75% cocoa variety, and definitely use marscapone - don't substitute with cream cheese or similar. (Yes, I'm a tiramisu snob!)

To make it you will need:

375g sponge finger biscuits (roughly 24, depending on the size/shape of the dish you set it out in)
2 cups of cold strong black brewed coffee
200g grated 70-85% cocoa chocolate
500g marscapone
organic cocoa
extra grated chocolate for finishing touches!

For the zabaglione:
6 egg yolks
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup brandy

You'll need to make the zabaglione first as it needs to cool down for using later to assemble your tiramisu. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and brandy in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until its thick, then remove it from the heat. Make sure you keep whisking even after you remove the bowl from the heat. You can stop once it cools down, but if you stop while it's hot, the egg will start to 'cook' and go clumpy in the mixture. 

Grab another bowl and whisk the mascarpone until it's nice and soft and then fold in the cooled zabaglione mixture.

Putting it together:

You will need a deep round (preferably glass, to see the pretty layers) bowl to serve it in. Arrange half the sponge finger biscuits over the base. I usually break a few here and there to fill any gaps since the dish I use is round. Next, sprinkle half the coffee and half the chocolate over the biscuits. Spoon in up to half of the zabaglione/marscapone mixture and spread it over the biscuit layer, then repeat until you fill the bowl. Sift cocoa over the final layer and sprinkle with the remaining grated chocolate. Voila!!

The recipe suggests refrigerating for about 2 hours before serving, but the longer you leave it the better it seems to get. 

Tip: Make sure your guests don't eat it all, it makes a really good breakfast the next morning!