Kev Aherne's black forest tiramisu
Ingredients
Two of my favourite creamy cakes are tiramisu and black forest tiramisu, so last Christmas I made a hybrid version of them both. The results were undeniably one of the best cakes I've ever had.
You can use a variety of vessels to house for your Tiramisu. I like to use a 9 x 12 casserole dish for mine. Bread tins are another good option.
300ml of strong coffee
100ml rum
4 eggs
125 g caster sugar
300g mascarpone cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cocoa powder for dusting
300g dark chocolate
1 orange – zest
1 400g tin pitted black cherries
200ml cream
1 packet of lady finger biscuits.
Method
1. Separate the eggs.
2. In a standup mixer beat the egg whites with ¼ of the sugar until it's a stiff peak meringue.
3. Remove from the mixer and set aside – In the same mixer - no need to clean - beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until pale & thick.
4. Set aside mixture. In the same bowl - no need to clean – whip the cream to a light whipped peak & add the mascarpone cheese to incorporate.
5. Gently fold together the egg white mix, yolk mix & mascarpone mixture – set aside for assembly
6. Melt the chocolate & add the orange zest to the chocolate.
7. Mix the coffee, rum & vanilla in a shallow dish for dunking the lady fingers
For assembly
1. Dunk the lady fingers in the coffee mixture & layer on the bottom of your pan
2. Layer the creamy mixture on the lady fingers with a spatula
3. Drizzle ½ the chocolate mixture on the egg mixture & sprinkle ½ the cherries
4. Repeat this process again in another layer .
5. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours best overnight –
6. Just before serving dust with cocoa powder and serve
Chef's Tip
Don’t leave yourself short on the lady fingers & don’t let them sit in the coffee mixture for too long.
