Tiramisu

This has been adapted from a recipe from Heston Blumenthal's Times Online 2005

I made this for our valentines day meal, we decided to have it on Sunday 13th February (not Monday 14th February) because I have a night class on Monday.

Serves 4 (but you will probably want it all for yourself)

• 75g good-quality chocolate
• 50g unrefined caster sugar
• 235ml double cream, chilled
• 265g mascarpone
• 300ml black coffee, cold and fairly strong
• 4 tbsp (or to taste) marsala or amaretto (optional)
• 125g sponge fingers Cocoa powder

Chop the chocolate with a knife, or if you prefer, you can grate it, then leave in a cool place.

Dissolve the sugar in 100ml of the double cream over a gentle heat, then set aside to cool. Lightly whip the remaining cream in a cold bowl and set aside.

Work the mascarpone with a spoon until it has loosened up a little, then carefully incorporate the whipped cream and the cooled sweetened cream. Add 4 tbsp of the coffee to taste — more if you prefer. It is important to add enough to get the flavour you want, but not so much that it loosens the mix. Pour the rest of the coffee and the alcohol, if using, into a flat- bottomed bowl large enough to lay the fingers in. Place a few fingers in the coffee mix and turn over a few times — they need to be soaked. Place on a plate, and repeat until all the fingers are done. If necessary, make more coffee.

Once soaked, place enough fingers in the bottom of a serving bowl to form a single layer. Spread a quarter of the cream mixture over them and smooth out, then sprinkle with some cocoa powder and a third of the chocolate. Repeat until all the cream is used up. You should have four layers of cream and three of the cocoa-chocolate mix. Smooth over the top layer of cream and place in the fridge for a couple of hours. Just before serving, generously dust with cocoa powder.