Yoghurty Tiramisu

Marie-Anne has asked me for the recipe for my tiramisu from here , so here it is. It is based around a recipe by Alastair Little, from his book Italian Kitchen, not always obtainable, but a brilliant book if you ever find it at a good price.

Here is a copy of the page, so you can see the original recipe. You can see it is well used!  But I have changed the method of making it. I found that trying to incorporate the mascarpone into the eggs was nigh on impossible, so I soften the mascarpone before I add it.

Alastair suggests making this in a spring form tin, but I found that the cream was a little too wet for this to turn out nicely, so I prefer to make it in a glass dish. No disasters that way. Also, remember you need to start this the day before you serve it. At a pinch you could make it in the morning for the evening, but a good long stint in the fridge is much better.

So the ingredients to feed 6-8 people for a party are:

for the sponge layers:

• One or possibly two packs of sponge fingers (Italian ones if you can find them,I get them from Waitrose) - depends on the size of your bowl, you might need one and a bit.
• two-three double espressos, sweetened, or you can use very strong cafetiere or filter coffee, I have never used instant but I am sure it would be fine. 
• dark rum to add to the coffee if you are feeding adults, or simply omit if you are feeding children. 

For the cream layers:

• 4 eggs
• 8 tablespoons of caster sugar (roughly 100-120g)
• 1 large pot of mascarpone (400g I think)
• 200g Total Greek Yoghurt (full fat, 2% or 0% depending on your diet status that day, all are fine) 
• 1 wine glass of Marsala (or you can use Sherry if you don't have any Marsala - or replace with a teaspoon of vanilla essence  or a little more coffee if you are feeding children or don't wish to use alcohol) 
• chocolate powder or cocoa in a teastrainer for sprinkling

Firstly make the cream, using an electric mixer (hand held or stand as you please) whisk the whole eggs and sugar to a thick stable foam, it should form a ribbon when you lift the whisk out of the bowl. In an separate bowl, whisk the marsala into the mascarpone to loosen and soften it, then whisk in the yoghurt.
Add about a third of the egg mousse into the mascarpone and mix to lighten, and then lightly fold in the rest of the egg mousse.

In a shallow dish, put one of your double espressos, sweetened to taste and a slug of rum. Quickly dip one sponge finger at a time into the coffee, don't let it get too soggy, and lay it in your bowl. Repeat until you have a single layer of sponge fingers in the bottom. Break them into pieces to fill any gaps.

Spoon about a third of the cream over the sponge fingers and smooth out. Shake a layer of chocolate powder over.

Repeat the two layers twice - you will need more coffee/rum but it is easier to use a shallow amount in the dish and add to it than put all the coffee in at once.

Finish with the cream but don't put chocolate on this top layer.

Cover the bowl in clingfilm and refrigerate overnight.

Sprinkle with chocolate or cocoa when you serve - if you add it earlier it will go dark and wet in the fridge, much nicer to add it just before serving. 

 Do let me know if you try this, and if you make any of your own changes, I'd like to hear your own tweaks.