• 500ml Mascarpone
• 500ml Double cream (or 4 egg whites and 50g of castor sugar beaten until stiff)
• zest of 1 Orange
• 4 Espresso (or a large cup of strong coffee)
• 2 shots of alcohol (Marsala/ Gran Marnier/ Triple Sec/ Rum/ Vodka/ Tia Maria/Kalua)
• Enough dry sponge/biscuits* to cover the base of your dish twice
• Cocoa powder or grated dark chocolate

1. Mix together the mascarpone, double cream (or egg white and sugar mix) and orange zest
2. Arrange your biscuits/sponge in a layer on the bottom of a medium dish
3. Mix the coffee and alcohol together and pour half of it evenly over the biscuits/sponge. Leave for a minute to ask in
4. Spoon half of the cream mix over the top of this and sprinkle a thin layer of the cocoa powder over the top. You can pipe the cream layers if you like
5. Repeat another layer of biscuit, coffee, cream, cocoa and leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Tastes even better the next day

Tiramisu is one of those things which always sound amazing until you are halfway through it – like painting the bathroom or going on holiday with your parents. As far as I can make out it is served at the end of the meal so you go to bed feeling like you’ve swallowed a brick, never wanting to eat anything again.

*To be completely authentic you should use something like savoiardi or boudoir biscuits, but trifle sponge finger work in a pinch – or use standard sponge cake, sliced and left to air dry for an hour or two.

There are a few ways you can do this, and as the recipe was something cobbled together in 50’s/60’s you shouldn’t be too precious about it. Some insist on using savoiardi biscuits, egg white and Brandy. But because the shops near me don’t do savoirardi, I’m not keen on the idea of raw eggs and I always have vodka at home I don’t give myself a hard time swapping things about.