Strawberry Tiramisu

Greetings!

Here’s another lovely recipe from the Swiss kitchen of the Weber family. They are currently in New Zealand for the next 2 ½ months touring our beautiful country in their mobile home. I wish them safe travelling and hope they have a ton of fun adventures!

This is a super simple and easy to make, Tiramisu. It’s not at all traditional but is delicious and great for kids as it contains no raw egg whites or alcohol (unlike my Authentic Italian Tiramisu recipe).

It has a sponge finger layer that’s covered in strawberry puree, then a layer of vanilla mascarpone cream which is covered in freshly sliced strawberries…so all in all, pretty much ‘no frills’ to create but ‘lots of thrills’ in the yummy department!

Thank you, Webers!!

INGREDIENTS

750 g strawberries (2 ½ small punnets here in NZ)
1 x 200 g packet of Biscotti Sponge Fingers (I used 13 ½ singles and there were some leftover)
½ cup / 80 g icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
2 tablespoons lemon juice (from ½ medium-sized lemon)
1 ½ cups / 400 g mascarpone (at room temperature)
¼ cup / 60 ml milk
1 x 12 ½ cm vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or paste
1 ½ cup / 375 ml full cream

To decorate – icing sugar to dust or 25 g milk chocolate

Serves 8

Notes

• You can make this the night before you need it.
• Because vanilla is the only flavour in the mascarpone, I find it best to use the vanilla bean or vanilla paste (because it has seeds in it). However, if you only have extract it’ll still be nice. 🙂
• Also, to make life easier when decorating the top of this tiramisu, it’s best to pick strawberries that are around the same size and medium-sized, not large.
• Here in NZ, I use either ‘D Angelo, Cake Savoiadi Lady Fingers’ or ‘Vittoria Biscotti Sponge Fingers’ both being available from Countdown or speciality stores. Although one brand is called ‘sponge fingers’, both brands are rather crispy biscuits. I have never seen any in New Zealand, but be careful not to get a soft, ‘spongy’ style ‘sponge finger’ as they will become too soggy.

STEP BY STEP

First, if you are grating chocolate over the top of your tiramisu, it’ll need to be cold so if it isn’t already, pop it in the fridge.

Take the mascarpone from the fridge and leave it out to bring it up to room temperature.

• The cream tends to fold through better if the two are at the same temperature.

Let’s get started, shall we…

Hull (remove the green bits) and roughly chop 300 g / 1 punnet of the strawberries. Place them aside for now.

• They’re going to be blended so no need to be fussy.
• I own a strawberry huller, but it really is easier and less time consuming to thinly slice that end off, isn’t it? The only time I hull them is if I want the strawberry (as a whole) to look perfect. Say if I was adding whole strawberries to a fruit salad.

Lay out as many sponge fingers as you can fit into the bottom of a 12-cup capacity dish. Place aside.

• Simply break some in half if need be.

Next, juice the lemon for 2 tablespoons of juice.

Place the chopped strawberries, ¼ cup / 40 g of the icing sugar and the lemon juice into a blender, a food processor with the blade attachment or a bullet and…

…blend it all together until smooth. Also, placing it aside.

If you are using a vanilla bean, use a small sharp knife to slice it down the centre (not all the way through). Open it out and use the knife to scrape out the seeds.

Place in a medium-sized bowl, the mascarpone, milk, vanilla and remaining ¼ cup / 40 g icing sugar.

Using electric beaters on low speed beat it together, stopping as soon as it’s smooth. (Wash the beater attachments as you need them again.)

Place the cream into another medium-sized bowl and…

…on medium/high speed, whip it until stiff peaks form (around 2 ½ minutes).

• Stiff peak stage: When you lift the beaters out of the cream and the peaks left standing up in the cream hold their shape and don’t flop over.

Add the cream to the mascarpone mixture and…

…use a large spoon or spatula to gently fold it through, stopping as soon as it’s done.

Pour the blended strawberries over the sponge fingers.

Spoon the mascarpone cream over the strawberry sponge fingers and…

…then carefully spread it out.

Use a metal spatula to smooth it over (it doesn’t need to be perfect) and then place it in the fridge. 

Next, hull and thinly slice up the remaining strawberries.

Now it is the school holidays, so here’s a great job for the kids. Give them the sliced berries and let them go for it, decorating the dessert!

Of course, you can place the slices on top any way you please, but if you like mine, here’s how it’s done. 🙂

First, do an outer layer with the flatter ends facing inwards.

• I don’t use the rounded cut ends of the strawberries when layering, I add them last because it’s easier to layer the flat slices.

Just kept moving around, spiralling into the centre, slightly overlapping them as you go.

Depending on the size of your dish and strawberries, if you have a space in the centre you can place the ends in there.

If you are adding chocolate, use the cheese grater to grate it over the top of the strawberries.

• Much easier when it’s cold or it’ll melt away in your hand!
• I shaved mine using the potato peeler for slightly bigger bits…depends on how you like it.

Cover with cling wrap and return the Tiramisu to the fridge to chill for at least one hour or longer (even overnight).

It’s best kept in the fridge right up until serving.

If you’d like to dust it with icing sugar, you’ll need to do so just before serving.

Also, just before serving, you can garnish it with a large sprig of mint. (In case you were wondering, here I’ve used pineapple sage).

Keepin’ it fresh – Well covered, it will keep refrigerated up to 2 days and best kept in the fridge right up until serving. 

Related Posts…

Print Recipe

Strawberry Tiramisu

It has a layer of sponge fingers covered in strawberry puree, under vanilla flavoured mascarpone cream, which is covered in freshly sliced strawberries 

Prep Time45 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Setting Time1 hr

Total Time1 hr 45 mins

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 750 g strawberries 2 ½ small punnets here in NZ
• 1 x 200 g packets of Biscotti Sponge Fingers I used 13 ½ singles & there were some leftover
• ½ cup / 80 g icing sugar confectioner's sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice from ½ medium-sized lemon
• 1 ½ cups  / 400 g mascarpone (at room temperature)
• ¼ cup / 60 ml milk
• 1 x 12 ½ cm vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or paste
• 1 cup  / 250 ml full cream

To Decorate

• icing sugar to dust or 25 g milk chocolate

Instructions

• If you want grated chocolate over the top of your tiramisu, place it in the fridge so it’s cold for grating.
• Take the mascarpone from the fridge and leave it out to bring it up to room temperature before using it.
• Hull (or thinly slice off the stalk end) and roughly chop up 300 g / 1 punnet of the strawberries. Leave aside.
• Lay out as many sponge fingers as you can fit into the bottom of a 12-cup capacity dish. Simply break some in half if need be. Place aside.
• Juice the lemon for the 2 tablespoons of juice.
• Place the chopped strawberries, ¼ cup / 40 g of the icing sugar and the lemon juice into a blender, a food processor with the blade attachment or a bullet and blend it all together until smooth. Also, placing it aside.
• If you are using a vanilla bean, use a small sharp knife to slice it down the centre (not all the way through). Open it out and use the knife to scrape out the seeds.
• Place in a medium-sized bowl, the mascarpone, milk, vanilla and the remaining ¼ cup / 40 g icing sugar.
• Using electric beaters on low speed beat it together, stopping as soon as it's smooth.
• Place the cream into another medium-sized bowl and on medium/high speed, whip it until stiff peaks form.
• Add the cream to the mascarpone mixture and use a large spoon or spatula to gently fold it through, stopping as soon as it’s done.
• Pour the blended strawberries over the sponge fingers.
• Spoon the mascarpone cream over the strawberry sponge fingers and carefully spread it out.
• Use a metal spatula to smooth it over (it doesn't need to be perfect), then place it in the fridge.
• Hull and thinly slice up the remaining strawberries.
• Place the strawberries all over the top in a pretty fashion.
• If you like the look in the image, here’s how to do it...
• Do an outer layer with the flatter ends facing inwards, then just kept moving around, spiralling into the centre, slightly overlapping them as you go. (I don't use the rounded cut ends of the strawberries when layering. I add them last because it's easier to layer the flat slices). Depending on the size of your dish and strawberries, if you have a space in the centre you can place the ends in there.
• If you are adding chocolate, use the cheese grater to grate it over the top of the strawberries
• Cover with cling wrap and return it to the fridge to chill for at least one hour or longer (even overnight). It’s best kept refrigerated right up until serving.
• If you'd like to dust it with icing sugar, you'll need to do so just before serving.
• Just before serving, garnish it with a large sprig of mint.
• Well covered, it will keep refrigerated up to 2 days.