The Great Blogger Bake Off: Week 4 - Tiramisu Trifle

DESSERT TIME. Before this week, I'd been eating pretty healthy but when I realised I had to make a dessert I looked through all my recipe books for inspiration and thought stuff it, this week I'm going all out. So I have decided to combine two of my favourite desserts: Tiramisu and the classic trifle. 

I'm a dairy addict, particularly when it comes to cream. The creamier the better (getting on the Bake Off innuendo band wagon). I don't think you can get more decadent than this dessert. It contains everything from coffee and chocolate to liqueur and lashings of mascarpone and custard. The brilliance of this recipe is that instead of sticking to traditional trifle layering, the custard is combined with mascarpone to make more of a Zabaione. 

Ingredients
175g sponge fingers
4 1/2 tbsp coffee 
12 tbsp boiling water
6 tbsp Amaretto liqueur
3 medium eggs seperated
50g golden caster sugar
500g mascarpone
1 tsp almond extract
50g dark chocolate
4 tbsp toasted slivered almonds
A handful of cob nuts (if you can get them) 

Method
1) Select a suitable trifle bowl or serving dish. 
3)Take a handful of sponge fingers and chop them in half. This allows for an easier fit in the bowl. Line the bottom half of the bowl. This is just to figure out how many fingers you need for the first layer. 
2) In a tupperware container, pour 4 tbsp of boiling water and add 1 1/2 tbsp of coffee and 2 tbsp Amaretto liqueur. 
3) Add the halved sponge fingers to the coffee and liqueur mixture. Make sure both sides are coated, then re-line the bottom of your bowl. 
4) In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until combined, then beat in the mascarpone and almond extract until completely smooth. 
5) Whip the egg whites until stiff using an electric whisk, and fold into the mascarpone mixture in two goes. The texture of the mix should be a thick mousse texture. 
6) Smooth half of this mixture over the coffee soaked sponges. 
7) Repeat step 2, using the same measurements, but this time place the sponges on top of the mascarpone mixture. 
8) Grate 33g of the dark chocolate on top of the 2nd layer of sponges. 
9) Pour the second half of the mascarpone mixture on top of the chocolate, and smooth with a spatula. 10)Leave in the fridge for two hours or overnight to set.