mondomulia

Hello from Melbourne, Australia! I'm travelling with my husband for our belated honeymoon, so expect things to be a bit quiet over here.

Just before we left London two weeks ago we had the chance to celebrate Diwali with a few friends. Diwali is the Hindu "festival of lights" which in Hinduism marks the start of the new year. We were invited to our friends' house for dinner, so as usual I offered to bring the dessert.

I looked at Indian Simmer blog for recipe inspiration and thought about making Kaju Katli , cashew sweets I always eat when I am in Mumbai. Then I stumbled across her recipe for Clemetine Tiramisu and (thinking about the two bags of clementines I had bought a few days before) I decided to try this recipe. Luckily it was a good choice as one of the dinner guests was allergic to nuts!

While I used Prerna's idea of using clementine juice in the tiramisù, I didn't follow her recipe: I didn't use cranberries at all and I added Grand Marnier to the clementine juice. For the other ingredients and to make the cream, I followed my Tiramisù recipe, which I posted last year.

The result was great! My friends loved it as well as my husband and my brother. I am thinking of adding chocolate chips to the layers next time, to add texture, but the tiramisù tastes great as it is! Definitely give this recipe a try if you are not into coffee (and traditional tiramisù).

Ingredients

• 12 clementines

• 100g caster sugar

• 3 tbsp Grand Marnier

• 6 eggs

• 6 tbsp caster sugar

• 500g Mascarpone cheese

• 400g Savoiardi (sponge biscuits)

• 2 tsp cocoa powder

Preparation

Squeeze the clementines and mix the fresh juice with 100g of sugar and Grand Marnier. Heat the juice in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it starts to boil. Remove from the heat and let it cool down completely.

Break the eggs and separate the yellows from the whites. Mix the yolks with the sugar using an electric whisk until you have a creamy mixture. Add the mascarpone and blend together.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg whites with a pinch of salt, until they become foamy and airy. Don't overwork it or else the mixture will become too liquid. Fold the whites in the mascarpone cream using a spatula.

Use a glass 9x12 inch dish with tall sides to allow for multiple layers.

One at the time, dip the sponge biscuits in the clementine juice for a few seconds (just once on each side), gently squeeze the liquid out, being careful not to crumble them.

Carefully place them in the dish, creating a bottom layer. Cover it with a layer of cream, then lay more biscuits on top. Cover with a second layer of cream. If you have enough biscuits/juice/cream left, add a third layer.

Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight. Before serving, sift cocoa powder over the cake to decorate.

Optional: sprinkle dark chocolate chips over each layer of sponge, this will add crunchiness and flavour to the tiramisù.