ingredients

500g strawberries, chopped

250g strawberries, sliced

2 tbsp caster sugar

100ml port

100ml cassis

250g mascarpone

500g ricotta

3 tbsp honey / maple syrup

200g savoiardi fingers

50-100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped (or you can use chips)

cocoa powder, to dust

optional: vanilla seeds, scraped from about a thumb’s length of a vanilla pod

method

1. Gently cook the chopped strawberries with 150ml water and 2 tbsp caster sugar on a low heat for a few minutes, until the sugar has melted. Don’t allow it to boil vigorously. Remove from the heat, mash lightly to a semi-pulp, and pour in the alcohols. Set aside to cool.
2. While you wait, cream together the cheeses with the honey / maple syrup, and stir in the vanilla seeds so that they are evenly distributed.
3. Once the strawberry and alcohol mixture is cool, roll the sponge fingers in the liquid and leave for a few minutes to soak. You want them to be completely penetrated with liquid but not soggy and falling apart.
4. In a shallow glass dish, layer the soaked fingers and pour over half of the remaining liquid. Carefully spread over half of the cheese and honey mixture, taking care to seal the layer without messing up the fingers too much.
5. Scatter over half of the strawberry halves so that they generously cover the layer, then scatter over the chopped dark chocolate / chips.
6. Repeat step 4 with the remaining fingers, strawberry and alcohol mix and cheese and honey mix.
7. This time, you can either arrange the remaining strawberry halves neatly or scatter them with abandon once more.
8. Sift cocoa powder over the top to finish. Put in the fridge to chill overnight before serving for the best results.

notes

I found this strange and delightful twist on the tiramisu on a Waitrose recipe card, and combined it with my own take on Tiramisu. I also decided to use cassis, the inclusion of which takes this from an interesting adventure into stratospheric bliss. Each bite is complex, layered, refreshing. It takes a little bit more patience than my regular tiramisu, but the result is as soothing as a lie-down on the patio beneath the late summer sun, a crisp glass of rosé in hand, wild strawberries popping up in patches on the lawn.