Lavazza are sponsoring Wimbledon this year and have released a rather snazzy themed espresso machine. They sent one along for me to try out, and it’s one of the neatest pod-style machines I’ve used. I’ve been necking espresso at a GP-bothering rate but not before I came up with some coffee recipes to celebrate. Here’s a fudgy-textured and sweet dessert recipe to get us started: the diplomatico, the distant relative of the tiramisu lacking any kind of PR. I’ve blended elements of both desserts to create a sort of diplomisu, if you will. This can be made a day or so in advance and for best results leave it out of the fridge for 20 minutes or so before eating; the textures soften and taking the chill off enhances the silky, creamy texture. If you like boozy coffee-alcohol puds, this is definitely one to try.
Sponge finger tip: I think this works best with really sodden sponge biscuits. You can obviously only submerge them for a few seconds before they turn to mush in your hands. To avoid this, give them a short dip until starting to soften and place them in the dish. Then gently drizzle with more marinating liquor to increase their drunkenness. Do this slowly to ensure the fingers have time to absorb the liquid.
Diplomatico:
500ml double cream, whipped to soft peaks
250g mascarpone cheese
120g dark chocolate, melted
50g icing sugar
150ml espresso, cooled
5 tablespoons marsala
About 30 sponge fingers
Grated chocolate, to serve
- Whip the cream to soft peaks, and reserve about a third of it.
- Stir the icing sugar and mascarpone together, then fold into 2/3 of the softly whipped cream. Gradually fold in the melted chocolate. Check for sweetness at this point as this will be where most of the sweet taste from the pudding will come from, and add more icing sugar as necessary.
- Stir the coffee, marsala and a tablespoon of icing sugar together. Dip the sponge fingers in the mix until soggy, and then make a layer of them in a rectangular cake tin (I use a silicone one to get the dessert out easier later).
- Add a layer of chocolate cream, then follow with more boozy biscuits. Keep layering, ending with sponge fingers. Add the remaining cream on top of this and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.
- Before serving garnish with grated chocolate, then cut into thick slices.
To be in with a chance to win one the fantastic Lavazza Wimbledon prizes look out for promotional cups on take away Lavazza coffees, or enter online at http://promotion.wimbledon.lavazza.com/
Prizes include six pairs of tickets to Wimbledon, 90 Lavazza A Modo Mio Favola Plus Wimbledon Limited Edition coffee machines and 500 sets of four exclusive espresso cups created especially for the tournament.
, had to scale down quantities, didn’t quite have everything… the omens were not good.
. I am firmly with her on this one: I don’t know how anybody manages much more than toast on Christmas morning. And while I didn’t make these on 25th December they were perfect for a couple of days later.
. Someone in the office said I had to try it, so I did. It’s a fabulous teatime treat, all dark and fudgy, combined with this decadent chocolate orange butter.
, with as camp a parade of gluttony and swank as you would expect. As usual her recipes swell with “of course you should put x and y together, it’s so obvious” and impressive shortcuts.
