For savoiardi biscuits
4 egg whites
75g sugar
zest of 1 lemon
pinch of salt
3 egg yolks
42g 00 flour
42g potato starch
icing sugar
caster sugar
For tiramisù cream:
50g icing sugar (25g for yolk, 25g for whites)
2 eggs
250g mascarpone
bitter cocoa powder (for dusting)
250 coffee
1To prepare the biscuits, whisk the egg whites with the sugar until firm. Add the lemon zest, the salt and slowly add the yolks. Mix the two flours together. Add to the egg and sugar using a whisk.
2Pour the mixture into a piping bag and shape to 10cm long savoiardi shapes on a tray covered with baking paper.
3Cover the surface of the biscuits with icing sugar and then sprinkle a little bit
of caster sugar on top. Cook the biscuits on a tray in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 12 minutes.
4For the cream, divide the egg whites from the yolks into two bowls. Beat 25g of the icing sugar with the yolks until fluffy. Add the mascarpone a little bit at a time, continuously whipping to avoid lumps.
5In a separate bowl whip the egg whites and 25g of icing sugar until they stiffen.Add the whipped egg whites to the yolk mixture using a whisk in a gentle upward movement so it dosesn’t collapse.
6Prepare a mocha (percolator) full of coffee and pour into a shallow bowl, quickly dip the savoiardi one at a time into the coffee and dry on kitchen paper to remove the excess coffee.
7Build up your tiramisu layers starting with the savoiardi, then the creamy mixture, then savoiardi, and repeat until you have two layers (make sure to finish with the cream layer).
8Refrigerate for at least one hour and before serving, sprinkle the top with the bitter cocoa powder.
Vin Santo is Italy’s answer to the great sweet wines of France or Germany albeit with its own unique character. Time in oak is the key, not so much for the oaky flavour but to allow a controlled oxidisation of the sweet wine such that it takes on the nutty character of a fortified wine. Tiramisú is an extravagant dessert that needs taming and Joel Pizzini’s take on Vin Santo is more than capable of the challenge. After a decade its deep, rich and complex – small sips are the order of the day.