Every kid has their favorites, favorite movie, favorite book, a favorite TV show. I don't recall a lot of my favorite things when I was young but I do remember my favorite dessert: tiramisu. I loved how the layers of coffee, cream, and ladyfingers were a perfect marriage. Although it is an indulgent dessert, the light texture makes it easy to eat an entire slice (which I admit can be dangerous!). Today, I wanted to indulge in this dessert but decided to incorporate some bright flavors. Here is my version of the classic Italian sweet, strawberry rosewater tiramisu.

Recipe

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Strawberry Rosewater Tiramisu

Total Time6 hours hrs

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: cake

Servings: 6

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Mascarpone cream

• 3 large egg yolks
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup milk
• 8 oz mascarpone

Strawberry rosewater compote

• 3 cups strawberries chopped
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon rosewater syrup

Whipped cream

• ¾ cup heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Remaining ingredients

• 3 oz ladyfingers
• 8 ounces fresh strawberries sliced

Instructions

• Prepare the mascarpone cream. Whisk together egg yolks with sugar in a medium saucepan. Add milk and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Continue to cook for 1 minute or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and cool. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Mix mascarpone with custard.
• Prepare the strawberry rosewater compote. Combine strawberries, water, and syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes or until strawberries have softened and sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat. Add rosewater syrup. Let cool slightly.
• Meanwhile, make the whipped cream. Beat heavy cream with vanilla until stiff peaks form.
• Assemble tiramisu. Lay bottom of a 9x8 pan or individual trifle cups with lady's fingers. Drizzle strawberry rosewater compote on top. Spread half of the mascarpone cream followed by whipped cream. Repeat the layers once more. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours or until set. Place sliced strawberries on top and serve.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

The basic idea of tiramisu is still found in this dessert with layers of ladyfingers and mascarpone cream. However, instead of coffee, we're using a strawberry rosewater compote and adding fresh strawberries to lighten up the tiramisu.

Start by preparing the mascarpone cream layer. Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese; it is thick and creamy by itself. To lighten it up, make a custard base. Whisk together the egg yolks with sugar and milk over medium heat. If the flames are too high, the eggs can scramble resulting in a chunky custard.   Make sure to keep an eye on the mixture since it can boil over. Whisking constantly, cook the eggs until the custard has thickened. Once cool, mix in the mascarpone cream. I can take a spoon and eat this mascarpone custard by itself.

Next, make the strawberry rosewater compote. Cook the strawberries with water and sugar to make the "sauce." but don't cook the mixture too long or the liquid will dissolve. We want the mixture to be fairly liquidy so that you can enough sauce for the ladyfingers.

Make some whipped cream and you're finally ready to assemble the strawberry rosewater tiramisu. You can prepare one large strawberry rosewater tiramisu or individual ones like I did. This recipe only makes enough for 6 servings so if you're using a dish larger than 9x8 inches, you may want to double the amount of filling.

To make the tiramisu, arrange the ladyfingers in one even layer. Drizzle the strawberry rosewater compote on top, making sure to spread enough sauce for all of the ladyfingers to soak in. Spread half of mascarpone cream and half of the whipped cream then repeat once more. Chill the dessert for at least 4 hours to allow the dessert to set.

Are you ready for this? Grab a spoon and dig all the way to the bottom to get all of the layers. This strawberry rosewater tiramisu reminded me of an elegant English trifle. The creamy mascarpone with fresh berries and ladyfingers with strawberry rosewater was a party in my mouth. Now if someone can bring me this tray of deliciousness every morning...

For more tiramisu inspiration check out this Mexican tiramisu!