Tiramisu in Chocolate Cups

The last fancy dish of the pre-Christmas dinner is Tiramisu.

We've made Tiramisu several times to pretty great success. Our friend Aure has a particularly good recipe which we liked.

This time, we tried a new recipe, partially from a newly acquired cookbook "The Chocolate and Coffee Bible". It's from the same publisher (Hermes House) as my ultimate fish book and contains a wealth of information about chocolate and coffee, from history, types, quality, brands to recipes and decoration tips.

Tiramisu always present a challenge when it comes to serving, as it's difficult to cut without collapsing. Such that it may be easier to make individual servings in glass.

Well, chocolate cups make even fancier serving dish than glass.

Tiramisu in Chocolate Cups
about 4 servings, depending on how generous you are with each portion

1 egg yolk
2 tablespoon brown sugar
a little vanilla essence
1 generous cup of mascarpone
1/2 cup strong black coffee
2 tablespoon coffee liqueur (or almond essence) - we forgot to add. still good.
sponge biscuits
cocoa powder for dusting

For the chocolate cups
150g dark chocolate
2 tablespoon unsalted butter

For the cups, cut out 4 rounds of baking paper. Melt chocolate with butter in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until the mixture is smooth, then spread a spoonful over each circle to within 2 cm of the edge. Try to not spread too thin (about 1mm thick), otherwise it would be difficult to remove the paper without breaking the cups.

Lift each paper round and drape over an upturned teacup so that the edges curve into frills. Put into the fridge to set (it's faster this way). Then lift off and peel off the paper to reveal the chocolate cups.

It's the same for making chocolate leaves. Spread the melted chocolate onto, say a mint leaf and leave to set before peeling off the leaf.

Make the Tiramisu filling. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolk and sugar in a bowl until smooth, then stir in the vanilla essence.

Soften the mascarpone if necessary, then stir it into the egg yolk mixture. Beat until smooth. Set aside.

Mix coffee, liqueur. Break up the sponge biscuits roughly (1 inch length).

Place the chocolate cup on individual plates. Dip each piece of sponge biscuit very briefly into the coffee and place in the cup. Soaking the biscuits too long in the coffee will result in the Tiramisu becoming wet and soggy and losing its shape.

Put a layer of biscuits, then spoon over the mascarpone mixture, top with another layer of biscuits, followed by more mascarpone. Repeat for the other cups until you run out of either mascarpone mixture or sponge biscuits.

Chill for at least 30 minutes. Dust with cocoa powder before serving.