You should really try out this recipe! It is very light and refreshing and a great alternative to the well-known tiramisu made of coffee-soaked biscuits and flavoured with cocoa. It can be served by itself with no other toppings but this time I’ve decided to make mini-cakes and cover them with homemade marzipan. It was my first time making and working with marzipan (read playing with), so be nice :). The recipe might look a little long and complicated but I promise you it’s not hard to make.

Time: 80 min, Prep: 60 min.  Cook: 20 min
Servings: 12-14            

Ingredients:

For cake:

• 140 g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 80 g white flour
• 60 g corn starch
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest

You also need two 25 x 35 cm (10’’ x 14’’) baking pans (or just one but you’ll need to bake each pan one at a time) greased with butter and lined it with parchment paper.  You need to divide the cake batter evenly between both pans.

For lemon jelly:

• 200 ml water
• 140 g sugar
• 9Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp lemon zest
• 3 pouches of gelatin (~21 g)

For filling:

• 9 Tbsp lemon juice
• 50 g unsalted butter
• 130 g sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 2 pouches of gelatin (~14 g)
• 2 lemons
• 220 g mascarpone
• 120 g crème fraiche
• 80 g icing sugar
• 200 g whipped cream

For syrup to moisten cake:

• 60 g sugar
• 60 g water
• 60 ml lemon liqueur (Limoncello)

Directions:

Cake:

Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Add sugar and beat until dissolved. Fold in the egg yolks. Slow down the mixer, add lemon zest and carefully blend in the flour and corn starch until just combined.

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Remember you need to divide the batter evenly between both pans. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until light brown.

Lemon jelly:

Mix water, sugar and lemon zest, bring to a boil and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Soak gelatine into 3-4 tablespoons of cold water. Remove pot from the heat and add lemon juice and soaked gelatine. Stir until gelatine is fully melted.  Using a fine sieve strain the lemon zest. Let it cool off.

Filling:

Mix zest from the two lemons with butter, sugar and lemon juice. Put everything in a pot over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, until butter and sugar are melted.  Beat eggs and add them to the lemon-butter mixture. Keep stirring for another 2-3 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken.

Remove from heat and add soaked gelatine. Let it cool off.

In a separate bowl cream mascarpone, crème fraiche and icing sugar using an electric mixer. Combine with the chilled lemon-butter mixture. Lastly, blend in the whipped cream.

Syrup:

Combine water and sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour in lemon liqueur.

Assembling the lemon tiramisu cake:

To assemble the cake you will need a 8’’ square glass pan. Line up the pan with plastic wrap.  You need to make three layers of cake.

Place the first layer of cake in the pan and moist it with the lemon syrup.  Using a small spatula, evenly cover the top of the first layer with 1/3 of the mascarpone mixture. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Add the second layer of cake, moist with syrup and evenly cover it with half of the remaining mascarpone mixture. Freeze for another 10 minutes.

Add the lemon jelly and freeze for another 10 minutes.

Then add the remaining mascarpone mixture and freeze for another 10 minutes. Finally place the third layer of cake, moist with syrup and refrigerate the lemon tiramisu cake over night.

The next day, remove it from the pan and if you want you can top it with whipped cream or butter cream. As mentioned earlier, I chose to play a little bit with marzipan :).