[food] tiramisu, more helpfully

[kaberett]

Apparently my previous write-up of this recipe leaves out some Important Assembly Instructions, or something, so here is a version that is less of a personal aide-memoire and (hopefully) more actually communicative. :-p

Serves 6 very generously or 9 comfortably

Ingredients

200g pack savoiardi biscuits
generous ~300ml coffee, as strong as you can make it, cold (house default is Brown Bear Swiss Process decaf)

4 eggs, separated
500g mascarpone
75g sugar
~1 tbsp booze (optional; Marsala is probably trad but Have Fun; were caffeine less of a problem for me we'd probably be adding coffee liqueur to the coffee instead of pudding wine to the zabaglione)

cocoa powder

Method

First make your coffee. I usually get A to do this, usually the day before we want to assemble the tiramisu, so it has plenty of time to stew. (Because usually we make cold brew.) All you actually need, though, is coffee that's cool enough to handle.

When you are ready to assemble things, sort yourself out with a container (I will attempt to remember to measure the one I use), and then:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.
2. In a medium-to-large bowl, whisk -- no need to clean the beaters -- the yolk and sugar together until pale and foamy.
3. Still whisking, add the mascarpone to the yolk mixture a tablespoon at a time.
4. When the mascarpone has all been incorporated, beat through the tablespoon-or-so of alcohol, if using.
5. Fold the egg whites into the mascarpone using a large metal spoon, until the mixture is all the same consistency and colour.
6. Pour some coffee into a shallow bowl next to your container. Take a savoiardi biscuit, set it in the coffee, rotate it a few times to get it to soak up as much coffee as it can without losing structural integrity, and then transfer it to the base of your container. Keep going until the bottom of the container is covered in a single layer of coffee-soaked biscuits; shuffle them gently, if necessary, so as to have them fairly tightly packed.
7. Gently decant slightly under half of the mascarpone mixture onto the biscuits, then spread it, using the back of the big metal spoon, so that the biscuits are more-or-less evenly covered.
8. Repeat 6 & 7 with the remaining biscuits and mascarpone mixture.
9. Sift cocoa powder over the top of the tiramisu.
10. Cover and refrigerate -- ideally overnight, to give the flavours a chance to mingle and to let the layers solidify into something approaching structural integrity.