Tiramisù

The origins of Tiramisú are very uncertain because each region claim to have "invented" this delicacy: for this reason it's birth has become a sort of contest between Tuscany, Piedmont and Veneto.

Many legends are associated with this dessert to which even aphrodisiac qualities have been attributed.

The official version places the birth of Tiramisú in the seventeenth century in Siena when some confectioners, in anticipation of the arrival of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo de Medici, decided to make a cake to celebrate his greatness.

They decided that the cake should reflect the personality of the Grand Duke so it was important to be sweet and tasty but at the same time prepared with simple ingredients and, importantly, had to be extremely greedy because Cosimo literally loved sweets.

So it was realized our Tiramisú which was then called the "soup of the Duke" in honor of Cosimo de Medici, who brought with him the recipe to Florence making it well known throughout Italy.

The legend also says that the soup of the Duke became the favorite dessert from the nobles who attributed aphrodisiac properties to it, hence the name Tiramisú.

However, the non official version says that the inventor of Tiramisú was a pastry chef in Turin in honor of Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour to support him in his difficult task of unifying Italy.

Veneto also has its own version: it seems that the Tiramisú was invented in the restaurant "El Toula" at the time of Treviso located near a brothel and served precisely to "tirare sù" (pull up).

Ingredients

Eggs (6)
Coffee
Savoiardi biscuits (400g)
Sugar (120g)
Cocoa powder
Mascarpone cheese (500g)
Chocolate

Elaboration

To prepare the tiramisu, separate the egg whites from the yolks, add half of the sugar to the yolks  and beat with an electric mixer with whisk until you get a nice mixture is light, fluffy and creamy.

Add the mascarpone to the mixture of egg yolks and then take care of the egg whites: beat them with the aid of an electric mixer and when they will be semi-mount them add the other half of the sugar and continue beating. Once the egg whites will be mounted perfectly add to the mixture of egg yolks, sugar and mascarpone. Do this gently, stirring from the bottom up, with a spoon so as not to remove the egg whites.

Now that the cream is ready, put a spoon on the bottom of each cup, or in a single baking sheet, pass the biscuits in the coffee being careful not to soak too, and then arrange them in the cup by cutting them according to the form of the container.

Arrange a tablespoon of cream over the biscuits, level the cream and cover with another layer of biscuits soaked in coffee, if the first you have arranged them vertically, then place them horizontally (and vice versa), well leveled and sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa powder. If you want you can sprinkle the top of the cup with a few curls of chocolate. Store in the fridge for a few hours to shrink the cake