We’re here. It’s June. Peak season for al fresco dining… come rain or shine, and I’m here to exploit every moment of it. Barbecues, big salads and slurpy pastas are recipe repeats for me at this time of year, and to round things off, a vibrant, fresh dessert is non-negotiable. With this in mind, I like to have one or two failsafe, crowd-pleasing sweet recipes in my back pocket, things I can whip out when the mood strikes and with minimal notice. This heavenly citrusmissu fulfils this objective perfectly.
Now, I suspect this recipe might ruffle some feathers, and honestly, I get it; I hate it when people faff with an already perfect thing too. But stick with me on this one, it works, I promise.
Tiramisu should indeed be coffee, cocoa, and in my view, marsala or amaretto, but a citrus-infused equivalent is, as it happens, similarly sublime. Think zesty drizzle cake paired with creamy, velvety cheesecake in spoonable dessert form – divine.
Sponge fingers are soaked in a puckeringly zesty citrus syrup, then nestled into a dish and layered with a mixed citrus curd (I suggest a blend of blood orange, lemon and lime, but you could just use lemon) and swathes of moussily light whipped mascarpone. It’s all left to meld together overnight, yielding the perfect harmony of delicate brightness and comforting luxuriousness. Apart from its deliciousness, it’s also a stunning centrepiece; the vibrant curd nestles amid waves of pale, satin cream and is pure elegance.
Make this your dinner party dessert of choice this summer. You won’t regret it..
Steph Blackwell's Citrusmissu dessert recipe
Ingredients
175g sponge fingers
For the citrus curd
Zest of 1 blood orange
Zest of 2 lemons
Zest of 1 lime
30ml blood orange juice (from approx. ½–1 blood orange – reserve any extra for the syrup)
90ml lemon juice
40ml lime juice
160g caster sugar
100g egg (weight once out of shell),
approx. 2 eggs
70g egg yolk (from approximately 4 eggs)
80g unsalted butter, room temp, cubed
For the citrus syrup
150ml of mixed citrus juice (use any leftover juice from the orange above, plus the juice from approx. 2 lemons and 1 lime – reserve the zest of 1 lemon and 1 lime for the whipped mascarpone)
100ml water
125g caster sugar
For the whipped mascarpone
250g mascarpone
45g icing sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
(from syrup)
Zest of 1 lime (from syrup)
300g double cream
To decorate
(optional and to suit your preference)
Handful of flaked almonds
Sprinkle of white chocolate curls
Basil leaves
A pinch of leftover citrus zest
Method
For the citrus curd
Combine everything bar the butter in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. Cook, whisking continually until thickened – this will take around 10-15 minutes. Once thickened, transfer to a clean bowl, allow to cool to about 50°C then add the butter about 1/3 at a time, whisking between each addition until homogenous. Pass the mixture through a sieve into sterilised jars. Refrigerate to firm up completely. This yields almost double the amount required for the dessert, but I prefer to make more than I need and have some leftover. Excess should keep for up to two weeks in a sterilised jar in the fridge. NB: You could skip this step and use a 250g jar of shop-bought lemon curd instead.
For the citrus syrup
First zest one of the lemons and the lime and reserve for the whipped mascarpone. Then juice the lemons and lime and add to any blood orange juice left from the curd above. Measure out 150ml of this mixed citrus juice into a small saucepan, add the water and sugar and place over a low/medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Once dissolved, bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Just before assembly, prepare the whipped mascarpone. Combine the mascarpone and icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add the reserved zest from above and double cream and whisk to a medium soft peak – it should look like soft- serve ice cream. Don’t be tempted to overbeat this mixture or it becomes a bit too thick and clumpy.
To assemble
Working with a few at a time, soak your sponge fingers in the citrus syrup until soft but not to the point of falling apart. Neatly arrange in the base of a serving dish with an approximate capacity of 1.5l (mine has dimensions of approx. 18x23cm and 5cm deep).
Once half of the sponge fingers have been used up and the base of your dish is filled, spread approximately 125g of citrus curd evenly over the sponge fingers, followed by half of the whipped mascarpone mixture – level with a palette knife. Repeat with the second layer of soaked sponge fingers, followed by another 125g of curd (reserve any excess for toast), then the last of the whipped mascarpone cream mixture. Level neatly with a palette knife before transferring to the fridge overnight. Once chilled, sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds and/or shavings of white chocolate – a handful of basil leaves and a little extra zest can add a splash of colour too.
Scoop and serve. Enjoy.
