Just desserts

Lovely, lovely Tiramisu. It was my brother's favourite dessert and I must confess to being somewhat partial to a piece myself. I was eating this rather tasty serving of Tiramisu on holidays last week and it got me thinking about desserts. You may not be surprised to read that I'm the kind of girl who goes straight to the dessert section of the menu as soon as it's handed to me. Whether or not a fabulous dessert awaits me at the end of the meal will inform my choice of main course and will often rule out a starter (there's rarely room for all three in my tummy unfortunately). If the dessert menu is very promising, I might even decide to have a light main course to save room for the sweet stuff.

 

Dessert is something quite special and although cake can be (and often is) served as the sweet ending to a meal, the two are really very different. To me, cake (that being everything from the tiny Madeleine to a luscious chocolate fudge cake) is a brilliant all-rounder - it works for morning coffee, afternoon tea, picnics, celebrations, commiserations, as a morsel swiped from the cake box as you pass through the kitchen, as a general meal replacement (or is that just me?)... So yes, we've established that cake is simply fabulous, but it can seem, at times, a little bit weighty at the end of a meal (fruitcake for dessert anyone?). Although the lighter, moussier variety of cakes can make a lovely dessert, some of the best desserts are the no-bake confections. This is fabulous when you want to impress with something deliciously home-made at the end of a dinner, but you're slightly scared of baking.

 

Take the wonderful Tiramisu - no oven action at all. Normally, I'm a stickler for making every component of a dish myself, where possible, but when it comes to Tiramisu, a packet of sponge fingers straight from the supermarket shelves is just what you need. These are otherwise known as Lady Finger biscuits, Boudoir biscuits (as I always knew them as a child), or Savoiardi biscuits if you want to be all Italian about it. You absolutely could make the sponge fingers yourself, but it's completely unnecessary for this dish. The biscuits are simply soaked in some lovely liquor and coffee and layered with a creamy mascarpone mixture, before being sprinkled with cocoa or grated chocolate and chilled in the fridge. It's both incredibly luscious and deceptively light all at the same time.

 

When it comes to no-bake desserts, however, sometimes the simplest ideas are the most successful, especially when you're stuck for time. On one such occasion, I had No.1 Sister over for a girlie evening and hadn't had time to bake or make anything spectacular. Instead, I toasted some coconut flakes that I had sitting in the press. Just stick them on a baking tray in a hot oven and watch them like a hawk - it only takes a few minutes and it's one of life's certainties that they will burn to a crisp as soon as you take your beady eye off them (flaked or nibbed almonds / hazelnuts would work too by the way). Then I made a very simple chocolate sauce, which takes mere moments to make (recipe below). I spooned some (not home-made) vanilla ice-cream into bowls, poured over the warm chocolate sauce and scattered the toasted coconut over the top. It was so delicious that I had it for dessert again the following evening and the one after that too (I had to use up the left-over chocoate sauce and coconut of course). If memory serves, the original serving was at the weekend, but the subsequent indulgences strayed into the working week. Dessert on a school night - ah the extravagance of youth!

Warm Chocolate Sauce: (I halved this recipe and had enough for at least 4 portions)

 

Heat 115ml water with 3 tsp sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has come to the boil, remove from the heat and add 170g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa) and 30g butter. Stir until the butter and chocolate have melted and the mixture is blended. Stir in 6 tbsp cream and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

 

The sauce will keep well in the fridge for a week if you have any left-over and while it will re-solidify, you can either melt it in a pot over a gentle heat or zap it in the microwave.