Create a stunning dessert this summer and you’ll be top of everybody’s party wishlist.
Tucked away at the top end of Rokeby Road in Subiaco, foodies will find Simon Johnson Providore, a decadent slice of heaven offering specialised boutique grocery items from around the globe. It’s the place to go for the finest culinary ingredients as well as wonderful gifts for the gourmand in your life.
You’ll find things like Ortiz sardines and anchovies from Spain, Valrhona cocoa and chocolate from France, handmade pasta from Italy as well as the best olive oils and caviar. They have an amazing temperature-controlled fromagerie at the back of the store, the perfect spot to put together your next cheese board with all the delicious accompaniments and crackers. There are often guest chef cooking demonstrations too so you can learn from some of the best chefs of Perth.
As the celebration season rolls around, it’s the ideal time to share food with friends and family. We have taken advantage of some of the gorgeous ingredients available at Simon Johnson to bring you a recipe for Black Forest Tiramisu Trifle to impress your guests.
This recipe highlights gorgeous Valrhona chocolate and cocoa, and the most delicious Agrimontana Amarene cherries, both available at Simon Johnson. After all, chocolate and cherries go together during the festive season like Mariah and Carey.
Valrhona chocolate and cocoa is made in the French village of Tain-l’Hermitage in Hermitage, and it produces some of the world’s highest-grade chocolate used by chefs worldwide. They select the best cacao from around the world and are committed to practising sustainable cocoa cultivation. For this recipe we have used their Guanaja 70% Chocolate Feves which is their iconic dark chocolate, and the unique shape of these make them perfect for cooking in recipes as they melt easily. The cocoa powder is super fine, with beautiful, deep flavours that can be used in pastries, mousses or even for a decadent hot chocolate.
The pitted sour Amarene cherries from Agrimontana used in this recipe have been handpicked and candied from the Istrian Peninsula, a part of the world that’s shared by Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. They are ideal for baking pastries, cakes, and on ice cream and the syrup can be used too, as it is in this trifle. Add them to your cheese board or in a cocktail too.
BLACK FOREST TIRAMISU TRIFLE
INGREDIENTS (Serves 10-12)
- Jelly and Filling
- 390g jar Agrimontana Amarene Cherries in Syrup
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste
- ¼ cup of caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons of gelatine powder
- 100gm of Valrhona Guanaja 70% Chocolate Feves
- 2 tablespoons of Valrhona cocoa powder
- 500ml carton of whipping cream
- 500gms of mascarpone
- ¼ cup icing sugar
- ¾ cup Cointreau
- 300 gm packet Savoiardi (sponge finger biscuits)
- Topping
- 500ml carton whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar
- ¼ cup chopped Pons Caramelised Marcona Almonds from Simon Johnson
- ¼ cup chopped Valrhona Guanaja 70% Chocolate Feves
METHOD
- Drain the jar of cherries through a sieve and collect the syrup (you should get about ¼ of a cup – it is quite sweet and thick if using the Amarene cherries). Reserve the cherries aside for later. Combine the syrup with 1 ½ cups of water, the vanilla bean paste, and caster sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Reserve and chill a couple of tablespoons of this syrup for drizzling later. Sprinkle the gelatine finely so it doesn’t clump over the top of the remaining hot syrup until the gelatine dissolves and pour into a 3 litre glass trifle bowl/serving dish. Place in the fridge to set for at least two hours.
- Combine the chocolate and 2/3 cup of the cream (160 ml) from one carton in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of water (ensuring the bowl does not touch the water) and stir with a spoon until the chocolate melts and is smooth. Set aside to cool.
- Place the mascarpone, icing sugar, cocoa powder and a further 200ml of remaining cream of one carton in a large mixing bowl. Whisk gently to combine before adding the cooled chocolate cream mixture from step 2. Whisk until soft peaks form.
- Place the Cointreau in a shallow dish and dip the Savoiardi biscuit into the liqueur and turn to coat. Do not leave long as the biscuit will soften too much. Repeat with each biscuit and arrange on the set jelly around the edge of the serving dish. The liquid on the biscuit should help to adhere to the glass.
- Spoon half the reserved cherries over the jelly and top with half the mascarpone mixture from step 3.
- Add a layer of biscuits dipped in Cointreau flat on top of the mascarpone mixture.
- Continue to layer with the remaining mascarpone and cherries. Place in the fridge for at least one hour or overnight to firm.
- Whip 500ml of cream and a tablespoon of icing sugar in a large bowl until soft peaks form and spoon over the top of the trifle to top as much as needed.
- Top with reserved cherry syrup, chopped chocolate and caramelised almonds to serve.
TOP TIPS
- The Amarena cherries are already soft and candied in syrup. You can use 300gm of any pitted cherries but instead of straining, heat the cherries in their syrup to soften them first and thicken the syrup with the sugar, vanilla and water as in step 1.
- You can replace Savoiardi biscuits with Pandoro or sponge cake for layering if you wish instead of biscuits around the dish.
- Using icing sugar here helps stabilise the cream a little to keep its shape when whipped.
