July Recipes: Raspberry & Ricotta Tiramisu

A lighter summery take on the classic italian tiramisu using raspberries, Cava and ricotta.

Raspberries are finally in season! They're delicious on their own of course, but if you're looking for a raspberry dessert recipe I think this is the ultimate one. A summery pudding that's full of textures, slightly tart and sweet with a hint of saltiness from the ricotta.

This is a simple tiramisu recipe, it takes a few bowls and a lot of whisking but that's the sum of it, then it's just a case of layering it up. The ladyfingers are soaked in sparkling wine, I went for dry Cava, then layered with a ricotta and mascarpone tiramisu filling and crushed raspberries, finished off with beautiful whole raspberries on top. Great served with coffee, earl grey tea or sparkling wine. This desert is light, creamy and not too sweet.

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Ingredients (serves 8):

Ricotta tiramisu filling recipe:

• 6 eggs

• 250g mascarpone

• 250g ricotta

• 100g sugar

• 2 pinches of salt (for the egg whites)

• 2 Tbs of sugar (for the egg whites)

Raspberry compote recipe:

• 300g raspberries

• 40g sugar

• 1/2 lemon

Raspberry tiramisu recipe:

• 300g raspberries

• 250mL Cava/sparkling wine (or earl grey tea)

• 1 1/2 pack ladyfinger biscuits

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Method:

How to make the tiramisu filling:

1. Separate the egg yolks from the whites into 2 large whisking bowls.

2. Start with the egg yolks: add the sugar and whisk until the mixture turns white and doubles in size, this is easier with an electric whisk but possible by hand. It may take up to 10 minutes by hand. It's ready once you can no longer feel the grains of sugar when rubbing the mix between two fingers. Then, add the mascarpone and ricotta, whisk until smooth and combined.

3. Now for the egg whites: whisk them with a couple pinches of salt until they form soft peaks then slowly sprinkle in the sugar while whisking until you achieve stiff peaks.

4. Add a few tablespoons of the egg whites to the mascarpone mix and whisk it in, then add half of the egg whites and gently fold them in with a marise or large spoon. Repeat with the last half of the whites until they are fully combined.

How to make the raspberry compote:

1. Simply put the raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and crush the raspberries with a fork until they are all mushed up and combined with the sugar.

How to make the raspberry tiramisu:

1. Pop the sparkling wine and pour into a deep dish.

2. Choose a large serving dish for your tiramisu.

3. Start the layering process:

   1. dip a ladyfinger in the sparkling wine, turn it over itself 3 times then place in the bottom of the serving dish. Avoid letting the biscuit get soggy, it should be imbibed with wine but still quite crispy as it will continue absorbing moisture from the tiramisu.

   2. Cover the bottom of the dish with the biscuits, then cover in a thin layer of compote, then top with half of the tiramisu filling.

   3. Repeat the process with another layer of fingers, compote and filling.

   4. Lay out fresh raspberries on top for the final flourish.

   5. If there is any left over, you can make mini individual ones in a glass to use everything up.

4. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. Serve up and enjoy, bon appétit!

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More about this raspberry recipe:

Recipe shortcuts:

• The biggest shortcut to this recipe is an electric whisk.

• If you don't have access to fresh raspberries, you can of course use frozen, just leave them to thaw out before mashing up. Make double the amount of compote so you can finish off the tiramisu with a topping layer of raspberry compote to make sure the balance of acidity and freshness is right.

• If you would like this dessert alcohol free, I recommend using earl grey tea to soak the biscuits in, the floral citrus notes will pair really nicely with the raspberries and ricotta.

• Equally, feel free to swap out the Cava for your preferred sparkling wine, this would of course also work well with Prosecco or Champagne.

Keys to success:

• When separating the eggs, I recommend using a third small bowl to crack the egg over and gather the egg white. Then transfer the whites to the larger bowl each time. This way, if the yolk accidentally cracks into your whites, it won't ruin the entire batch.

• When whisking the egg whites, make sure you use a large clean bowl, free of any dust particles. The salt will help the eggs stiffen up (all about cooking/transforming those proteins) and the sugar will make them silky and glossy. The aim here is stiff peaks, meaning you can turn the bowl over and the whites won't move. Use them straight away to avoid them falling.

• When folding the mixture, it's important to start by whisking in a little bit of the stiff egg whites to loosen up the mixture. Then slowly fold them in to avoid losing too much air. You can use a large mixing spoon or marise, place the spoon in the centre of the bowl holding it with your right hand and the bowl with your left, then while you turn the bowl by 90° with your hand scoop the mixture from the centre with the spoon, bringing it to the sides and folding it over itself. Check out the video below if you are more of a visual learner like me.

• Make sure not to over-soak the biscuits, they shouldn't be soggy when going in the dish as they will continue soaking up moisture from the tiramisu as it rests. Dunk them, immediately flip them around 3 times and remove them, that's enough. I recommend doing them one by one as it's otherwise easy to end up leaving them in a bit too long.

Health benefits of raspberries

They're a good source of:

• folate which supports the formation of red blood cells;

• vitamin C which supports with wound healing, cell, skin and bone health;

• biotin which enables us to release energy from food and supports cell health;

• manganese which also enables us to release energy from food and supports cell health;

• soluble fibre which helps lower blood cholesterol, slows the release of energy from food. It also helps bulk stools with water and serves as a prebiotic meaning it feeds our gut bacteria for a healthy microbiome.

• insoluble fibre - helps to make you feel full, and soften stools for better digestive health. It is also associated with phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties.

Raspberries contain many other beneficial active compounds, most notably antioxidants such as anthocyanins (cyanidin-3-glucoside and cyanidin-3-rutinoside), ellagitannins, and phenolic compounds predominantly quercetin.

These have all been shown to be anti-inflammatory, reduce the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. They also inhibit the proliferation of certain tumours, raspberries in particular have been shown to reduce the risk of colon, breast and liver cancers in rats.

Cyanidins give raspberries their beautiful pink-red colour but also have strong radical-scavenging capabilities which mean they reduce chances of certain types of cancer and reduce physical signs of ageing.

Quercetin in particular is noted to support the immune system in combatting viral infections and reducing allergy symptoms, as well as protecting against degenerative brain disorders.

Mood Food - Focus:

Low GI - fibre and tannin content of raspberries help manage blood sugar levels for a slow steady release of energy to the brain;

Anthocyanins - anti-inflammatory properties that prevent brain damage, reduce memory loss and enhance cognition.

What makes this raspberry tiramisu an especially good mood boost -

Fat and sugar reward systems aside, there are a few especially good mood boosting elements to this recipe:

Folate - required to synthesise serotonin, one of our good mood hormones; and not having enough folate therefore increases the chance of feeling depressed.

Vitamin C - is involved in converting dopamine to noradrenaline - low amounts of noradrenaline are associated with depression.

Prebiotic polyphenols - among other benefits, our microbiome convert them to tryptophan (precursor to the good mood hormone serotonin).

Tryptophan - eggs and ricotta contain tryptophan, the amino acid our body converts to serotonin.

It goes without saying that these benefits are outweighed if you finish this entire tiramisu by yourself, but everything is about balance! Replacing some of the mascarpone in the recipe helps to lower fat and increase protein content of this tiramisu versus traditional recipes.

Hopefully this makes you excited to try this and many other raspberry recipes during its season!

You can find lots of ideas on how to cook with raspberries in my newsletter: https://felicityvincent.substack.com/

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Full Video:

Cook along with this step-by-step video and learn how to make my raspberry and ricotta tiramisu.

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Photos: