Matcha Tiramisu

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp matcha powder
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 cup mascarpone
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 18 whole ladyfingers

Instructions

1. 1

   Spoon the matcha powder through a small sieve into a wide bowl or shallow dish — matcha clumps the moment it meets liquid, and sifting first is the whole secret to a smooth, lump-free bath. Set aside a scant half-teaspoon of the sifted powder on a little plate; that pinch is your finishing dust for later.

2. 2

   Pour the hot water (just off the boil, not violently boiling) over the matcha and whisk briskly in little zig-zags until the powder dissolves and a fine layer of foam gathers on top. It should look like deep green tea with no grainy specks clinging to the sides. Let it sit and cool to room temperature — dipping into hot liquid would melt your ladyfingers into mush.

3. 3

   Pour the heavy cream into a large chilled bowl and add the sugar and vanilla extract. Whip — by hand with a balloon whisk or with a mixer — until it holds soft peaks: lift the whisk and the cream should curl over on itself like the tip of a wave, not stand up stiff. Stop the moment you get there; over-whipped cream turns grainy and loses its lightness.

4. 4

   In a separate bowl, give the mascarpone a few gentle stirs with a spatula just to loosen it so it is soft and creamy — it is delicate and will turn thin and weepy if you beat it hard.

5. 5

   Add about a third of the whipped cream to the mascarpone and stir it in fully to slacken the cheese. Then tip in the rest and fold — cutting down through the middle with your spatula, sweeping along the bottom, and turning it over — until it is one smooth, pale cream with no streaks. Folding keeps all that air you whipped in, so go slow and stop as soon as it looks even.

6. 6

   Working one at a time, dip a ladyfinger into the cooled matcha bath and roll it for just one to two seconds a side. You want it drinking up enough to soften but still hold its shape — count it out, because a long soak leaves you with a soggy, collapsing layer. Line dipped ladyfingers snugly across the bottom of a roughly 8-inch square dish, breaking a few to fill any gaps.

7. 7

   Spread half of the mascarpone cream over the ladyfingers in an even blanket, coaxing it gently into the corners with the back of your spatula.

8. 8

   Dip and lay a second layer of ladyfingers on top exactly as before, then spread over the remaining cream and smooth the top flat. You should have used all 18 across the two layers.

9. 9

   Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight if you can wait — this rest is not optional. It lets the ladyfingers and cream settle into one another so it slices cleanly instead of sliding apart.

10. 10

    Just before serving, sift that reserved pinch of matcha over the top in a fine, even veil. Dust it on at the last moment — matcha dulls and dampens if it sits, and you want that vivid green to be the first thing they see.

Tools you’ll need

• fine-mesh sieve
• wide shallow bowl
• whisk
• large mixing bowl
• electric hand mixer
• rubber spatula
• 8-inch square dish

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