We have reached the grand finale of the Christmas dinner, and for such an important occasion dessert must be not only good, but also scenic and well presented, so we propose a tasty pain d’épices tiramisu served in single-portion cups 🙂 . Layers of sponge cake lightly spiced with anise and all spice, wet with a little drop of Grand Marnier, and embellished with a vanilla custard and a mascarpone cream scented with honey and cinnamon! If you want to make a non-alcoholic version, simply omit the liquor, as the orange peel will infuse a special flavor.

Have you ever tasted the pain d’épices (spice bread)? A typical French dessert: a wheat bread with honey spiced by a mixture of spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, anise, to mention only the most used). If you don’t know it do not worry, there will be very soon a post dedicated to the pain d’épices. But let’s go back to today’s recipe. The taste of  pain d’épices is perfect for this holiday season, and we wanted to recreate it in a more elegant and modern new look. We began to “break down” the traditional recipe and reassemble the pieces to get the Pain épices tiramisu presented today :). The dough of the bread has become a soft sponge dough; spices were almost all replaced by the All Spice that tastes more harmonious and delicate; honey and cinnamon have become the basis for the mascarpone cream; then we added the vanilla custard, and the syrup to give a touch of citrus fruits with Grand Marnier.
Now that you know the origin of the recipe, you just need to grab whisks and spoons to prepare the dessert 😀 .

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Stampa

Pain épices tiramisu

Cuisine Vegetarian

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 6 people

Difficulty

Ingredients

For the sponge cake

• 5 eggs
• 175 g of brown sugar
• 175 g of flour
• 80 g butter
• salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 12 all spice berries
• 1/3 teaspoon of ground anise seed
• a little bit of fresh grated ginger

For the syrup

• 200 ml of water
• 100 g of sugar
• 50 ml of Grand Marnier
• zest of half an orange

For the custard

• 450 ml of milk
• 90 g of sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 50 g cornstarch
• 4 egg yolks

For the mascarpone cream

• 450 g mascarpone cheese
• 90 g of wildflower honey
• 1 teaspoon grated cinnamon

Instructions

For the sponge cake

1. Separate the yolks from the whites. Beat the egg whites until stiff.
2. While continuing to work the egg whites, add sugar, egg yolks, flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
3. Finally add the butter melted, but not too hot.
4. Grease a baking pan and pour the mixture. We recommend using a large cake pan, bake in preheated oven at 180° C for 30 minutes.
5. When it is ready remove it from the pan and let cool covered with a cloth.

For the syrup

1. Mix sugar, water, orange peel and bring to the boil tap. Once cool, add the Grand Marnier.

For the mascarpone cream

1. Mix the ingredients until the honey is evenly distributed, then store in the fridge to rest.

For the vanilla custard

1. Heat the milk with the vanilla.
2. Apart beat egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch and add all the milk.
3. Put on the heat to flame, continue to cook until it starts to simmer, be careful to constantly turn the custard to not let it sticks to the bottom of the pot.

Composition

1. Cut, with a food ring mold, 18 discs from sponge cake. If the cake is too thick cut horizontally each disk in half (so you will need only 9 discs initially). Select the food ring mold so that it has a similar size cup you want to use to serve the pain épices tiramisu 😉 .
2. Fill two pastry bag respectively with mascarpone cream and vanilla custard.
3. Now take a serving cup, soak a disc of sponge cake in the syrup and place it on the bottom, then cover with the custard.
4. Repeat the process with a second disc filling the mascarpone cream.
5. Finish with a new cake disc, still soaked.
6. You just have to decorate the top of your cake, we used a star piping bag tip to decorate with cinnamon cream, then we added a chop of spice and finish with a light dusting of powdered sugar. Let your imagination guide you 😀 .