Black Sesame Tiramisu

We waited for more than an hour outside in the falling snow for the Black Sesame Tiramisu at Montreal’s Ichigo Ichie. And it was worth every freezing minute.

Granted, all we wanted was some ramen but it was the black sesame tiramisu that immediately caught my eye as we finally got inside and sat down. It was all purely coincidence. We were staying just up the road and as I looked on google maps, Ichigo Ichie popped up as a spot for really good ramen and bonus, only a few 100 meters away. As we got there, there was already a queue which we duly joined.

Turned out the queue would not move. The first 15 minutes in the falling snow was doable but then it turned into 30 minutes. And before you know it you are that point where you’ve waited so long, you might as well stick it out. With some clever thinking from my partner, we finally got inside. Luckily the ramen was excellent and the black sesame tiramisu a sublime ending.

The combination of the bitter sesame paste with the creamy, sweetened, coffee-scented mascarpone mixture is absolutely inspired and I would happily only eat tiramisu this way from now on (apologies Italy). It just works beautifully.

I made the black sesame paste in a blender and it is super easy with just a few steps. All you need is black sesame seeds and some grape seed oil or any neutral flavoured oil. In fact, I will probably make my own tahini from now and save quite a bit of money by making it at home.

You can swap out the black sesame for the usual stone coloured sesame tahini but the colour contrast of the black sesame paste is beautiful. Serve the tiramisu in glasses for the full contrasting effect.

I hope you enjoy this recipe for Black Sesame Tiramisu. If you’ve made the recipe share it with me by tagging @heinstirred on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #heinstirred

Black Sesame Tiramisu

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Ingredients

  

• Black Sesame Paste
• 1 cup black sesame seeds
• grape seed oil or any other neutral flavoured oil
• Tiramisu
• 4 large egg yolks
• 80 g white sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 250 g mascarpone
• 9 boudoir biscuits lady fingers per glass
• 1/2 cup very strong coffee
• 2 tbsp coffee liqueur
• unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions

 

• Black Sesame Paste :
• Toast the sesame seeds over a medium high heat for 2 minutes and let it cool
• Once cooled, place the seeds and a tablespoon of oil in a blender
• Blend for a minute and scrape down the sides
• Continue blending until smooth, adding more oil as needed and scraping down the sides regularly
• Tiramisu :
• Using an electric mixer and whip together egg yolks and sugar until a pale yellow, tripled in volume (a ribbon should fall from the beaters when lifted from the bowl)
• Whip the cream to soft peaks, add the mascarpone and continue to whip until combined and smooth
• Gently fold the mascarpone mixture into the sweetened egg yolks until well combined
• Mix the coffee and liqueur in a shallow bowl
• Quickly dip a boudoir biscuit in the coffee mixture and place in the bottom of a glass
• Repeat until all the biscuits have been divided amongst 6 glasses
• Spread half the mascarpone mixture onto the biscuits in one even layer
• Spoon a tablespoon or so of the black sesame paste on top and spread so that it is visible from the sides
• Top with the remaining tiramisu mixture
• Cover with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight
• Dust with some cocoa powder and serve
• Transfer any leftover sesame taste to a jar with a tight-fitting lid and store, covered, in the refrigerator.

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