Annabel Langbein's Strawberry Limoncello Tiramisu

I have a couple of things I made awhile ago but have not yet posted on and this is one of them. The problem with a trifle/tiramisu is that it really doesn't photograph well so the pictures you see above were really the best I could do with what I had. What the photos don't show you is just how lovely this was. It was rich but the lemon flavour added a lightness to it which made eating it not too difficult. I will say though, that I whipped up some cream and I liked how it cut through the rich flavour without dulling the lemon-ness of it. 


I made this for some lovely friends of ours before they went back home to England as our goodbye to them. The best thing about it was that I could make it in the morning and that was all I needed to do so for ease of work on the actual night it was well worth it...especially as I had just come off night shifts. As well as that I have quite a lot of limoncello floating around so this was a great opportunity to use some of it up.


Give it a go while strawberries are still in season (just), or else it would be lovely with any other berries or kiwifruit as well.


Strawberry Limoncello Tiramisu


2 punnets strawberries or 10 green or yellow kiwifruit
300-350g sponge cake (I actually used a packet of sponge finger biscuits)


Limoncello Mousse
3 tsp gelatine
3 Tbsp cold water
1/2 c boiling water
1 c caster sugar
1/3 c lemon juice
1/2 c limoncello or water
400g mascarpone
finely grated zest of 1 lemon


Lemon Syrup
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c water
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 limoncello or water


To garnish
2 Tbsp chopped pistachios


Hull the strawberries or peel the kiwifruit. Slice thinly and set aside. Cut the sponge into 3cm chunks.


To make the mousse, mix gelatine with cold water to swell, then add boiling water and stir until fully dissolved. Place the mixture in the bowl of an electric beater with the sugar, lemon juice and limoncello. Beat with the whisk attachment until very fluffy and thick (about 15 mins...it seems like it will never happen and mine did not get too fluffy). Beat in the mascarpone and lemon zest until fully incorporated.

Us on Waiheke- Biddy, Julia, Dons and Me

To make the lemon syrup, heat the sugar and water, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and limoncello. Tip into a large bowl.


Quickly dunk a 1/3 of the sponge pieces into the lemon syrup to wet each side and arrange them in a single layer in the bottom of a 12 c capacity glass serving bowl. Pour over a 1/3 of the mousse. Cover with half of the fruit, then another layer of the dunked sponge pieces. Top with another 1/3 of the mousse, then the rest of the fruit and the last of the sponge pieces. Pour over any leftover lemon syrup and then top with the last 1/3 of the mousse. 


Cover and chill for at least an hour and up to 48 hours. Garnish with the pistachios and serve.

Biddy, Dons and Julia on NYE