By Christine Salins.
Google ‘cherries fruit of love’ and you’ll understand why I’ve chosen this recipe in advance of Valentine’s Day next week. They’re a gorgeous-looking fruit, particularly when you get two cherries with the stems still joined. So romantic!
A Google search reveals dozens of photos of cherries carefully arranged in heart shapes, and some particularly cute ones where the stems themselves are entwined in a heart shape.
Cherries are the star of the show in this Tiramisu Trifle, a great dessert for a special occasion (or any time you feel in the mood!) The recipe was created by Instagrammer Jessica Thomson @mindfullyjessica
It’s a plant-based recipe which she developed using coconut cream and Califia Farms XX Espresso, an almond milk cold brew coffee available from supermarkets. You could swap it for another cold brew coffee (Jessica suggests Califia Farms’ Mocha or Mocha Noir for a more chocolatey taste).
The cherries could be substituted with any other fruit in season, but frankly you’d be mad to do that! Cherries have been particularly outstanding this season, and there are still plenty of plump, luscious cherries in the markets. They won’t be around for much longer so enjoy the bounty while it lasts.
Tiramisu Trifle With Cherries
Makes 3 to 4 wine-glass-sized servings
Cake ingredients:
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tbsp cornflour
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarb soda
¼ tsp sea salt
½ cup sugar (Jess used half raw sugar, half coconut sugar)
¼ cup melted coconut oil
1¼ cups cold brew coffee (eg. Califia Farms XX Espresso)
2 tsp vanilla essence
Preheat oven to 170 deg C. Grease a 20cm round cake tin with coconut oil.
Whisk together the flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarb soda, and sea salt into a large bowl, set aside.
Add the sugar, melted coconut oil, coffee and vanilla to a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine. Take care to not over mix. Pour the mixture into cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.
Trifle ingredients:
Cake
Cold brew coffee
1 can of coconut whipping cream, chilled (or a can of full-fat coconut cream refrigerated for 24 hours prior)
1/3 cup cherry compote or cherry jam
Fresh cherries, pitted and halved
Dark chocolate, shaved
Cut the cake into circles the size of your serving glasses, set the excess cake aside.
Whip the coconut cream with handheld beaters. (If using full-fat coconut cream, scrape only the solid part from the top of the chilled can and discard the water before whipping.)
Place the cake into the base of each glass. Pour 2 tbsp of cold brew coffee into each glass, infusing the cake.
Gently spoon a layer of whipped coconut cream into each glass, then arrange cherry halves around the edge of each glass.
Take the excess cake and crumble it into a bowl, pour 2 to 3 tablespoons of cold brew coffee into the bowl and mix well. Place a couple of spoonfuls of this into the trifle glasses. Top with cherry compote or cherry jam and dollop or pipe any additional coconut cream. Finish with shavings of dark chocolate and a cherry on top.
Recipe courtesy of Mindfully Jessica and Califia Farms.
