There’s a saying back home that loosely translates to one nail drives out another. It’s never been truer this week – I’ve struggled with a sore throat for ages now, yet all I craved was ice cream. I blame the sunshine in London this weekend, which was enough to give me a topical sunburn.

But hey, I have ice cream now, even though it took me three attempts to get this tiramisu version right. I’ve included my mistakes in the notes so you don’t have to make them.

Ingredients

• 375ml whole milk
• 125ml double cream
• 3 egg yolks
• 120g granulated sugar
• 250g mascarpone cheese
• 1 tablespoon of coffee powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste / 2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Mix milk and double cream in a heavy-bottomed pan and bring to an almost boil over low heat.

Add vanilla paste and mix to dissolve.

Beat egg yolks with sugar until creamy and light in colour.

Add mascarpone cheese and whisk to incorporate.

Pour approx 1 cup / 250 ml of the milk and double cream mixture over the egg yolks and whisk.

Pour egg yolk mixture back into the milk and double cream and whisk continuously until the custard thickens and mixture coats the back of a spoon.

Remove from heat. Chill into an ice bath until it reaches room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for a few hours, ideally overnight.

When ready to churn into ice cream maker, add the tablespoon of coffee powder (I used Nescafe Azera Americano) and follow your machine’s instructions for freezing, usually between 20 – 25 minutes.

Pour into freezer safe container and freeze for 4+ hours if you want scoopable (that’s totally a word, right?). If you’re okay with softer ice cream, you can enjoy straight away. I did both. Ah, also added some shaved dark chocolate into the container before sealing the container, to replace the cocoa dusting that would have topped a classic tiramisu.

I promised to share what went wrong for me as I made this.

In my first batch, I didn’t include coffee powder into the custard. I thought the coffee taste would put off my kid. It wasn’t mistake per se, however the flavour didn’t leave me thinking I was eating the ice cream version of a tiramisu.

In my second batch, I went over board. I added the coffee powder and took it to the next level, by dunking segments of sponge fingers into freshly brewed espresso, then layering in the container as I transferred the ice cream for final freeze. It sounded nice in theory, but the sponge fingers froze like little nuggets from gelato hell and were near impossible to enjoy while eating the ice cream.

I ended up serving the ice cream with a sponge finger on the side and shaved dark chocolate on top. I still have my sore throat, though I suspect I would have had it with or without ice cream.