Durian-Chocolate Tiramisu with Champagne Glazed Cherries

Made this for a friend's birthday cake. When I first started making it, I've been made known she loves blackforest cake and durian. I wanted to make this easy black forest cake using readymade savoiardi/ladyfinger biscuits that you would use for Tiramisu.

Then I recalled I've made a Durian Tiramisu a while ago. I did not feel like using storebought Savoiardi and did not want to make any myself too. I ended up making a chocolate sponge cake and layer them with Durian-Mascarpone cream. I have also reduced champagne and coat the cherries in it for the decoration on top. The cake really is a combination of Durian Tiramisu and Black Forest Cake.

For the champagne glazed cherries, I got the idea from Donna Hay's 50th Issue Magazine and tweaked it to my liking. You really only need champagne and sugar and that is about it...

Alcohol and durian do not mix, I am not sure if that is a myth or fact up till now but there really isn't enough champagne to make anything dangerous....The cake is at its best when left overnight as the durian flavour became more pronounced but you might want to top it off with the glazed cherries upon serving because the cherries tasted like durian and champagne after being left overnight in the fridge...I am bias and love my durian fruit. I cannot tell you how awesome this cake was!

The chocolate walls took a while to put together, the weather was not at its best. I spreaded it out thinly but it refuse to set after 30minutes. I have to pop it in the fridge and take it out and pop it back in again....But it was well worth the effort....

Durian & Chocolate Tiramisu with Champagne Glazed Cherries

For the chocolate sponge cake:
(adapted and modified from Florence's @ Do What I like)

4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cherry liquor (I use the reduced champagne liquid used to glaze the cherries)
3 tbsp castor sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup tepid water

125g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar (I use lemon juice)
1/4 cup castor sugar

Preheat the oven to 175°c and line the base of an 8'' round tin with baking paper, trimmed to fit. Do not grease the pan. In a microwave safe bowl, measure out the canola oil and pour over the cocoa powder. Set it aside to let the cocoa powder dissolve a bit.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the yolks, salt, cherry liquor and castor sugar until pale and increased in volume. Microwave the oil-cocoa mixture until warm to touch and whisk it well to completely dissolve any cocoa lumps. Whisk the warmed cocoa oil into the yolk mixture and whisk to combine really well.

Stir in the warm water and whisk to combine lightly. Sift over the plain flour, baking soda and baking powder into the mixture and whisk everything into one homogeneous mixture.

Wipe a clean large bowl with lemon juice-dampened paper towel and pour in the egg whites. Whisk the egg whites with electric mixer (preferably hand held) until foamy and add in the lemon juice and continue whisking until it is completely white and increased in volume. Add in the sugar, a tablespoon at a time and stop whisking the very moment your bowl can be turned upside down with the egg whites defying gravity.

Take 1/3 of the egg white batter and whisk it into the yolk mixture to lighten it up. Slowly incorporate the remaining egg whites in two batches and completely incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake it for 45 minutes or until cooked. Test with a skewer at 30minutes and if it comes out clean, the cake is done.

When it is out of the oven, immediately turn it upside down and cool it completely before slicing it into 2 or 3 layers.

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For the durian mascarpone mousse:
(adapted from Yochana @ Yochana's Cake Delight)

250g of Mascarpone cheese
500 gm. Durian flesh
1 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp gelatine powder
2 tbsp cold water

Blend the durian with some of the cream to a fine puree. Sprinkle the gelatine powder over the 2 tbsp cold water and let it stand for 5minutes.

Warm the durian puree in a nonstick pan over medium low heat. Turn off the heat and add in the gelatine paste. Whisk well to combine and completely dissolve the gelatine into the mixture.

Add in the mascarpone cheese and whisk well to blend. Cool the mixture completely. Whip the remaining cream till stiff peak and fold it through the durian-mascarpone mixture. Chill it until needed.

You will have some leftovers enough to fill a swiss roll nicely. Else, multiply the recipe with 0.75.

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For the Champagne-Glazed Cherries:
(adapted and modified from Donna Hay's 50th Issue Magazine)

200ml bottle Champagne
2 tbsp (20ml per tbsp) castor sugar
1 cup (200g) fresh dark cherries

Place the Champagne and sugar in a small pot and bring it to a boil, dissolving the sugar. Continue reducing it over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the cherries in and coat it well. Let it cool completely and it will glaze itself nicely.

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For the Chocolate Walls:
(adapted and modified from Unibic Website)

2o0 grams dark cooking chocolate, melted over bain-marie.
Glad Bake

Simply pour melted chocolate onto a large piece of Glad Bake and spread it out evenly and thinly with an offset spatula. Let the chocolate dry until when you touch it with your finger, it would leave fingerprint on them but does not stick on your finger. Run a pizza roller and slice the chocolate into irregular rectangular pieces.

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For the assemblage:
(adapted and modified from Unibic Website)

In the same baking tin used to bake the chocolate cake, place a layer of the cake in the tin and pour over 1.5 cups of the durian mousse. Cover with a second layer of cake and pour over another 1.5 cups of durian mousse.

Place the cake in the fridge to chill until the gelatine sets. To unmould, run a thin plastic knife around the circumference of the tin and unlatch the spingform tin. Transfer it to a serving plate or cake board.

Working quickly with cool fingertips, dab a little of the durian cream on the chocolate pieces, one at a time, and slap it on circumference of the cake to form the chocolate walls. Break up the rest into shards and set aside. Chill it again from time to time if necessary.

Arrange the glazed cherries around the edges and scatter the chocolate shards at the centre of the cake. Top with more Cadbury Flakes (I did this because I wanted a mixture of dark and milk chocolate. The dark chocolate was so bitter and my durian mousse has no sugar added to it at all).

Chill until ready to serve. Slice with a hot, dry knife and wash and wipe dry with every cut to get neat slices else the chocolate walls will be teared down easily.


Enjoy!