Chocolate & Rose Summer Fruit Tiramisu / Trifle

Is it a trifle? It doesn't have jelly or custard. Is it tiramisu? It doesn't have coffee.  However, I had a pudding to make for a 40th birthday party and after seeing Chris's strawberry-rhubarb tiramisu over at Cooking Around The World, I felt inspired to create my own chocolate version using the redcurrants we'd picked from a friend's garden.

This is what I did:

• Whisked 4 large eggs with 200g rose (caster) sugar with electric beaters until tripled in volume.
• Folded in 170g of sifted plain white flour and 30g of cocoa powder being careful not to knock the air out of the sponge.
• Spooned into a lined large baking tray 26x38 cm and baked at 180C for 12 minutes.
• Left to cool then cut into fingers.
• Lined a large pizza bowl (the only large dish I have) with the sponge fingers.

• Sliced 3 slightly under ripe nectarines - each one into 16 pieces.
• Dipped the slices in rose sugar then placed in a buttered dish and roasted at 200C for 10 minutes.
• Scattered these, whilst still warm (so they didn't turn to toffee), over the sponge fingers.
• De-glazed the dish with a large sloosh of redcurrant vodka and 4 tbsp of rose syrup.
• Dribbled some of this over the sponge fingers.
• Rolled a punnet of blueberries - (minus 18 for decoration) and a large handful of redcurrants in the rest of the glaze then scattered everything over the sponge fingers.

• Scraped the seeds from a vanilla bean and beat into 250g mascarpone with 1 tbsp rose syrup.
• Whisked 600ml double cream with electric beaters until soft peaks.
• Stirred the two together and spooned over the fruity sponge.
• Scattered a load of grated chocolate over the top and used the remaining blueberries and a few strigs of redcurrants to decorate.

Whether, trifle, tiramisu or something else all together, it was absolutely delicious. The caramelised nectarines were a revelation with the flavours really intensifying during the roasting yet still remaining juicy. The sweet chocolatey sponge soaked in alcohol combined brilliantly with the rich vanilla and rose mascarpone cream, which in turn was offset by the tart and flavoursome fruit. Who needs coffee or custard?

I am entering this into the One Ingredient challenge, hosted this month by Nazima of Working London Mummy, but hosted on alternate months by Laura of How to Cook Good Food. The chosen ingredient is peaches or nectarines.

I'm also entering this into Alpha Bakes which is T for Trifle or Tiramisu this month. Alpha Bakes is hosted alternately by Caroline of Caroline Makes and this month by Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker.

And last but by no means least, I'm submitting these to Javelin Warrior's Made With Love Mondays. This celebrates food that is made entirely from scratch and as I made the sponge fingers for this, I think it counts.

And another event I've just found which, given that the theme is chocolate desserts, I really can't miss out on! CookEatDelicious-Desserts is the brainchild of Cook Eat Delicious, but is being hosted this month by Culinary Vibes.