Strawberry tiramisu, with a strawberry coulis in place of coffee

Remove the green tops from the strawberries and cut each into quarters; smaller pieces cook faster.

Cook the strawberries in a pot over medium-high heat, stirring, with five tablespoons of white sugar and five tablespoons of water. The sugar and water draw the juice out of the strawberries.

Add water five tablespoons at a time as the juice comes out, gradually, watching how the strawberries react, until they are completely covered and swimming in juice. This came to 25 tablespoons in total.

Check the strawberries are nice and soft, then set a strainer over a deep bowl and drain the juice off. This juice is what the Savoiardi are dunked in, in place of coffee. Keep water on the side in case it runs out.

Put the drained strawberries back in the pot and blend them with a hand blender into a strawberry coulis.

Cover the coulis with glad wrap and put both the juice and the coulis in the fridge to get cold.

Separate the five eggs into yolks and whites.

Boil a little water in a pot and switch the cooktop off. Set the egg yolks over the steam with five tablespoons of sugar and mix about one minute, so they are warmed through without scrambling, then take them off and finish at room temperature until you have a thick egg cream like a zabaglione.

Set the egg whites over the same pot and beat them quickly to reach 60 degrees Celsius and no more, or they will cook. After about a minute take them off the heat and finish beating without heat, until the cream is foamy and holds its consistency.

Mix the 500 grams of mascarpone into the egg yolk cream, slowly at first and then faster, until it is a thick cream.

Add the beaten egg whites and fold them in with a spatula, not the mixer.

Add about five more tablespoons of water to the strawberry juice to dilute it so it goes further.

Dunk each Savoiardi in the strawberry juice for about four to five seconds, sugared side facing down, and lay it in the dish. Coffee takes only three seconds because it is runnier; this juice needs four or five. Press each one in and thin the juice with another five tablespoons of water as it thickens.

Spread the mascarpone cream over the layer so every single biscuit is covered.

Spoon the strawberry coulis over the cream in lines, spaced so every portion gets some.

Grate white chocolate over the top.

Build a second layer the same way, biscuits dunked and laid down, cream spread over, a line of coulis and more grated white chocolate.

Cover the tiramisu completely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or at least five hours on the same day. Two days gives the best result.

The next day, hull the remaining strawberries and cut them into thin slices.

Decorate the set tiramisu with the sliced strawberries, working in rows the width of a slice so the lines mark out the portions. The decoration goes on after setting so the strawberries stay put.

Finish with mint all over.

Cut along the lines marked by the decoration.