I'm shy of making cakes and such, not my thing, here's a dessert you can make in about 30-45 minutes that is great. Better making it the day before you eat it, for magic permeation.
Ingredients
300g hazelnuts.
568ml pot double cream.
250g tub mascarpone.
100ml+ booze, I use what I've got, and I want to taste it in the finished product, rum, dessert wine, mellow whiskey. Maybe don't use vodka, but I'm not the fun police. Skip the booze entirely if you're halal or don't drink.
5 tbsp ground brown sugar, grind it with a jar or a mortar & pestle.
300ml strong coffee, I make espresso, make strong instant coffee or whatever suits you.
175g pack sponge cake (buy fingers or cut it into fingers, or make your own if you can).
35g dark chocolate.
4 tsp cocoa powder.
Jar of syrup, or see end of recipe for quick homemade syrup.
The container that all of this good stuff is going to be stored in/served from is key. I make this in an oval pyrex oven dish that's about 10" long, 8" wide and 3" deep, and it's a squeeze. Adjust recipe quantities accordingly. This comes out at about 6 servings.
Hazelnut prep Method
Heat up your oven to about 200'C. Spread hazelnuts on a baking tray. They need about 10-15 minutes. Check them halfway and give them a little roll around on the tray. Don't burn yourself or the nuts, silly.
When they are done, get them off the tray into a saucepan with a lid. Shake the shit out of them with the lid on. We're trying to make them shed their skin. Remove the lid, grab them by the handful and give them a rub between your hands and let them fall back into the pan until they are all fairly naked.
Now give them a coarse grinding. You want chunks, some powder is fine, manage the texture for yourself. We'll return to this at the end for the syrup.
Tiramisu Method
Put the double cream, mascarpone, booze and ground brown sugar in a large bowl.
Whisk until everything has completely combined and thickened.
This is a little tricky. Pour the coffee into a shallow tray. You don't need to pour all of it at once, don't use your final dish for the dippin', keep that nearby. Dip the sponge fingers in reasonably gently, turning them for a few seconds until they are nicely soaked, but not soggy and falling apart. Make a layer of coffee soaked sponge fingers in your final dish. You should use roughly half of the sponge fingers, and you may have to press them into place. Now spread a layer of the creamy mixture from the first step. You're eyeballing this.
Using a coarse grater, grate a nice covering of dark chocolate over the cream layer. Now give an even sprinkle of hazelnut chunks/powder. This does not need to be a thick covering, you need another layer and we're making syrup later.
Repeat the layers (you should use up all the coffee), finishing with a final sprinkling of nuts, grated chocolate and cocoa powder over the top creamy layer.
Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. Will keep in the fridge for a week, depending on willpower.
Hazelnut syrup Method
Put your remaining hazelnuts/powder in a jar of syrup. I make my own from brown sugar, boil 2 cups of brown sugar in 1.5 cups of water for about 3 minutes, stirring well. Let it completely cool to room temperature before refrigeration.
Enjoy your elevated coffee experience. Hazelnut syrup gets better over time.