Strawberry Elderflower Tiramisu (with Eggless Mascarpone Cream)

To make strawberry sauce, remove hulls from strawberries and coarsely chop, then mash well using a potato masher or the back of a fork. You should have 1 1/2 cups of mashed strawberries.
Combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and St. Germain in a saucepan. Set over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Continue to simmer for about 5 minutes or until thickened slightly. Remove from heat and let cool completely before assembling so it doesn't melt the cream. (Strawberry sauce can be made up to a week ahead of time; refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use.)
When you're ready to assemble, get your serving dish(es) and other ingredients ready to go. If you are using individual ramekins, cut your ladyfinger cookies down to the required size ahead of time (I used a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut rounds of cookies that perfectly fit my ramekins; you can also coarsely chop or crumble the cookies for a more rustic look). If using an 8-inch square pan you may need to trim the cookies slightly to fit.
Spread strawberry sauce in the bottom of your serving dish(es): a generous 1 tablespoon per ramekin, or about half of the sauce mixture if using a square baking pan.
Arrange one layer of cookies on top of the strawberry sauce, pressing lightly to submerge the cookies into the sauce. Then brush tops of cookies with a light layer of elderflower syrup.
To make the mascarpone cream, combine cold mascarpone, sugar, vanilla paste, and salt in a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat for 1 minute or until smooth and somewhat fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl at least once to ensure it gets beaten evenly.
Add cream, about 1/4 cup at a time with the mixer running on low. Scrape down the bowl and add another 1/4 cup. Repeat until cream is fully incorporated.
Increase mixer speed to medium and whip until cream starts to thicken and form tracks. This will take much less time than regular whipped cream, so watch it very carefully as it is very easy to over-whip.
The cream is done when it barely holds soft peaks; just the act of spooning it out into the serving dish or piping bag is enough to bring it fully to soft peaks. Any further than that and it will appear slightly curled (still edible though, just not as silky smooth in appearance).
Spoon or pipe a layer of cream on top of the first layer of cookies in your dish/ramekins. I like using a piping bag for more control, but you can also just dollop it on there and use an offset spatula or the back of a spoon to spread it into an even layer. You'll use about half of the cream for this layer (slightly less than half if you want to pipe the top layer of cream).
Spread the second half of the strawberry sauce, or another 1 tablespoon or so per ramekin, on top of the cream. Tilt the pan to spread it out to the edges.
Arrange the second layer of ladyfinger cookies on top of the strawberry sauce, pressing lightly to sink the cookies slightly into the layer below. Brush tops of cookies with elderflower syrup.
Finally, add the remaining cream on top. You can spread this into a flat layer, or pipe it into a more decorative design (I used a 1/2-inch round tip to pipe dollops over the tops of the ramekins).
Refrigerate tiramisu for at least 4 hours or ideally overnight; this chill time will allow the ladyfingers to saturate and soften fully.
Just before serving, dust the top with finely ground freeze dried strawberries. Garnish with fresh strawberries and/or fresh elderflowers or other edible flowers, if desired.

Strawberry Elderflower Tiramisu (with Eggless Mascarpone Cream)

Ingredients

For Strawberry Sauce:

For Mascarpone Cream:

For Assembly:

Instructions