No bake Plazma Cake

You need:

250 g butter + 3 Tablespoons of sugar, 600g Plazma Biscuits (ground), 200g ground almonds, 100g ground hazelnuts, 4 eggs, 1 can of Fanta (room temperature)

Optional for the top: slivered almonds (like in the photo) or you can cover it with whipped cream.

Mix the butter and sugar till it’s pale and airy, and set aside. Beat the eggs with a mixer, and then start folding them into the butter mix. Start adding the Fanta, bit by bit, as well as all the nuts and biscuits, till you get a firm mixture which you can shape with a spatula, (you may find you will not need to use all of the Fanta).

Turn the mixture onto a serving plate and shape it into a cake form. Finish it with the almonds if desired, and refrigerate for at least 4 h before serving. Alternately, serve cold with cream and a good coffee.

Plazma biscuits are an award-winning product of Serbia, and are an institution unto themselves! They are as Serbian to the Serbs as Vegemite is to the Aussies. They really can't be substituted for other biscuits as they have a distinct toasted flavour.
Plazma are also known as Lane biscuits in export markets.

Fortunately, you can find them in continental specialty food stores, or online here at Amazon.com.

Raspberry chocolate tiramisu

YOU WILL NEED:


250g good-quality milk chocolate, broken into pieces
3 punnets (450g) raspberries
2 tbs icing sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) Frangelico(optional)
4 eggs, separated, plus 1 extra eggwhite
125g caster sugar
250g mascarpone cheese
2 cups (250-450ml) strong black coffee
3 large sponges or savoiardi fingers
Cocoa powder, to dust

Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (don't let bowl touch the water) until chocolate melts, then remove bowl and stir chocolate until smooth. Cool slightly.

Set aside a quarter of raspberries, then place remainder in a bowl with icing sugar and 2 tbs frangelico (or similar - this is optional). Leave to macerate until needed.

Using electric beaters, beat egg yolks and caster sugar in a large bowl until pale and thick. Beat in the mascarpone, followed by the cooled chocolate. Using a clean bowl and beaters, beat eggwhites to stiff peaks, then fold into chocolate mix.

Place coffee in a dish and dip half the sponge fingers (or sponge cake) briefly in mixture, then layer in a cake tin or (if you use saviardi) then 2-litre (8-cup) dish, trimming to fit in a single layer. Spread half the chocolate mixture over sponge, then top with macerated berries. Dip remaining sponge in coffee mixture, then layer on top of berries, followed by remaining chocolate. Cover and chill for 4 hours.

Dust liberally with cocoa and garnish with reserved raspberries to serve.