Berry Mascarpone Christmas Gateau

I saw this on the cover of Family Circle magazine and it looked amazing. Just perfect for our hot Aussie Christmas. This need to be chilled overnight. For Australians or New Zealanders out there, instead of the 90grams chocolate you can use 3 flake bars.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 2⁄3 cup  Frangelico
• 3 (120 g)  punnets fresh raspberries
• 250  g  punnet strawberries, hulled, roughly chopped
• 1  tablespoon caster sugar
• 300  ml  thickened cream
• 2 (250 g) containers mascarpone
• 2  teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• 1⁄2 cup  extra caster sugar
• 3⁄4 cup  roasted hazelnuts, chopped
• 2 (250 g) packets sponge cake fingers (sponge-finger biscuits)
• 90  g chocolate, crumbled
• 2 (120 g)  punnets raspberries, to serve
• 2 (250 g)  punnets strawberries, to serve

Directions

1. Line the base and sides of a 24cm spring form tin with baking paper. Combine 1/4 cup of the liqueur, raspberries, strawberries and sugar in a bowl. Stir gently to combine and set aside.
2. Whip the cream in the large bowl of an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the mascarpone, vanilla and extra sugar, then beat on low speed till thickened slightly (it takes seconds). Fold in the hazelnuts.
3. Pour remaining liqueur into a shallow dish. One at a time dip in one-third of the biscuits and arrange over the base of the tin, cutting to fit where necessary. Top with one-third of the mascarpone mixture. Spoon over half the berry mixture. Repeat layering, using half the biscuits and mascarpone mixture, then the remaining berry mixture. Top with remaining biscuits, pressing down firmly. Spread the remaining mascarpone mixture over the top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. To serve, sprinkle the top of the gateau with flake. Cut into wedges and serve with the extra berries.