There are desserts that demand skill and desserts that demand only patience. This is the second kind - the oven stays off, the mixer barely gets used, and the hardest part is waiting eight hours without opening the fridge.

The base is horchata - the Spanish drink made from tiger nuts, the small tubers almost nobody here cooks with even though they grow throughout the Mediterranean zone. The tiger nut is rich in complex carbohydrates, fibre, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, and its fats are unsaturated, similar to those in olive oil. It's naturally gluten-free and lactose-free, which makes this dessert available to people who avoid both.

What you need for 8 to 10 portions

For the cream: 500 grams of mascarpone, 300 millilitres of whipping cream at 35 percent fat - very cold, 50 grams of icing sugar, 120 millilitres of horchata and 2 sheets of gelatine, around 4 grams. For assembly: 200 to 250 grams of sponge fingers and another 250 millilitres of horchata. On top: 2 teaspoons of pure cocoa, a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a handful of toasted tiger nuts.

How it's made

Soak the gelatine in cold water for ten minutes. Beat the mascarpone with the icing sugar until completely smooth. Heat two spoons of horchata, dissolve the squeezed-out gelatine in it, then add the rest of the cold horchata. Add that gradually to the mascarpone, folding carefully - not forcing it.

Whip the cream only when it's very cold, to firm peaks, and fold it into the mixture in three goes, with top-to-bottom movements. Pour it in all at once and you'll lose the air and end up with a cream that's thick but dead.

Here's the step where most people fail. Dip the sponge fingers in the horchata for one to two seconds. No longer. That's enough for them to take the aroma without falling apart. Anyone who has made tiramisu knows what an oversaturated sponge finger means - mush in the middle of the cake that nothing can fix.

Lay a row of sponge fingers, spread half the cream, another layer of sponge fingers, and the rest of the cream on top. Level the surface, cover it and put it in the fridge for at least eight hours. Ideally - from the day before. Before serving, dust with the cocoa and cinnamon mixture, and scatter the toasted tiger nuts on top.

The result looks like tiramisu and isn't tiramisu. No coffee, no alcohol, no eggs. It has a sweet nutty aroma that nobody here expects from a cake - which is exactly why it's worth making at least once. Any dessert that makes something new out of three ingredients is better news than another cheesecake recipe.