Tiramisu - Keep Calm And Eat Ice Cream (2024)

This tiramisu is a classic Italian dessert combining coffee and chocolate flavours with creamy mascarpone cheese. A great dessert to make ahead and feed a crowd.

Tiramisu or tiramisù is Italian for 'pick me up' or 'cheer me up'. It is traditionally made by soaking ladyfingers or savoiardi that are dipped in coffee and layered with a mix of mascarpone cheese, egg yokes, sugar, coco and sometimes liquor.

I have stuck to the classic recipe here, with the one addition of whipped cream to help make the dish lighter. If you prefer yours more traditional you can omit the cream and increase the amount of mascarpone cheese but it will result in a heaver, richer dessert. I also cook the eggs in this recipe by making a sabayon a light Italian custard.

Tiramisu can be one of those simple but tricky desserts to get right. Follow my tips and tricks to avoid some common pit falls and what do it if things do go wrong.

Tips and tricks for making tiramisu

Ingredients

Coffee: I use strong black filter coffee in this recipe. I couldn't find my french press so I made it in our drip machine. Try to avoid using instant coffee, it won't taste the same or have any where near the same depth of flavour. If you want to reduce the caffeine kick you could make this with decaf coffee instead.

Lady fingers or savoiardi: also known as sponge fingers or boudiors, are dry sweet sponge biscuits roughly shaped like a large finger. They are usually available from supermarkets and some speciality deli's etc. If you can not get lady fingers you can substitute them with sponge cake, angle cake or pound cake thats been cut into 4 inch (10cm) strips and dried out in an oven at a low temp for ten minutes to dry them out and crips them up.

Mascarpone: is a type of soft white cheese, similar to cream cheese.

Marsala wine: is the traditional liquor used in tiramisu, but it often made with several other liquors including dark rum, port, brandy or coffee flavoured liquors such as kaluah, tia maria or dissarano. You can leave the liquor out if you prefer and increase the amount of coffee to compensate or replace the liquor with orange juice or chocolate milk.

Cocoa powder: gives this recipe a wonderfully chocolatey kick. I use natural cocoa powder rather than dutch processed cocoa powder as it has a stronger flavour.

Cream: I used thickened cream in Australia. You could also use whipping cream or heavy whipping cream. For a more traditional tiramisu you could leave out the cream all together but you will need to increase the amount of mascarpone cheese to make up for this.

Castor sugar: I used castor sugar as its finer and dissolves more easily. You could also use regular white sugar.

Egg yokes: I use large eggs in this recipe. You can put the egg whites aside to make in another recipe such as my pretty rainbow meringues. Unlike some other recipes I cook the egg yokes in this recipe, which good for people who don't like eating raw eggs and makes the tiramisu keep for longer.

How to make tiramisu

Make sure you have room in your fridge for you dish to lay flat and that your mascarpone and eggs are at room temperature.

Prepare the coffee and allow to cool to room temperature.

Boil the water for the double boiler if using (highly recommended).

Make sure the heat under your double boiler is on low, and that the water is not touching the double boiler above. Seperate the eggs and put the whites aside for another recipe. Whisk the egg yokes and sugar together in a double boiler. Cook in double boiler for about five minutes, whisking frequently. The mix should be think and pale. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Whip the cream until firm peaks have formed. Mix the mascarpone with half the masala wine and beat until it starts to stiffen but do not over mix. Mix the sabayon into the mascarpone and gently mix.

Gently fold the mascarpone mix into the whipped cream, taking care not to nock the air out of the cream.

Dip half lady fingers biscuits briefly into the coffee marsala mix. Dip, flip and remove. Arrange dipped biscuits on the bottom of your baking dish, packing them in closely together.

Spread half the mascapone cream mix on top of the biscuites. For extra chocolatleyness you can sprinkle on some coco powder at this point if you like. Dip the other half of the lady fingers biscuites into the coffee marsala mix and arrange on top of the first layer. Spread the remaining mascapone cream mix over the top and smooth down.

Dust with sieved coco powder. Cover with cling wrap and chill in fridge overnight or at least eight hours. See my tips and tricks for what to do if your tiramisu doesn't set.

To serve

Remove from the fridge, dust with some extra coco powder, cut with a sharp knife and carefully remove with an egg flip or spatular. Great on its own or with a cup of coffee and a nip of marsala wine or liquor. Delicious!

To store

This tiramisu will keep covered in the fridge for up to four days from the day its made. You can also freeze this on the day of making but I haven't personally tried this.

Have you made this recipe? Tell me how it went in the comments below and tag me on instagram so I can see your delicious creations!@keep_calm_and_eat_icecream

Looking for more yummy dessert recipes? Why not try making

• No churn chocolate ice cream
• No churn coffee ice cream
• Mint choc chip ice cream
• Tim tam rocky road
• Vegan bounty ice cream bites

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