lisa.w.hsieh This classic tiramisu recipe is surprisingly easy and requires no baking! You can make this ahead too so it mights it the perfect dessert if you’re hosting and everyone will love it!
It was my mom’s birthday recently and it’s a tradition for me to pick up her absolute favourite cake, Tiramisu from Dessert Lady! Dessert Lady is one of my favourite dessert shops in Toronto, they make best cakes and biscotti! But given the pandemic, my mom wants to avoid getting take out or delivery as much as possible. So I took it upon myself to learn how to make my mom’s favourite dessert for her bday!
To be honest, I was a little intimidated by the idea of making tiramisu. It’s such a rich, decadent dessert, I always thought that the ingredients might be hard to find or it would be really hard to make. But after a bit of research, I found a really great recipe that tastes almost like Dessert Lady’s (My mom tells me she likes it even better than Dessert Lady 🙂 Aren’t moms the best?!?) and was surprisingly easy to make! The recipe I used is adapted from Chef Dennis‘ and he does a great job at breaking down the steps and I can attest, it really is the best tiramisu ever!
The Ingredients
This tiramisu recipe is super simple and only needs 6 ingredients or 7 (for the adult version with alcohol :)). The ingredients you need are egg yolks, whipping cream, mascarpone, sugar, espresso and Italian style lady fingers (Savoiardi). It must be Italian style lady fingers, which are biscuits made with sponge cake batter but baked until they’re crispy on the outside and not the soft spongy ones that you’re probably more used to. These lady fingers are perfect for tiramisu because when you dip them in the espresso and cover them in the creamy mixture, they’ll absorb the liquid and become the perfect sponge cake texture and while retaining its shape for the beautiful layers. I don’t usually use any alcohol in my version because my niece’s love the cake too so I want it to be kid friendly. But if you’re making an adult version, the classic recipe calls for some marsala wine, which is a sweet fortified wine from Sicily. It can be hard to find at some liquor stores so you can substitute with brandy, dark rum or coffee flavoured liqueur!
Making the creamy filling (in my opinion, the best part!)
This version uses an egg yolk sabayon mixture with mascarpone cheese and whipped cream. The sabayon mixture is just the egg yolks whisked with sugar in a double boiler. You can use granulated or icing sugar for this recipe. I typically prefer to use granulated sugar but it’ll take more whisking for it to dissolve with this method. And it’s totally okay if the sugar isn’t 100% dissolved and still a little bit grainy, it’ll smooth out as the tiramisu is setting and you won’t notice in the end! There are versions of tiramisu that omit the egg yolks since there are some concerns over uncooked egg yolks and salmonella but the flavour and structure just isn’t as rich or creamy in my opinion. So to be extra safe, I have an instant read thermometer and I make sure to whisk the egg mixture until it reaches 160 degrees for at least 1 minute to be salmonella free. Make sure you’re whisking in a metal bowl so that the mixture heats properly otherwise you won’t be able to get to that temperature and it’ll take about 10-15 minutes of whisking to get there, so get ready for a good arm workout! You want to whisk it for about that long anyway in order to get the right thickness and creaminess for the mixture. I also don’t have any metal bowls or a double boiler so as a hack, I used a stainless pot over a slightly smaller stainless steel pot and it worked perfectly!
Once you have your sabayon mixture, you gently fold in the mascarpone cheese and whipped cream and this is where the magic happens! The combination of egg yolks and mascarpone cheese makes an incredible rich and creamy custard flavour that goes so well with the espresso soaked lady fingers. I think mascarpone is one of my favourite ingredients to use in desserts! So what is mascarpone? It’s a soft and creamy Italian cheese that has a slight sweet and buttery flavour, which is what makes it so perfect for desserts! It is a little expensive though and hard to find sometimes. If you’re feeling ambitious, it’s actually really easy to make your own mascarpone cheese! You just need to plan ahead a bit since it has to set overnight but all you need to make it is whipping cream and lemon juice! You probably won’t end up using all the mascarpone you buy for one tiramisu and it is soft cheese, so it won’t last that long in your fridge. I wouldn’t recommend freezing the leftover mascarpone though, because I’ve tried it and it ends up separating so you lose that suuuper creamy texture 🙁 But mascarpone does freeze well after you’ve made a dessert with it! So you can freeze the tiramisu after it’s done!
Assembling the Tiramisu
Once you have your creamy filling done, it’s quick work to assemble the Tiramisu! I like to use a glass baking dish because then you can see all the beautiful layers of your tiramisu! All you have to do is dip the lady fingers in espresso (+ marsala wine if you’re using it) and create a layer on the bottom of your baking dish. Make sure you only dip the lady fingers enough so that it gets slightly wet (literally less than a second each side). You’ll notice that if you soak them too long, they’ll get too soft and start falling apart. Then you cover the layer of lady fingers with a layer of the creamy mixture, repeat with another layer of lady fingers and creamy mixture and you’re done!
Now all you need to do is refrigerate the tiramisu for at least 4 hours so that everything can set. You can also make this up to a day ahead. In fact, I actually think the tiramisu is better after you let it set overnight! So this is the perfect dessert if you’re having a dinner party or entertaining! All you have to do is sprinkle the top with a generous layer of cocoa powder, slice and serve! I hope you guys enjoy this super easy tiramisu as much as my mom 🙂 !
Classic Tiramisu (The Best Ever!)
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Whisk
- Stainless Steel Bowls or pots
- 9×9 pan
Ingredients
- 6 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup whipped cream
- 24 Italian ladyfingers (Savoiardi style)
- 1 cup cold espresso
- 1/2 cup Marsala wine
- 1 oz unsweetened cocoa for dusting
Instructions
- In a medium stainless steel bowl or pot, mix egg yolks and sugar.
- Bring a small pot with an inch of water to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Place stainless steel bowl or pot on top and whisk the egg and sugar mixture constantly until it thickens and becomes a light, sunny yellow colour. This is a classic sabayon, don't let it get too hot, otherwise the egg yolk will start cooking. Just lift off the pot of water while whisking as often as necessary.
- Allow sabayon mixture to cool briefly and then add in room temperature mascarpone. Mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, use a mixer and whip the cream to stiff peaks. For the most stable cream, start on low speed and slowly increase the speed.
- Gently fold the sabayon/mascarpone mixture into the whipped cream.
- Mix cold espresso and win and dip ladyfingers into the mixture just long enough to get them wet. Do not allow them to soak too long, otherwise they'll fall apart!
- Arrange a layer of lady fingers in the bottom of a 9-inch pan and spoon half your cream mixture over the lady fingers and spread out evenly. Repeat the process with another layer of ladyfingers and the remainder of the cream.
- Refrigerate for at least four hours and can be refrigerated overnight. Dust with cocoa powder before serving.
Notes
- Sugar to use – if you use icing sugar or super fine sugar, it’ll dissolve more evenly in the sabayon. I’ve used regular sugar and it doesn’t dissolve completely while you’re making the sabayon but it’s totally okay! The sugar will dissolve while your tiramisu is setting in the fridge and you end up with an equally creamy dessert!
- Mascarpone – if you use room temperature mascarpone, it’ll mix more smoothly with the sabayon. But same as the sugar, it’s okay if there’s a few lumps because it’ll smooth out while it’s setting.
- Marsala Wine – this is a sweet, fortified wine from Sicily. It is a little hard to find sometimes so you can substitute with something like brandy or leave out the alcohol altogether!
Great read, now following!