Tiramisu.
I’ve been making tiramisu ever since I was a teenager and have tried many versions of it.
Last week, I made a version that I finally decided was my best. It’s a little unorthodox.. a little un-Italian conventional.. but it tastes really good. I’ve provided many options here. Feel free to use what works for you and experiment a little. It’ll always taste good. You just cannot go wrong with tiramisu.
Make this dessert the day BEFORE you are going to serve it. It gives the tiramisu time to get chilled really well and for all the flavors to amalgamate.
Don’t forget that tiramisu uses raw eggs and so should always stay chilled and be discarded if not eaten within 3 days. Children below 10 and pregnant ladies should avoid eating tiramisu completely.
Serves 8.
Ingredients
9 teaspoons instant expresso (or make 1.5 cups of good strong expresso coffee)
1.5 cups hot water
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons Marsala wine or dark rum (see notes in recipe on use of alcohol)
500g mascarpone cheese
300ml fresh cream (liquid)
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 egg yolks (Important note: use the freshest you can get)
1 packet ladyfingers (7 oz.) or slabs of good trifle cake
10g gelatin powder (about 2 teaspoons) + 2 tablespoons boiling water
Good quality cocoa powder or shaved chocolate for dusting
Method
Add 300ml of fresh cream into a mixing bowl.
Whisk at medium speed and eventually increase to high speed. If you whisk at high speed immediately, the cream will splatter everywhere.
Whisk till the cream is stiff. VERY STIFF.
While the cream is being whisked, find another mixing bowl.
In this separate mixing bowl, add 500g of mascarpone cheese. There is no substitute for this, so don’t bother asking. It would make a big difference if you use any other cheese. So, find the cheese!
Add 1/2 cup of caster sugar.
Add 2 tablespoons rum or marsala wine. This is important. Don’t skip this even if you choose not to add any alcohol, because it flavours the cream.
Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Whisk together to combine until it’s light and fluffy.
Add 6 egg yolks.
Whisk to combine.
You’ll start to panic now because the cream has turned into a liquid. Don’t panic yet!
Fold in the cream that you whisked earlier. I usually run out of patience after a while and just whisk this in as well.
Now you can start to panic. Because you are left with egg and rum flavored milk. And this is the part that I used to always struggle with tiramisu cream. The cream part becomes too soft and liquidy.
So here’s a weird step.
Whisk 10g of gelatin powder (or more if you prefer a more solid tiramisu for cutting) in a little boiling water. You just need enough boiling water to dissolve the granules, about 2 tablespoons.
Add the gelatin mixture to the cream and whisk well to combine.
This amount of gelatin will turn the liquidy mixture to a creamy texture. If you prefer to have a light jelly texture (for ease of cutting and serving later), feel free to use 15g to 20g of gelatin.
Cover the mixing bowl and leave the cream mixture to chill in the fridge for a couple of hours. The cream will thicken in time and will be easier to spread in the assembly of the tiramisu.
In the meantime, make the coffee-wine mixture.
In a large mixing bowl, add 9 teaspoons of instant expresso powder. I’ve used regular instant coffee powder before and it didn’t make a life-changing difference, so feel free to use what is more readily available to you.
Add 1.5 cups of hot water to dissolve the instant coffee. Or skip these 2 steps and brew 1.5 cups of good strong expresso coffee if you like.
Use a nice dark rum or marsala wine for this recipe. I always use rum, because that’s what I keep at home. I don’t have any other use for marsala wine other than tiramisu so I prefer not to stock it.
Add 1/2 cup of rum/marsala wine to the coffee mixture.
BIG NOTE – this amount turned out to be too strong for some friends. If you have friends who enjoy wine and alcohol, this amount will be fine. If you have friends who never drink, half this amount. If you have teenagers and do not want them to have any alcohol, feel free to use just 1 or 2 tablespoons here just for flavoring.
Set aside the coffee-alcohol mixture to cool.
When you are ready to assemble the tiramisu, find a large deep glass dish. I like to use a transparent plastic container because it comes with a cover and I can stow it away in the fridge easily.
I used Savoiardi traditional lady fingers in this recipe. But I’ve used ready to eat pound cake (like Sara Lee brand) or trifle cake before. As long as it’s vanilla flavored and not too sweet a cake, it’s fine.
If you use cake, you just need to stuff the cake into the container and pour the coffee mixture over it.
If you use ladyfingers, then gently dip each and every one gently into the coffee mixture. Dip in a horizontal manner. Dip and lift immediately. Do not linger. The fingers soak up the liquids VERY quickly.
I made a 3 layered tiramisu here, but feel free to make a 2 layered one or make individual tiramisu cups, like this -
Lay the lady fingers in the container to form the first layer.
Add a layer of the chilled cream. Spread it out nicely so that it’s about the thickness or thicker than the layer of lady fingers. It really depends on the size of your container. There’s no hard and fast rule here.
Using a small sieve, sprinkle sieved cocoa powder generously over the layer of cream until you cannot see the cream anymore. This adds an interesting colour and a delicious richness to the dessert.
Continue to dip the ladyfingers in the coffee mixture and create your 2nd layer.
Repeat with the cream layer and cocoa powder layer.
You can finish here, with 2 layers or create 3 layers like what I did.
Finish off with a final layer of cocoa powder on top. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. I usually chill overnight.
When you are ready to serve, you’ll find that the cocoa powder on the top layer is now wet/moist. Dust a final layer of cocoa powder over it till it’s a dry layer again. You cannot have too much cocoa powder on top, so don’t worry.
Sometimes I use fine chocolate shavings for this last step.
Gently cut and scoop out the tiramisu to serve. If you had added a lot more gelatin earlier, the tiramisu will slice like a wobbly cheesecake, instead of being so soft. But I like it softer. It’s really up to your own preference.
Dig in!
The printable version of this recipe is here -
Bing's Tiramisu.
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As I don’t have an oven at home, the tiramisu is always my go-to recipe for house parties! I always struggled with moist cocoa powder, now I know – just dust another layer on top – duh! Also, cutting up and serving the tiramisu – it ends up getting mashed and sloshed up – but it OK, I just dust even more cocoa powder on top to cover the mess!
Will go with your recipe next time round, although mine is all done with a hand-whisk – which is probably why the consistency of my cream always differs.
Would be great if you could experiment or share more non-baking desserts
My old recipe used to get mashed and sloshed too. This recipe has gelatin in it to solidify it a little for easier handling. To solidify it even more so that it has a soft jelly like texture for serving and cutting, double the gelatin amount.
I’ll try to find more non-baking desserts to share. =)
Have fun!
I have yet to try my MIL’s recipe for tiramisu, she made it again (slightly similar to yours) while holidaying there recently, and I couldn’t stop eating! It’s rare that I have more than 2 servings of cake!
Great pics!
Just 2 servings isn’t enough for me. If there are leftovers, they are all mine in the middle of the night! Hahahaa..
You made my mouth watery just by reading and looking at your pictures Bing.
Thanks for the encouragement. Really appreciated it.
um…. your tiramisu looks so tempting… I look at it for a few days, and have finally bought all the ingredient today, will do the dessert project tomorrow… wish me luck and thank you for sharing the recipe… : )
Yvonne
hello! i’m interested in trying out this recipe, but i cant find fresh cream in cold storage or ntuc! it seems like they only stock liquid whipping cream? can i use this instead?
i’ve been trying to look for fresh cream to make carbonara, just like when i was overseas in europe, but i cant seem to find them anywhere in singapore!
Hi Winnie, Cold Storage stocks fresh cream by the brand Bulla. It seems that they label it as Pure Cream but I’m guessing it’s the same thing. Different countries/brands label it differently.
If a recipe calls for double cream, use the Thickened Cream by Bulla. That would work.
https://www.coldstorage.com.sg/onlineshopping/browse-brand.aspx?Search=bulla
Have fun!
Hi Bing, I am unable to whip the Bulla Pure Cream to stiff, it stayed soft and creamy after 5-10 min of medium speed whipped. Is there anything wrong with my process?
Thanx for the wonderful recipe once again!! =)
Tried this 2x!! Yummilicious!! =D
Thanx Bing!
Luv juskawaime
I think the hardest part of the recipe is having to keep the tiramisu overnight in the fridge. I’d just want to DIG IN. I’m considering getting a lock for my fridge.
Hi Karen,
I tried to find dark rum but cant find it, then i found at cold storage is 60 over dollar very expensive since i dont use rum very often.
Will it work if i use white rum? there’s one at ntuc.
Or it only tastes good if i use dark rum?
Thank You
Hard liquor is expensive in Singapore so I only buy it at duty free! I’ve never used white rum, and I’m not familiar with its taste so I can’t tell. You can also use bailey’s irish cream or marsala wine in place of dark rum.
I had been searching the website for recipes for Tiramisu and settled on using yours. It is in the fridge and we will see the results tomorrow for my husbands birthday. Thank you.
The only thing I would comment is that you obviously need more than one packet of Lady Fingers and I didn’t have enough
I used an exact pack of ladyfingers but it could have been because I made my cream layers very thick. I usually have a spare packet around just in case I need to fill in the gaps. Sometimes it depends on the size of the dish. Sometimes I eat the ladyfingers as I layer the tiramisu so it’s good to have an extra pack around.
Bing,
Do you have any recipe for eggless tiramisu and non alcohol
Sorry, I don’t! =p
Hi Bing! Thanks for the great effort on the step by step with photgraphy. It was really easy to follow. I used Bulla’s Pure Cream. You indicated to whisk the cream until it is very stiff. However, a milky liquid was produced when the cream turned slightly stiff. Is this normal or have I over whisked? When I mixed this with the mascarpone mixture, it turned “lumpy” in texture, not smooth like milk shake. Help!
I made too strong a coffee and it “drowned” the rum. The only coffee I have at home is nespresso. I made the strongest expresso I had. 6 capsules maybe? The final taste was pretty much mildly flavoured rum cream. On a whole, while it was edible, it didn’t have the “tiramisu” kick. I’ll have to redo this again cos it’s hubby’s fav dessert! Thanks for any tips to make it better!
Hi SL
When you whisk the cream, it will first turn into a thick frothy mixture and then slowly thicken into a thick stiff cream. Its texture should be like spreadable cream, but not to the point of butter. Over-beaten cream is butter and is hard and crumbly.
If it’s still a milky liquid, then it’s UNDER beaten.
I really don’t know what happened that you had lumps when you mixed whipped cream with mascarpone cheese, which is also a cream. The mascarpone cheese is a smooth, luscious creamy texture. Unless you bought the wrong kind of cheese. And whipped cream is also smooth and creamy in texture. There really shouldn’t be lumps. Unless you had over beaten the cream and had gotten butter lumps instead.
I don’t know how much expresso Nespresso capsules is supposed to give you. But make according to instructions to get 1.5 cups (that’s about 360ml) of expresso coffee. Add more rum if you like a stronger rum flavour. I always taste the rum-coffee mixture before I begin assembling, and will then decide if I need more rum or coffee.
Good luck!
Hi Bing
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I’ll do it again and keep in mind the additional prompts you gave. I definitely bought mascarpone cheese. I suspect the lumps were from the beaten cream. Will need to figure if I over or under beat it. Nonetheless, my first attempt was not too bad! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hi Bing,
If i want to make individual tiramisu in a small cup, that means i break the lady finger into crumbs put on the bottom of the cup? Thanks
hi
you use 6 eggs in it and do not make it over simmering water, dont you think it can cause salmonella disease?
Yes, it’s a risk I take with tiramisu. Thats why I said use the freshest eggs and kids and pregnant women should avoid this dessert completely.
so you would say that its okay for men and adult to get salmonella? why u not make this recipe use simmering water? whats the difficulty?
Feel free to cook the eggs for this recipe if you like. It’s just not the way I make it. And feel free not to use my recipe too.
Hi, love your blog and have been following it for almost a year. And always love your food too. Though i am not a big chef, but i will make an effort to make dessert, cause me and my hubby love dessert.
I tried your tiramisu, but, i always have problem on whisking the cream and it turn up to be like scrambler eggs..
Wonder is there any tips on whisking a cream?
Mei.
If you whisk your liquid cream to the point of being separated, it means you have over whisked it, and it has separated. Try pouring the cream into a cold bowl and then beat at low or medium speed for a minute, slowing increasing the speed to maximum. Watch the cream, as soon as it thickens to the point of slightly stiff, you have to stop whisking. If not, the cream may separate or it may become butter.
Thanks for the tips… will try it next week!