Tiramisu
In Italian Tiramisu means, “pick me up”. If you are feeling down maybe this famous Italian dessert will do the trick: layers of luscious mascarpone cream and savoiardi dipped in scented Marsala wine coffee can cheer up anyone.
I made this dessert for my American side of the family on New’s year eve many years ago and ever since then whenever we celebrate together it has become tradition to eat tiramisu.
This is my grandpa’s recipe, he lived to be 99, maybe there is something in the name. I’ve tried many version of tiramisù, but this is the one I prefer and I love the most.
Ingredients:
6 eggs*
1 lb. mascarpone cheese, don’t use substitutes
36 Savoiardi (lady fingers)
2-1/2 cups strong Italian coffee
1/2 cup dry Marsala wine**
13 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. un-sweetened cocoa
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl use an electric hand mixer to beat the egg yolks together with the sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the mascarpone cheese and mix it in with a spoon until well combined.
3. Now whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then fold them gently into the mascarpone mixture using a spoon. Fold it in by gently lifting the mascarpone mixture from the bottom to the top.
4. Add the cocoa to 1/3 of the mascarpone mixture and mix well.
5. Spread half of the remaining mascarpone mixture without cocoa onto the bottom of the cake dish (My dish is 11-3/4″ x 8-3/4″ and 2-1/2″ deep).
6. Quickly dip both sides of the lady fingers into the espresso coffee and place them over the mascarpone cream.
7. Cover this layer with all the chocolate mascarpone cream.
8. Add the Marsala wine to the rest of the coffee and dip the ladyfingers into it. Place them over the mascarpone chocolate cream and top with the remaining mascarpone cream.
9. Sprinkle the top with cocoa powder through a fine mesh strainer.
10. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
Notes:
*If you are worried about the health risks from eating uncooked eggs I suggest that you ask your grocer for pasteurized eggs. I know that in the U.S. you can purchase them in a carton.
**In this recipe there’s Marsala wine but you can skip it and add the same amount of coffee instead. I also use decaffeinated coffee when I prepare it for kids.
I made this recipe the other week and it was just beautiful. My Italian hubby said it was the best tiramisu he had ever tasted and my daughters were “over the moon” with this tiramisu. A big hit in our house, thank you for a beautiful recipe. I love the fact that there isn’t any cream in it, nobody believes me when I tell them I make tiramisu without cream!!
@Katherine: I’m glad to hear that. In Italy we don’t use cream that much in tiramisu, even if the cream is actually in one of the versions of this dessert. There’s a debate where this dessert was created, and depending on that comes the usage or not of the cream. I prefer it without.
Hi! I’m doing a project on picking a specific ethninicty and making your make-believe restaurant with foods and projects and such, I picked italian desserts and I wanted to know whether the wine would be a mandatory part of the recipe. Would it make a difference if I didnt add the wine?
this has become a lifetime hit in our house with family and friends, everybody asks me to make, hence the reason I am making another one today for my daughters boyfriend, thanks!!
@Waseeta: You can skip the wine and just use the coffee.
Hi, I lived in the veneto region when this dish was “invented”. A friend told me that this restaurant had this delicious dessert that was new. They asked about it and the owner said he had made it up from the zuppa inglese recipe…giving it a different twist. Next thing you know all of us are going to the restaurant just to eat the tiramisu, even though all the food was delicious. Unfortunately he didn’t think it would be such a big hit and didn’t copyright it…so now there are heaps of different versions out there. Just thought you might like this little bit of trivia.
I love you site. :)