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Love a light and fun dessert after your favorite lasagna dinner? You will enjoy this delicious and easy tiramisu recipe. It is not super sweet. And if you love coffee (or rum), this is the perfect dessert for you.
Between the lady fingers there is a delicious fluffy and light cream. They act as the ‘cake’ portion. They soften into a delicious dessert.
We have found that you can use strong instant coffee or espresso to make the coffee.
We’ve made this in a 8×8 dish, but you can use a round dish, 9×17, 9×9 or whatever you have on hand.
What Can I use Instead of Mascarpone in My Tiramisu?
You can use use a combination of heavy cream and cream cheese or a mixture of both instead to make your whipped cream mix.
Why Don’t You Combine All the Filling Together at Once?
The raw eggs are tempered with the milk to cook them. They will then need to cool. If you were to add that into the heavy cream, you would not be able to whipped that easily into whipped cream, it will melt.
You can make the egg/mix in advance and allow to cool before moving onto the next steps of your recipe.
If you like this recipe, try our Kahlua chocolate fudge cake.
1/3cupespresso or strongly brewed coffee, room temp
2tablespoonsKahlua/2 tablespoons rum
2-3ounce packageslady finger cookies
1Tablespooncocoa powder (unsweetened)
Instructions
Making Cream Mixes
In a medium size sauce pan, add the eggs and sugar and whisk together. Whisk in the milk and cook on medium heat.
Continue to stir while heating so the mixture doesn't clump.
Bring the mix to a boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and let cool.
You can place the mix in a covered bowl and let cool overnight as well.
In a large bowl, add the heavy cream and vanilla and beat until stiff peaks form and set aside.
Once cooled take the egg mix and add to the marscapone, blending thoroughly.
Add the whipped cream into the egg mix and stir gently until mixed.
In a smaller bowl, add the coffee and rum together.
Assembling the Dessert
Place the coffee into a container big enough to dip the lady fingers. Add the rum or Kahlua to the coffee and mix.
Dip the lady fingers into the coffee mix and then place into your pan. You can then brush more coffee mix onto them if desired.
Spread half of the cream mix on top of the lady fingers.
Add another layer of the lady fingers and coffee/rum mix.
Spread the remaining cream mix on top evenly covering the lady fingers.
Sift the cocoa on top of the tiramisu and cover completely.
Place in the refrigerator and allow to sit 4-8 hours before enjoying your tiramisu.
Video
Notes
You can use espresso coffee or strongly made coffee.
To add to the coffee flavor, use a coffee liqueur instead of rum.
If you prefer rum, use rum!
When dipping the lady fingers into the coffee mix, be quick, they are fragile and if they spend too much time in there, they will start to crumble.
Can I Use Real Coffee in Tiramisu?
Yes you can but it will not have a strong coffee flavor. It will have a stronger coffee flavor if you make it strong or use an espresso. Instant Espresso works as well!
What Can You Replace Lady Fingers With?
I have seen recipes that use shortbread cookies, sponge cake or pound cake that has been cut into 1 inch strips and toasted lightly. Biscotti is another great alternative to use.
What Alcohol is Used in Tiramisu?
I have seen several classic tiramisu recipes call for rum alcohol to make the dessert. You can also use a cognac or coffee liqueur, like Kahlua, to give a coffee punch.
There are 2 components and 4 layers in tiramisu. Each component is layered twice. It goes: espresso-dipped ladyfingers, mascarpone cream, remaining espresso-dipped ladyfingers, and remaining mascarpone cream. Dust the whole thing with a dense layer of unsweetened cocoa powder to finish.
Alcohol: Tiramisu can be made with or without alcohol. This recipe calls for coffee flavored liqueur because I like that it enhances the coffee flavor, but other options are marsala wine or brandy. Make Ahead Instructions: Tiramisu is even better when made in advance, allowing the flavors to blend!
The choice is yours, even though connoisseurs of this dessert will always tell you to choose savoiardi. In fact, the result is completely different if you use these biscuits, which are tall and spongy and absorb less coffee. As a result, the consistency will be less creamy and slightly more compact.
Traditional tiramisu contains ladyfingers (savoiardi), egg yolks, sugar, coffee, mascarpone and cocoa powder. A common variant involves soaking the savoiardi in alcohol, such as Marsala wine, amaretto or a coffee-based liqueur.
To make this mascarpone substitute, mix together 12 ounces of room temperature cream cheese (1 ½ blocks) with ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream and ¼ cup of sour cream until combined.
Repeat the layering of ladyfingers, mascarpone and cocoa powder twice more. Once finished, cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving. If you want to get fancy, finish with a layer of whipped cream piped on top and dust with more cocoa powder.
While a tiramisu is normally made with soaked lady fingers, this cake mostly uses coffee-soaked sponge cake with creamy mascarpone filling. It is then topped off with a sprinkle of chocolate powder, chocolate shavings or espresso beans.
If you are looking for an alcohol-free option I would suggest omitting the Kahlua entirely from the coffee mixture and replacing it with coffee in the mascarpone mixture.
With that in mind many tiramisu recipes will feature a good espresso or espresso blend coffee. A medium to dark roast coffee will be the best option as you will get the most prominent coffee flavours rather than a light roast which doesn't have that same bite and will have lighter, fruitier notes.
Rather than grocery store brands, which are often low in fat and quite astringent, look for full-fat cocoa powders from brands like Valrhona, which can offer a deep, rich flavor instead. After dusting, add another layer of coffee-soaked ladyfingers.
These are the ingredients you'll need to make this decadent tiramisu cake recipe: For the cake: white cake mix, water, egg whites, vegetable oil, and instant coffee powder. For the coffee syrup: coffee and coffee-flavored liqueur. For the filling: mascarpone cheese, confectioners' sugar, and coffee-flavored liqueur.
Tiramisu doesn't traditionally have alcohol, it's just made with espresso/coffee. Some versions, especially at nicer restaurants, do have Kahlua, marsala or other booze (e.g. amaretto, brandy, rum), and it depends how much but usually it's fine, but you may check with where you're ordering from.
Traditional Italian tiramisu does not contain cream–the mascarpone “cream” is composed of simply mascarpone, eggs and sugar. However, our selection of mostly Americanized recipe did include 5 recipes that used heavy cream (ranging from 2 tablespoons to 2 cups).
Introduction: My name is Tish Haag, I am a excited, delightful, curious, beautiful, agreeable, enchanting, fancy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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