Italian · Dessert · Medium
Tiramisu
Rome's most famous pasta. Silky egg and Pecorino sauce clinging to every strand, studded with crisp guanciale. No cream, ever.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Tiramisu, in 5 ideas
- Room temperature mascarpone is essential. Cold mascarpone turns lumpy when mixed. Set it out an hour before you start.
- Overnight is not optional. Eight hours minimum lets the layers set and the flavors marry. Slice too soon and it slumps.
- Use savoiardi, not soft ladyfingers. The crisp Italian kind holds up to the espresso. Soft cake-style ones turn to mush.
- Dust the cocoa at the last minute. If you do it before chilling, the moisture turns it dark and spotty instead of velvety.
- No raw egg worries. The yolks are cooked in the zabaglione step over simmering water. If you prefer, use pasteurized eggs.
What you need
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups heavy cream, cold
- 16 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
- 4 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups strong espresso, cooled
- 3 tbsp coffee liqueur (optional)
- 24 to 30 ladyfingers (savoiardi)
- Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting
- Dark chocolate shavings (optional)
How to make it
Directions
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water. Beat constantly for 8 to 10 minutes until pale, thick, and tripled in volume. This is a zabaglione. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- Beat the mascarpone with the vanilla until smooth. Fold in the cooled zabaglione gently until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, whip the cold heavy cream to soft peaks. Fold it into the mascarpone mixture in two additions, keeping as much air as possible.
- Stir the coffee liqueur into the cooled espresso. Pour into a shallow dish.
- Dip each ladyfinger for exactly 1 second per side. No longer, or they disintegrate. Line the bottom of a 9x9 dish with a single layer.
- Spread half the mascarpone cream over the ladyfingers in an even layer.
- Repeat with a second layer of dipped ladyfingers and the remaining cream. Smooth the top.
- Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. Dust generously with cocoa powder just before serving.
One second per side, literally. Count it out. Soggy ladyfingers are the number one tiramisu failure, and it happens in the dipping, not the chilling.