Tiramisu Authentic Italian Recipe

Here is Tiramisu authentic Italian recipe, the most famous Italian dessert in the world born in Treviso (a lovely town near Venice), delicious and easy to make. Follow the directions of this recipe and make the best Tiramisu you have ever eaten!

Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made of savoiardi ladyfingers soaked in coffee, arranged in layers and filled with a cream made with mascarpone and eggs. Try Savoiardi Ladyfingers BALOCCO, a company famous in Italy for its pastries and biscuits.

There are many variants of tiramisu recipe; the following recipe is the authentic Italian tiramisu recipe, the one of the Italian tradition, the one that we make on Sundays, the one that you will eat when you’ll come to Italy, made with eggs and mascarpone.

But we know it’s hard to find mascarpone in other countries and not everyone eats raw eggs.

So we’ll give you some tips to make an exceptional tiramisu even without those ingredients (at the end of this recipe). If you want to use pasteurized eggs go to the paragraph “how to pasteurize eggs” or read the recipe “how to make mascarpone cream with pasteurized eggs”.

Meanwhile we’ll give you the recipe to make coffee mascarpone cream without eggs. You can eat it in bowls or in little cups made of chocolate cookies, as explained in the recipe. Or you can use it to make tiramisu. A variant. It’s delicious!

Tiramisu Authentic Italian Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

For this recipe we used:

• a ceramic baking pan of 30 x 19 cm (12 x 8 inch). If you want something more elegant look it here.
• An electric stand mixer that really is a great help for making a perfect tiramisu. We have used the KitchenAid but there are other really great brands (which you can find them here). You can also make tiramisu recipe with an electric hand mixer (some here) or with a whisk and lots of muscles (why sweating? We are not sure..however you can find it here)

And now let’s start!

Step 1) – First of all, make the coffee. For a quick and delicious Italian coffee we used an Espresso Machine. Here you can find some options. Now add 2 tbs of rum or Marsala wine (that’s optional. If you don’t like liqueurs or you are making tiramisu for children, don’t use it) then set aside and let it cool. Separate egg whites from yolks and remember that in order to whip the egg whites pretty stiff there should not be any trace of yolk.

Step 2) – Take a bowl and whip the egg whites until stiff: you will get at it when the the egg whites will not move if you turn the bowl over. When ready, set aside.

Step 3) – Now in another bowl (or the clean same one) whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and smooth, 3 to 5 minutes.

Step 4) – When ready add mascarpone cheese.

Step 5) – Whisk the cream slowly with the electric mixer. Now add stiffen egg whites.

Step 6) – Mix with a wooden spoon, from bottom to top. Mix slowly until it’s smooth and creamy.

Step 7) – Now dip quickly Savoiardi Ladyfingers into the coffee. IMPORTANT! Cookies should not engage too much coffee, otherwise your Tiramisu will turn out too soggy. Then place them in a ceramic or glass cooking pan.

Step 8) – Spread the mascarpone cream on top of the Savoiardi.

Step 9) – Add another layer of Savoiardi and then cover with more mascarpone cream.

Step 10) – Finally sprinkle with cocoa powder. Let rest 3 hours in the refrigerator before serving (even better if you make the tiramisu the day before, letting it to rest all night long in the fridge). You can add chocolate flakes on top according to taste.

How to Pasteurize Eggs For Tiramisu

Tiramisu in Italy has always been made with fresh eggs and it’s well known that it would be a good idea to pasteurize the eggs before using them to make this dessert. Here then we will explain how to pasteurize egg yolks and whites using a hot syrup made with sugar and water.

How to pasteurize the yolks

Step  1) – First, place 50 g (1,80 oz) of sugar with 25 ml of water in a saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar as much as possible and then bring this syrup to a boil, always stirring. The syrup will be ready when it reaches the temperature of 121 ° C (250 F). It’s very important that the syrup does not exceed 121 ° C (250 F), temperature after which the sugar starts to caramelize (you’ll know it because it starts to darken). So measure the temperature with a kitchen thermometer; if you don’t have a thermometer, the syrup will be ready when small and white bubbles will form on the surface. 

Step 2) – Meanwhile, start to whip up the egg yolks with a stand mixer at maximum speed. When the syrup is hot and ready, pour it over the egg yolks and keep whisking. Work the cream until completely cooled (about 10 minutes). You’ll feel that the cream is cold by placing your hands to the bowl. When the bowl is cold the cream is ready. This is the famous pate à bombe, a fluid and clear cream, made with eggs, sugar and water, that is the basis of many pastry preparations.

So following Tiramisu recipe, now it’s time to add the mascarpone cheese. But first look at how to pasteurize the egg whites, which in the recipe are whipped until stiff.

How to Pasteurize the Egg Whites

Step 3) – As for the egg yolks, make a syrup with 50 g (1,80 oz) of sugar and 25 ml of water. In the meantime, start whipping the egg whites with the stand mixer at maximum speed. When you see that they are whipping pretty good, add the hot syrup slowly. Continue to beat the egg whites until stiff for another 10 minutes.

Now the pasteurized egg whites are ready. Add them to the mascarpone cream and keep following the tiramisu recipe.

With this simple procedure you have separately pasteurized the yolks and egg whites, obviously because the tiramisu recipe required it. But know that it’s possible to pasteurize whole eggs. Proceed in the same way, making the syrup with 100 g (3,50 oz) of sugar and 50 ml of water for 4 whole medium eggs. Whip the eggs with a stand mixer and slowly pour the hot syrup. Continue to beat the eggs until the cream is cold (put your hands on the bowl: when the bowl is cold the cream is ready). Now the eggs are pasteurized, fresh and safe and you can use them safely for your great recipes.

Individual Tiramisu Trifle

So, let’s assume that you have guests and want to serve tiramisu in individual cups, very chic and elegant. First of all you will need individual tiramisu trifles, whether they are made of glass or plastic. Then proceed to assemble the tiramisu preparations.

Step 1) – Place a tablespoon or two of mascarpone cream on the bottom of the cup. Break a Savoiardi fadyfinger into 4 and soak the pieces in coffee.

Step 2) – Lay them on the cream. If necessary, use two ladyfinger biscuits.

Step 3) – Cover with plenty of mascarpone cream (3-4 tablespoons), level and sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa powder. Your individual tiramisu trifle is ready and you’ll make a great impression!

Tiramisu Authentic Italian Recipe, Some Tips and Variants

How to Replace Mascarpone Cheese for Tiramisu

When talking about mascarpone, one refers to a very famous cheese, especially in Northern Italy. It differs from most other cheeses because it’s not obtained directly from milk but from its cream. It has a color that is usually between white snow and straw yellow; regarding the flavor, however, is very delicate, slightly tending to the sweet.

As we said before, Italian traditional Tiramisu recipe is made with mascarpone. However, there are some variants without mascarpone.

To prepare a delicious tiramisu without using mascarpone among the ingredients, it’s necessary to change the cream recipe. How so? Let’s see:

As an alternative to mascarpone, you can use:

• cream cheese;
• fresh ricotta cheese;
• heavy cream for desserts, vegetal or vaccine.

By employing one of these ingredients, or combining them according to your preferences, you can prepare a cream for your tiramisu, different from the traditional but just as exquisite.

For example, if you want to prepare a less caloric but still tasty tiramisu, you can mix light cream cheese and ricotta cheese.

For a softer and sweeter cream, use cream cheese and whipped heavy cream.

IMPORTANT! For 250g (1/2 lb) of cream, use the same ingredients, but, after adding 2 tablespoons of sugar, taste to figure out whether it is sweet enough or not.

Chantilly Cream

Another alternative to mascarpone cheese could be the Chantilly cream, which can be prepared very easily at home. Use heavy cream (cold, taken directly from the fridge) and icing sugar (even better if vanilla flavoured). The acing sugar can be chosen according to taste in a dose that can vary between 125 and 250 grams per liter of cream. Whip the cream with an electric mixer. Add the sugar and mix. Proceed by following the recipe without adding 100 g of sugar, because the chantilly cream is already sweet.

How to Replace Eggs for Tiramisu

Not everybody likes or can eat eggs, so if you want to make the tiramisu recipe without eggs, you can replace them with whipped cream. However, the dosage of the ingredients must be slightly modified and instead of the granulated sugar use icing sugar. Here’s how to make the cream for 6 people:

• 350 g (about 12 oz) of mascarpone
•  300 ml of fresh whipping cream
•  120 g (about 4 oz) of icing sugar

In a bowl, whip the cream together with half the icing sugar and put it in the refrigerator. In another bowl, whip the mascarpone with the remaining icing sugar. Then with a spatula incorporate the whipped cream with mascarpone cream. Now mscarpone cream without eggs for your tiramisu is ready! Soak the ladyfingers in the coffee and then proceed to make the layers as described in the recipe above.

If you transfer the mascaprone cream without eggs into a pastry bag with a 15 mm smooth nozzle and form round tufts on the layer of ladyfingers, instead of spreading it, your tiramisu will be not only good but also pretty stylish!

Tiramisu: How, How Long and Where to Store it

You can keep tiramisu a couple of days (at most) well covered in the refrigerator.
It can be frozen and kept in the freezer for about 2 weeks.

Wines

Tiramisu and wines, an extraordinary blend of flavors that must be expertly balanced to enhance the right combination between this dessert and his drink. To satisfy this need, a sparkling sweet wine, with a good level of acidity and a fair amount of sugar such as Moscato d’Asti Spumante (typical Piedmontese produced with white Moscato grapes from the provinces of Asti, Alessandria and Cuneo) is perfect.