May 24, 2023
by Maggie Frank
Coffee's favorite dessert, Tiramisu. A classic Italian recipe includes airy biscuit-type cookies soaked in liquid gold and coffee. Layered like a lasagna with rich vanilla cream and dusted with a heavy layer of cocoa powder.
This recipe begs to be made ahead of time, travels well, and is definitely going to earn you compliments. It’s so impressive and easy to make. What's not to love? Go ahead and give this recipe a try.
The Ingredients
Ladyfingers
While of course, you can make ladyfingers at home, I actually am going to suggest otherwise for this recipe. The snappy texture of store-bought ladyfingers will soak up more coffee flavor and hold up better in the tiramisu. Once the cookies are soaked and layered with cream it takes a lot out of them. You want them to still have some body so they create a cake-y layer instead of just crumbling away. You can use any brand of ladyfingers you can find at your local grocery store. If you have trouble finding them check out the international aisle, sometimes they’re hiding there.
The Coffee
For this recipe, the best option would be for you to brew a strong cup of
Catuai Natural. This coffee features flavor notes of dark cacao and sweet plums. It is a medium-light roast and will be perfect for this application.
Coffee Liquor
This ingredient is optional, depending on who is on your guest list. But, adding a splash of coffee liquor to your coffee soak is traditional and adds something a little punchy to create more depth of flavor. I like to use Kahlua, it’s a wildly available rum-based liqueur.
Mascarpone
This beautiful Italian cheese loves to be included in dessert courses. It is a soft fresh cheese. You can imagine it to be similar in taste to ricotta but smooth like cream cheese. You will want this to come to room temperature before you mix it into your cream to ensure it doesn't separate. Mascarpone is a staple ingredient in a traditional tiramisu.
Literally, to top it all off comes cacao powder. This ingredient stands alone in the recipe so to make this component special try to use cacao powder instead. Cacao powder is higher in fat than regular cocoa powder. The higher fat content offers a richer chocolate flavor. It’s divine, and a must for this recipe.
Fresh vanilla bean pods are a really special ingredient. I use them sparingly. I choose to use vanilla bean pods usually when their flavor will really be able to shine. The cream in this recipe is very mild in flavor. It’s rich and creamy and will allow for the vanilla to be seen in the cream for presentation purposes, but also for the flavor to be truly recognized and appreciated.
Special Equipment: Electric Mixer
The only piece of specialty equipment required for this recipe is an electric mixer. A standing mixer or an electric hand mixer would work for this. To make the cream you will be required to whip egg yolks up to 3x their size, as well as whip up quite a bit of heavy cream. If you do this by hand it would take you a very long time and the result wouldn’t be as smooth.
The Recipe
Ingredients
1 package of ladyfingers
3 eggs yolks
1 cup sugar, divided
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1
vanilla bean pod
2 cups of strongly brewed
Catuai Natural
½ cup coffee liqueur
⅓ cup
cacao powder (can vary depending on the size of your dish)
Glass baking dish to layer into, or individual glasses
Directions
1. Brew 2 cups of coffee, stir in the coffee liqueur, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl whip together heavy cream with ⅔ cup of sugar and the scraped vanilla bean pod with the electric mixer. Whip to medium-stiff peaks, add in the mascarpone and mix on low speed until well incorporated. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl whip the remaining sugar with the egg yolks. Keep whipping until the eggs triple in size, become pale and white, and can ribbon into themselves.
4. Take ⅓ of the whipped cream out of the large bowl and add it to the egg mixture. Using a rubber spatula fold into the egg mixture. Once the mixture is homogeneous, add all of the egg mixture back into the whipped cream bowl. Fold again.
5. To assemble, start with a layer of ladyfingers. Take a cookie, one at a time, and dip it into the coffee mixture. Dip quickly, as the cookie with absorb too much coffee if you let them sit too long. Then line them up one by one, tightly in the bottom of your dish. Then add ⅓ of the cream mixture and smooth it out evenly over the ladyfingers.
6. Repeat step 5 until you’ve run out of ladyfingers and cream
Let sit in the refrigerator covered for at least a few hours and up to overnight
7. Before you serve add a generous dusting of cacao powder to the top. Eat within 3 days of assembly. Enjoy!
