This lovely Italian cake is made with ladyfingers dipped in espresso coffee spiked with delicious cream liquor sandwiched between layers of delicious combination of mascarpone cheese, fresh cream and egg yolks topped with simple unsweetened cocoa powder. Its as decadent as dessert can get.
Have all the ingredients ready before making this cake.
Ladyfingers are readily available from your favorite Italian grocer or major grocery outlets.
For this recipe I used a third of a cup of Cream Liquor and 2 cups of strong home brewed espresso cooled to room temperature.
Mix the cream liquor, simple syrup and 2 cups of espresso. Set aside.
You need two small tubs of mascarpone cheese.
After all, what is Tiramisu without the mascarpone cheese?
For excellent result chill the cream, the bowl and mixer used to whip the cream.
To make the filling, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar on a heat proof bowl until creamy for two minutes. Then place the bowl over a simmering hot water stirring continuously until thick and tripple in volume. Do not let the bowl touch the simmering hot water. Set aside until it cools completely. Add the mascarpone cheese and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Chill for 30-45 minutes.
Beat the cream until soft peak forms.
Fold the whipped cream into the chilled mascarpone, vanilla and egg yolk mixture.
To assemble, soak the ladyfingers in the cream liquor and espresso mixture then arrange them side by side in a rectangular pan. Careful not to soak the cookies too long or they will disintegrate.
Take half of the whipped cream, mascarpone cheese and egg mixture and spread over the cookie layer.
Repeat the process with another layer of soaked ladyfingers over the cream mixture.
Then spread the final layer of cream mixture over the soaked ladyfingers.
Top with a thin layer of cocoa powder.
Enjoy!
Here’s the recipe.
| Tiramisu |
- Simple Syrup:
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- Spiked Espresso:
- 1/3 cup Cream Liquor
- 2 cups strong Espresso
- Filling:
- 2 packages Italian Ladyfinger cookies
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 small tubs of mascarpone cheese
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting
- Simple Syrup:
- Combine water and sugar until dissolved.
- Cool and set aside.
- Spiked Espresso:
- Brew 2 cups of strong espresso.
- Cool to room temperature.
- In a shallow bowl, combine the simple syrup, cream liquor and strong espresso.
- Soak the ladyfingers briefly in the espresso mixture and arrange neatly into a single layer over a large platter or shallow pan.
- Careful not to soak the cookies too long or it disintegrates.
- To make the Filling:
- Chill the cream, mixing bowl and the mixer thoroughly for best result.
- Separate the egg whites from the yolks.
- Set aside the egg whites for later use.
- In a saucepan large enough to hold a heat proof bowl, bring enough water to cover about 2 inches from the bottom into a gentle simmer.
- Using a heatproof bowl, mix the egg yolks and sugar until creamy.
- Place the heatproof bowl over the gentle simmering water.
- Mix the egg yolk and sugar over medium speed until tripple in volume. About 5-6 minutes.
- Set aside and cool to room temperature.
- Add the mascarpone cheese and vanilla.
- Chill for 30-45 minutes.
- In the meantime, whip the cream until firm.
- Fold the whipped cream over the yolk mixture.
- Set aside.
- To Assemble:
- Neatly arrange a single layer of the soaked ladyfingers in a large square pan.
- Place half of the cream, cheese and egg mixture over the cookie layer.
- Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers soaked in the espresso mixture.
- Top the second layer of ladyfingers with the other half of the cream and egg mixture.
- Sprinkle with a thin layer of unsweetened cocoa powder.
