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Italy, Europe

Tiramisu

Italy's beloved no-bake dessert: coffee-dipped ladyfingers layered with a light mascarpone and egg cream, finished with bitter cocoa.

ServingsServes 2
Total cooking time22 min
Chilling+ 6 h
DifficultyMedium
About servingsClassic tiramisu uses raw eggs. For young children, pregnant women, older people or anyone with a weakened immune system, use pasteurised eggs, or cook the yolks into a sabayon (step 2) and replace each egg white with 50 ml of cream whipped to soft peaks. Keep it refrigerated and eat within 2 days.

Method

  1. Brew the coffee, pour it into a shallow dish and let it cool completely; hot coffee makes the biscuits collapse. Separate the eggs carefully, putting the yolks in one bowl and the whites in a clean, grease-free bowl; even a trace of yolk stops the whites from whipping. Take the mascarpone out of the fridge 10 minutes ahead so it blends without lumps.

    Add in this stepStrong espresso or moka-pot coffee, cooled 120 ml

  2. Add half the sugar to the yolks and whisk with an electric mixer for until pale, thick and falling from the beaters in a ribbon. Safer option if your eggs are not pasteurised: set the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water on low heat (the bowl must not touch the water) and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens and reaches 71 °C, then lift it off and keep whisking until it has cooled.

    Add in this stepEggs (very fresh, ideally pasteurised) ½Caster sugar 18 g

    low heat

  3. Add the mascarpone to the yolks in 2 or 3 additions and stir gently with a spatula just until smooth. Don't beat it hard: overworked mascarpone turns grainy and can split.

    Add in this stepMascarpone 125 g

  4. Add the salt to the whites and whisk until foamy, then add the rest of the sugar a little at a time and whisk for more, until glossy with firm peaks that hold when you lift the whisk. Fold the whites into the mascarpone cream in three additions, lifting from the bottom of the bowl with a spatula so the cream stays light and airy.

    Add in this stepEggs (very fresh, ideally pasteurised) ½Salt 1 pinchCaster sugar 18 g

  5. Dip each savoiardi into the coffee for just 1 second per side; it should be moist outside but still firm in the middle. Lay them in a single layer in a 15×10 cm dish or glass, breaking them to fill the gaps, and spread over half the cream. Repeat with a second layer of dipped biscuits and the rest of the cream, then smooth the top.

    Add in this stepSavoiardi (ladyfingers) 8

  6. Cover and refrigerate for at least , ideally overnight, so the cream sets and the biscuits soften evenly. Just before serving, dust generously with cocoa through a fine sieve; added too early, the cocoa turns damp and dark.

    Add in this stepUnsweetened cocoa powder 2 tsp

Cook's tip

Dip quickly: soaked biscuits make a watery tiramisu, and the cream keeps softening them as it rests. If the cream looks runny, the whites were under-whipped or folded in too roughly; chill it for 15 minutes before layering. Serve it straight from the fridge.

Cooking it at camp

It travels best made the day before in a lidded container and packed in a well-iced cooler; dust with cocoa only at the campsite. There is nothing to cook, but keep it below 5 °C and eat it on the first day.