Classic Tiramisu: A Coffee Lover's Recipe
Why Coffee Makes or Breaks It
Tiramisu is coffee-soaked ladyfingers layered with a sweet mascarpone cream and dusted with cocoa. There are only six main ingredients, and the coffee is the one you taste most. Use good, strong coffee and the dessert tastes bold and balanced; use weak or stale coffee and it tastes like sweet cream on wet cake.
The name comes from the Treviso dialect phrase tireme su, “pick me up”.
A Short History
Tiramisu is younger than most people think, and its origin is argued over. The best-known claim belongs to Le Beccherie, a restaurant in Treviso, in northeast Italy. The restaurant says owner Alba Campeol and pastry chef Roberto Linguanotto developed the recipe, inspired by a local egg-and-coffee pick-me-up, and that it appeared on the menu in 1972. The Accademia del Tiramisù recognized Le Beccherie as the birthplace of Tiramisù di Treviso in 2019.
The neighboring Friuli-Venezia Giulia region has its own claims, including an inn in the Alpine town of Tolmezzo said to have served a version in the late 1950s. Either way, tiramisu is a postwar dessert: it only began to appear in cookbooks in the 1980s.
Ingredients
For an 8 × 8 inch (20 × 20 cm) dish, about 9 servings.
| Ingredient | US measure | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Strong coffee, cooled | 1½ cups (360 ml) | 360 g |
| Large eggs, separated (pasteurized recommended) | 4 | — |
| Granulated sugar | ½ cup | 100 g |
| Mascarpone, cold | 2 tubs, 8 oz each | 450 g |
| Salt | A pinch | — |
| Crisp ladyfingers (savoiardi) | 24–30 | About 7 oz (200 g) |
| Unsweetened cocoa powder | 2 tablespoons | About 10 g |
| Optional: dark rum, Marsala or coffee liqueur | 2 tablespoons | 30 ml |
The coffee
You need about 1½ cups (360 ml) of concentrated coffee. Any of these work:
- Espresso: about 12 single shots, or 6 doubles, combined.
- Moka pot: two batches from a 6-cup pot.
- AeroPress or pour-over, made strong: brew at about 1:10, for example 36 g coffee to 360 g water (AeroPress guide ).
A medium or dark roast with chocolate and caramel notes suits tiramisu best. Very bright, fruity light roasts can taste sour against the cream. Brew the coffee first and let it cool to room temperature; hot coffee makes the ladyfingers fall apart.
Steps
- Make the coffee and pour it into a shallow bowl to cool. Stir in the liqueur, if using.
- Beat the yolks and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the yolks with the sugar using a hand mixer for 3–4 minutes, until pale, thick and the sugar no longer feels gritty.
- Add the mascarpone. Beat it in on low speed just until smooth. Do not overbeat; mascarpone can turn grainy.
- Whip the whites. In a clean bowl with clean beaters, whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt to stiff peaks.
- Fold. Stir a third of the whites into the mascarpone mixture to loosen it, then gently fold in the rest until no streaks remain.
- Dip the ladyfingers. Dip each one in the coffee for 1–2 seconds per side, no longer, and lay it in the dish. Make a tight single layer, breaking pieces to fill gaps.
- Layer. Spread half the cream over the ladyfingers. Add a second layer of dipped ladyfingers and top with the rest of the cream. Smooth the top.
- Chill. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours, ideally overnight, so it sets and slices cleanly.
- Dust and serve. Just before serving, sift the cocoa evenly over the top.
Tip: Dip one ladyfinger and break it open. The outside should be soaked and the very center still a little firm. It softens more as the tiramisu rests.
Raw Egg Safety
Classic tiramisu uses raw eggs. Raw eggs can carry Salmonella, and the USDA advises using pasteurized eggs or egg products in any recipe that calls for raw or undercooked eggs. Pasteurized shell eggs are heat-treated to kill bacteria without cooking them, and they work just like regular eggs here. Look for “pasteurized” on the carton.
If you cannot find them, or you are serving pregnant guests, young children, older adults or anyone with a weak immune system, use this cooked version instead:
- Whisk the 4 yolks and the sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water.
- Keep whisking until the mixture is thick and reaches 160 °F (71 °C) on an instant-read thermometer, the USDA’s safe temperature for egg dishes. Cool it completely.
- Beat in the mascarpone as above.
- Skip the egg whites. Instead, whip 1 cup (240 ml) cold heavy cream to soft peaks and fold it in.
The result is slightly richer and just as good.
Make-Ahead and Storage
- Tiramisu is best on day two. Keep it covered in the refrigerator and eat it within 2–3 days.
- Add the cocoa only just before serving, or it absorbs moisture and looks blotchy.
- For a coffee-forward twist, sift a little finely ground coffee in with the cocoa.
Save the leftover coffee for an affogato the next day.