tiramisu
Italian Lifestyle

Classic Italian Tiramisu recipe for perfect results every time

Tried and tested, delicious classic tiramisu recipe for perfect tiramisu every time.

Tiramisu is one of the most famous and popular Italian desserts and one of the easiest to make.

A no-bake cake, tiramisu is the type of cake non bakers can easily master and it is one that is guaranteed to please your guests every time!

The key to the success of this classic recipes doesn’t lie in complex techniques but only in the quality of the ingredients that have to be as fresh as they can possibly be.

This is how you make a classic tiramisu!

Fun fact: several Italian regions claim to be the creators of Tiramisu’ however, this dessert is so popular you can now find it absolutely everywhere in Italy! You can read about regional foods in Italy here.

Classic Tiramisu Recipe Ingredients

This recipe comes from my friend Alessandra who first gave it to me 16 years ago!

  • 1 box of Savoiardi biscuits (ladyfingers)
  • 3 eggs (very fresh)
  • 250gr mascarpone
  • 100gr sugar
  • 2 small cups of espresso coffee
  • A dash of milk (optional)
  • 1 dash of cognac (optional)
  • Cocoa powder

What do you need to make this Tiramisu recipe

A large bowl for whisking egg whites

A whisk (ideally electric but manual will do too)

A second bowl to mix the other ingredients

A tray (this makes one for about 6 people, 3 layers of biscuits) or individual portions.

How to make Italian tiramisu: step by step

In a large bowl, put the egg yolks and the sugar: mix well to obtain a light colored, smooth paste. Add the mascarpone cheese and fold it in.

In a different bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then very gently fold them into the egg, sugar and mascarpone mix, then set it aside.

Make a moka pot of coffee, then pour some in a small espresso cup and add a dash of milk (this is optional, but I find it makes the taste a little smoother) and a dash of cognac if using.

Pour the cup into a plate and very quickly tap each biscuit into the coffee, horizontally, so that the long side of the biscuit soaks up a little coffee, the place the biscuit into your tiramisu serving dish.

Need to know! Only tap the biscuit into the coffee very quickly and not not allow it to soak though! If it does, the biscuit will lose its shape and will turn into a paste – not what you want to happen!

Keep doing this will all your biscuits until you have one layer of them covering the bottom of your tiramisu dish.

Tiramisu tray with a dollop mascarpone cream: one of the assembling steps of this tiramisu recipe
tiramisu dessert cooking – Traditional Italian Savoiardi ladyfingers Biscuits and cream in glass baking dish on dark concrete background or table

Once you have one full layer, spoon on top of it part of your mixture and gently pat it flat. Repeat for two more layers, until you run out of biscuits and cream, making sure the top layer is cream.

Now sprinkle the cocoa powder on top and put your tiramisu’ in the fridge for a couple of hours. Serve chilled.

How to serve tiramisu

There are several ways you can serve tiramisu, either in a main tray and then distributed on demand or making individual portions.

Cute and fun ways to present your tiramisu are:

A large glass tray, so that your guests can see the indulgent layers of your beautiful Italian cake

Individual cups or glasses: large stemmed cups like those you would use for ice cream look very elegant!

Individual mason jars, for an unusual and original dessert look

Should you cook eggs for tiramisu?

The classic tiramisu recipe calls for raw eggs so making sure the eggs you are using are safe and fresh is paramount.

If using raw eggs leaves you uncomfortable, it is easy to make this recipe pasteurizing them at home, a process that is not difficult but does require an extra passage and the use of a cooking thermometer.

To pasteurize your eggs for tiramisu, you need to work separately yolks and white. Start separating your sugar in 3 equal parts.

To pasteurize egg yolks for tiramisu, mix your 3 yolks with 1/3 of your sugar and whisk until they make a light-colored paste.

In a pan, heat up 25ml of water and add another 1/3 of the sugar, then cook until it to 121C/249Fp: add them to the egg mixture whisking quickly so that the heat of the syrup pasteurizes the eggs without scrambling them!

To pasteurize the egg whites, whisk the whites to still peaks. In a pan, heat 25ml water and the last remaining sugar (should be 1/3 of the total). heat the water and sugar tp 121C/249F then slowly our the syrup into the whites, mixing well.

You can now proceed assembling your tiramisu!

Can I make Tiramisu’ with no alcohol?

Yes! The cognac is entirely optional and you can easily omit it if you want to avoid alcohol in your dessert – you can find the tiramisu recipe without alcohol here.

If you want to eliminate coffee too, you can: you can find a good recipe for tiramisu without coffee nor alcohol here.

tiramisu

Italian Classic Tiramisu Recipe

Yield: 1 tray
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Italian Classic Tiramisu recipe, an easy to make recipe to recreate the most famous Italian dessert at home!

Making your own real tiramisu is easy and does not require any baking skills or any baking at all.

The cake is entirely made off the heat so you need no hobs nor oven and only needs fresh ingredients (their freshness is the most important part) and a bit of mixing and assembling.

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs, very fresh
  • 250gr/1 cup mascarpone
  • 100gr/00.4 cups sugar
  • 1 dash of cognac
  • 2 small cups of coffee (ideally espresso)
  • A dash of milk
  • 1 box of savoiardi biscuits
  • A dash of cocoa powder for dusting

Instructions

In a large bowl, put the egg yolks and the sugar: mix well to obtain a light-colored, smooth paste. Add the mascarpone cheese and fold it in.

In a different bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then very gently fold them into the egg, sugar and mascarpone mix, then set it aside.

Make a moka pot of coffee, then pour some in a small espresso cup and add a dash of milk (this is optional, but I find it makes the taste a little smoother) and a dash of cognac if using.

Pour the cup into a plate and very quickly tap each biscuit into the coffee, horizontally, so that the long side of the biscuit soaks up a little coffee, the place the biscuit into your tiramisu serving dish.

Need to know! Only tap the biscuit into the coffee very quickly and not not allow it to soak through! If it does, the biscuit will lose its shape and will turn into a paste - not what you want to happen!

Keep doing this will all your biscuits until you have one layer of them covering the bottom of your tiramisu dish.

Once you have one full layer, spoon on top of it part of your mixture and gently pat it flat. Repeat for two more layers, until you run out of biscuits and cream, making sure the last layer is cream.

Now sprinkle the cocoa powder on top and put your tiramisu' in the fridge for a couple of hours. Serve chilled.

Comments Off on Classic Italian Tiramisu recipe for perfect results every time

Marta Correale is an Italian mama of two. Born and raised in Rome, Marta has a passion for travel and especially enjoys showing off Italy to her kids, who are growing up to love it as much as she does! A classics graduate, teacher of Italian as a second language and family travel blogger, Marta launched Mama Loves Italy as a way to inspire, support and help curious visitors to make the most of a trip to Italy and learn about Italian culture on the way.

Skip to Recipe