This is the BEST Tiramisu recipe you will ever find. It’s authentic, creamy and oh so delicious. And since Im going to show you how you put everything together to such a beautiful cake its a total show stopper for every special occasion well.
Italy is for most Austrians their second home. Especially for those who live not too far away from the Italian border like us. We Austrians truly love our Italian Neighbours. We love them not only for the sea and the beaches but likewise for their pasta, wine, pizza, “cappuccinis” and of course there “dolce” which means dessert.
In my opinion the most famous Italian dessert is the Tiramisu. With its rich velvet cream and the ladyfingers infused with coffee and some good dessert wine or rum and the thick layer of powdered cacao its for many a dessert dream come true 😉
The meaning of the word Tiramisu!
What very few people know is that Tiramisu means : Pull Me Up! A long time ago the tiramisu was often served after very rich dinners with a lot of courses. As a result the strong espresso, in which the ladyfingers are dipped should help pull everybody up and out of there food coma 😉
I originally found this recipe for an authentic Italian tiramisu in an old Italian cook book at our parents house when I was about 24 years old. I think my mom bought this book when she was young married to our dad. Therefore this book was reeeally old 😉 as my kids would say.
Italian Tiramisu Cake and how to begin!
Foremost it is very important to have fresh eggs at hand. Since this recipe calls for raw eggs and they doesn’t get cooked or baked trough. The best and safest way is to get pasteurised raw eggs. But as it is you don’t get these in every country.
Now that we talked about the importance of extremely fresh eggs, let’s start with the recipe.
First we need to separate the eggs. After separating we mix the egg whites and the sugar until its very glossy and shiny and stiff peaks form.
Then take the egg yolks and mix them with the powdered sugar until its a very creamy pale yellow cream. Add the mascarpone cheese and one tablespoon of a good dessert wine or rum or if there are kids, rum flavour and mix it on medium speed until incorporated. But don’t overbeat the cream.
Now we fold in the egg whites with a spatula. Et voilá ready is your tiramisu cream :-)This is the best Tiramisu recipe ever. Its creamy, delicious, authentic and a total show stopper.
Assembling the Tiramisu Cake
If you don’t want your tiramisu to look like a cake, no problem just stack the lady fingers and the tiramisu cream in a normal baking form.
First we have to prepare your cake plate with a convertible cake ring. Or, if you don’t have one take the outer ring of a springform pan.
I use these springform pans and cake rings. For this recipe, you will need a 24cm form, which is about 9 inches.
After preparing your plate with the cake ring, take your espresso shots, which you watered down a little bit. You can also use decaffeinated coffee if there are kids who will enjoy this dessert. Unpack your ladyfinger and lay everything on your working surface.
I used thick ladyfingers for this recipe. If your ladyfingers are thin, you may need to double the recipe.
Dip your ladyfingers with one flat side into the coffee and assemble them on your plate. Leave about 2 cm space to the cake ring.
When you covered the inner cake ring space with soaked ladyfingers you’ll take 3 dry fingers and put them upright into the space between the soaked fingers and the springform cake ring, like small tin soldiers 😉 . Hold them like I do in the 3rd image and put some mascarpone cream onto the soaked ladyfingers and the inner bellow side of the dry fingers.
You more or less glue the soaked and dry ones together with the mascarpone cream.
Upon fixing the first three tin soldiers, take another three fingers and repeat the process until the outer ring is closed with ladyfingers.
As we should have closed the outer ring with lady’s fingers and covered them with mascarpone cream, we continue with another layer of soaked fingers and more mascarpone for covering. We continue with the alternative layering until only 3 cm left to the top of the upright standing ladysfingers.
Finally, put the rest of your mascarpone cream into a piping bag with a 2cm round dip opening and pipe small dots onto the last layer of ladyfingers. Begin from the outside to the inside as below in the pictures.
Put your finished cake into the fridge overnight or at least for 6 hours and sprinkle the top with cocoa powder before serving.
Important note: If you can’t find thick ladyfingers, please double your recipe for the mascarpone cream. If you have any cream left, make a small tiramisu in small water glasses.
I hope I’ve got you covered with your next party cake. Let’s surprise the crowd with my authentic, beautiful Tiramisu Cake straight from the heart of Italy.
Sweet hugs Nina
Update: Tiramisu Cake is festively decorated for Christmas.
If you like to make that cake for Christmas, maybe you would like to decorate the Tiramisu cake a little more festive and Christmas-y. I made some iced gingerbread cookies and used those cookies instead of the ladyfingers on the outside.
Did you make this wonderful cake? Tag @twosisterslivinglife. We want to see it!
You may also like my recipe for delicious, healthy sweet potato gnocchi.
This is the best Tiramisu recipe ever. Its creamy, delicious, authentic and a total show stopper. Mix the egg whites with the white sugar on high until glossy, stiff peak form in a medium bowl mix the egg yolks and the powdered sugar on high until it’s a very creamy light yellow cream Add the mascarpone and the dessert wine to the egg yolks cream and mix on medium speed until homogenous . That will be about 1-2 minutes. Fold the glossy egg whites under the half finished mascarpone cream. The mascarpone cream is ready. You can assemble your Tiramisu classic style in a rectangular glass dish or as instructed in the post. Prepare a cake plate with a 24cm (9 inch) spring form ring or a convertible cake ring Dip the ladyfingers into the watered down espresso with one flat side and cover the inner space of the cake ring leaving an outer space of 2cm. Take 3 dry ladyfingers and put them upright into the space left as on the image. Cover the soaked ladyfingers and the bottom of the upright fingers with the cream. repeat this process until the soaked ladyfingers are covered with a layer of mascarpone cream and the ring is closed with upright dry fingers. Continue with another layer of coffee soaked ladyfingers and mascarpone cream until there is only 3cm left to the top. Your last layer should be ladyfingers. Pute the rest of your cream into a piping back with a 2cm round tip and cover the ladysfingers with medium dots. Beginning from the outer circle to the middle. Let your finished cake rest for at least 6 hours and sprinkle the top with cocoa powder before serving. Enjoy!The Best Authentic Italian Tiramisu Cake
Mascarpone Cream
for Assembling the cake
Mascarpone cream
Assembling the cake
4 comments
[…] Best Tiramisu Cake – an authentic Italian recipe […]
How can you tell if you have the thick lady fingers?
Hi Emily, when your ladyfingers look like the ones in our pictures (about two fingers wide and one finger thick) you have the right ones. ?❤️
[…] Authentic Italian Tiramisu Cake […]